Patent ID: 7901418

Claim:
A clamp, comprising: a handle assembly; a gripping assembly having a pair of jaws that can be opened and closed to grip an element; a shaft assembly having: a flexible shaft having a proximal end that is coupled to the handle assembly and a distal end that is coupled to the gripping assembly, the flexible shaft defining a bore and comprising a plurality of alternating first beads and second beads, each of the first and second beads having a surface; wherein each of the second beads has a larger inner diameter than each of the first beads, each of the second beads is supported on the surface of the two adjacent beads at a line of contact, and each of the second beads has a convex shape at the line of contact; and a cable which extends through the bore of the flexible shaft, the cable having a proximal end that is operatively coupled to the handle assembly and a distal end that is operatively coupled to the gripping assembly; and, a rigid element that can be placed at a first position where the rigid element supports the shaft in a manner where the shaft cannot be bent, and in a second position where the shaft can be bent.