Patent ID: 8763877

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a handle assembly; a flexible spine assembly operably coupled to said handle assembly and protruding therefrom; an elongated shaft assembly received on said flexible spine assembly and having a reconfigurable shaft segment that is selectively reconfigurable between a linear configuration wherein all portions of said reconfigurable shaft segment are substantially coaxially aligned with each other and configurations wherein at least one said portion of said reconfigurable shaft segment is orientated in a non-linear orientation relative to at least one other said portion of said reconfigurable shaft segment, said elongated shaft assembly further having a closure tube segment that is axially movable relative to said reconfigurable shaft segment in response to firing motions applied thereto from a firing system operably supported in said handle assembly; a locking system for selectively locking tubular links in a desired orientation relative to each other, said locking system comprising: at least one selectively expandable locking bladder extending through said reconfigurable shaft segment of said elongated shaft assembly and being selectively expandable with a fluid material pumped therein by a fluid pumping system operably supported by said handle assembly, such that when each said selectively expandable locking bladder is in an expanded condition, said tubular links are substantially immovable relative to each other.