Patent ID: 7398707

Claim:
A minimally invasive surgical instrument comprising: an elongate shaft having a working end and a proximal end; at least one linking arm having a proximal end and a distal end, the proximal end being pivotally mounted on the working end of the shaft to rotate around a first pitch axis which is nonparallel to the shaft axis; a wrist member having a distal portion and a proximal portion pivotally connected to the distal end of the linking arm to rotate around a second pitch axis which is nonparallel to the shaft axis; a first pitch pulley coaxial with the first pitch axis, and a second pitch pulley coaxial with the second pitch axis; a first pitch elongate element engaging the first and second pitch pulleys in a first circumferential orientation, the first pitch elongate element running through the elongate shaft; an end effector pivotally mounted on the distal portion of the wrist member to rotate around a wrist axis of the wrist member, the wrist axis extending between the proximal portion and the distal portion of the wrist member.