Patent ID: 8858559

Claim:
A surgical system for cutting bone and tissue of a patient, comprising: an outer housing; a reciprocating assembly disposed in the outer housing, the reciprocating assembly being structurally configured to carry a cutting tool in a reciprocating motion, the reciprocating assembly including an output shaft having a central cylindrical bore, two longitudinal flat slots on opposing sides of the cylindrical bore and a transverse hole extending through the longitudinal flat slots; an actuator knob manually accessible to the user, the actuator knob being fixed axially to the outer housing, the reciprocating assembly reciprocating relative to the actuator knob, the actuator knob being configured for rotational movement between a lock position and an unlock position; and a locking mechanism configured to retain a cutting tool within the reciprocating assembly, the locking mechanism being responsive to movement of the actuator knob to maintain the tool within the output shaft when the actuator knob is in the lock position and permit removal of the tool when the actuator knob is in the unlock position, the locking mechanism including a lock pin moveable in the transverse hole and having a narrow neck portion configured to be aligned with the longitudinal flat slots in the unlock position.