Patent ID: 8286846

Claim:
A method for effecting a tissue compressing, cutting, and stapling surgical procedure at a user-selected tissue compression force, which comprises: providing a mechanical binary-output OTC electrical switch having OTC-off and OTC-reached electrical states initiated and changed solely by mechanical movements; disposing the switch in line with an electrically controlled surgical endocutter to cause a force that is proportional to a force that is placed upon compressed tissue within jaws thereof to be placed upon the switch; mechanically coupling the switch with an adjustable biasing device that is set to an amount of force that is proportional to an optimal tissue compression force of the compressed tissue within the jaws and retains the switch in the OTC-off switching state until a force at least as great as the optimal tissue compression force is imparted to the switch; and permitting a surgical cutting and stapling procedure to be carried out on the tissue compressed within the jaws only after the switch changes to the OTC-reached state.