Patent ID: 8562640

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a shaft having a proximal end and a distal end, an end effector at the distal end of the shaft, a movable end effector actuator at the proximal end of the shaft and operably connected to the end effector, and an actuator movement controller operably connectable to the end effector actuator, the actuator movement controller comprising a ratchet, a state change notifier, and a user activated state changer changeable among states in which the movement controller is: enabled and engaged with the end effector actuator to prevent movement of the end effector actuator in at least one of two opposite directions, enabled and disengaged from the end effector actuator to permit movement of the end effector actuator in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction in response to continuous user input via the state changer, and disabled to permit movement of the end effector actuator in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction in the absence of user input via the state changer, wherein the state changer includes a toggle linearly aligned with and operatively connected to a trigger so as to be linearly movable with the trigger and to be rotatable with respect to the trigger and wherein the state change notifier includes a toggle spring and a biasing ring through which the toggle movably extends, the state change notifier adapted to provide notice of an impending change in movement controller state that will be caused by further movement of the user activated state changer.