Patent ID: 7198625

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a shaft hub; an electrically conductive member which has a proximal end mounted to the shaft hub and which has a distal end including a conductive operating tip; a sheath to cover the conductive member such that the sheath covers the operating tip when the sheath is in an extended position and the operating tip is exposed when the sheath is in a retracted position; a sheath hub coupled to the sheath and movably engaged with the shaft hub; a locking mechanism to lock the sheath in the retracted position, the locking mechanism including a flexible beam protruding from the shaft hub at an angle, to engage the sheath hub at an opening in the sheath hub while the sheath is in the retracted position, and a cantilever beam extending from the sheath hub which, if depressed while the sheath is in the retracted position, repositions the flexible beam to disengage the flexible beam from the opening in the sheath hub; and a bias element to bias the sheath toward the extended position.