An improved surgical instrument having an end effector mounted on the end of an elongate shaft extending from a handle. The end-effector is capable of several different operations, including grasping, cutting, and sealing and/or coagulating tissue, and one of the operations is controlled by a trigger mechanism contained within the handle. The end effector includes a pair of curved jaw members and a blade assembly having a cutting blade at its distal end. The trigger mechanism is arranged to drive the blade assembly longitudinally within the elongate shaft such that the cutting blade protrudes between jaw members. In order to help trigger mechanism push the blade assembly around the curved jaws, the distal end of the blade has a graduated flexibility such that it can more easily bend to the shape of the jaw members. The distal end of blade may also be provided with a low friction coating.

A method for resetting a stapling apparatus includes providing an apparatus with a cam member in a fired position. A circuit of the apparatus is then changed from a first polarity state to a second polarity state. A motor of the apparatus is then activated to rotate the cam member from a fired position back to a home position while the circuit is in the second polarity state.

An instrument includes a body, a shaft extending from the body and an end effector in communication with the shaft. The end effector is operable to compress, staple, and cut tissue. The end effector includes opposing jaws, a staple cartridge, and a placement tip. At least one of the first and second jaws is movable relative to the other of the first and second jaws between an open position and a closed position. The staple cartridge is removably coupled with the second jaw. The placement tip is located at a distal end of one of the opposing jaws. The placement tip includes proximal and distal portions. The distal portion has a distal cross-sectional thickness along a transverse cross-section that is greater than a proximal cross-sectional thickness of the proximal portion along the transverse cross-section.

A surgical appliance includes an elongate barrel having effector jaws mounted to a carrier secured to the distal end of the barrel. A handle includes a grip for opening and closing the effector jaws, a knob for articulating the carrier, a knob for rotating the barrel and a safety mechanism for automatically preventing inadvertent actuation of the grip. Each jaw pivots about a pin and is actuated by a rod which is engaged by the grip. A lever is pivotally mounted to the handle and includes a latch which blocks movement of the grip unless the lever is pivoted in a proximal direction against a spring bias. When the lever is released, the latch automatically returns to the blocking position. A toggle arm fixed to a cam shaft can be rotated such that a cam moves the latch to the disengaged position for repeated grip actuation.

A jaw closure transmission system is presented comprising an input sub-system, output sub-system and a transmission sub-system.

A surgical instrument comprises an end effector, a shaft, and a housing extending proximally from the shaft. The surgical instrument includes an articulation assembly configured to articulate the end effector relative to the shaft, a firing assembly configured to fire a plurality of staples, for example, and a locking member movable between a locked configuration and an unlocked configuration. The housing is removably couplable to the shaft when the locking member is in the unlocked configuration and the housing includes a motor configured to drive at least one of the firing assembly and the articulation assembly. The housing also includes a controller in communication with the motor, wherein the controller is configured to activate the motor to reset at least one of the firing assembly and the articulation assembly to a home state when the locking member is moved between the locked configuration and the unlocked configuration.

A surgical instrument having a handle, elongate shaft protruding from handle and end-effector located at end of shaft is described. To allow for rotation of the end-effector the shaft is connected to a rotation wheel mounted on handle, towards rearward end of handle proximal to the user. The rotation wheel is in the form of a thumbwheel, having an ergonomically designed shape that tapers from distal direction to proximal direction, with angle of the taper matching angle of the outer surface of the handle. The outer tapered surface of the thumbwheel has a number of shaped cut-out or scalloped portions arranged around the outer circumference of the wheel, and arranged in use to receive the tip of a user's thumb to allow the user to rotate the wheel in order to set the rotational orientation of the end-effector. Such an arrangement provides a comfortable and easy to use instrument.

A surgical instrument includes a shaft assembly and an articulation control assembly. The shaft assembly includes an articulation section that is configured to deflect a distal end portion from the longitudinal axis. The articulation control assembly includes an articulation control member and a transmission assembly. The articulation control member is rotatably mounted relative to the shaft assembly. The transmission assembly is operatively connected between the articulation control member and the articulation section of the shaft assembly. The transmission assembly is configured to transmit selective manipulation of the articulation control member to the articulation section and selectively actuate the articulation section. The articulation control assembly is configured to lock without selective manipulation of the articulation control member to thereby inhibit actuation of the articulation section and unlock with selective manipulation of the articulation control member to thereby actuate the articulation section.

A retaining mechanism for releasably securing a trocar assembly within an outer sleeve of an adapter assembly includes a retaining block, a cam wire moveably positioned relative to the retaining block between a lock position and a release position, a retaining block extension maintaining the cam wire relative to the retaining block, a button member in operable engagement with the cam wire, and a pair of retaining members moveable from a first position received within first and second openings of the trocar assembly when the cam wire is in the lock position and a second position spaced from the trocar assembly when the cam wire is in the release position. The retaining members each define a cutout having first and second stepped cutout portions and a smooth transition between the first and second stepped cutouts for receiving the cam wire.

A surgical device comprising: (a) a stylet comprising: one or more support rods; (b) a hand piece comprising: one or more housing structures defining a cavity; and one or more actuating mechanisms comprising: one or more levers attached to one or more pivot axes in the hand piece and configured to form one or more slidable joints in communication with the one or more support rods; wherein the one or more levers are configured to be assembled by: being placed into the hand piece along the assembly direction before the stylet so the stylet may be placed into the hand piece over the one or more levers; or being placed into the hand piece along the assembly direction after the stylet so the one or more levers is placed into the hand piece over the stylet and in communication with the stylet.