Patent Issued for Vessel Sealing Jaw with Offset Sealing Surface

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Journal of Engineering -- Covidien LP (Mansfield, MA) has been issued patent number 8323310, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventor is Kingsley, Dylan R. (Broomfield, CO).

This patent was filed on September 29, 2009 and was cleared and issued on December 4, 2012.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "The present disclosure relates to surgical instruments. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to forceps for sealing and/or cutting tissue."

Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventor's summary information for this patent: "The present disclosure relates to a forceps including a housing having shaft attached thereto. The shaft has a longitudinal axis defined therethrough and an end effector assembly disposed at a distal end thereof. The end effector assembly includes a pair of jaw members disposed in opposing relation relative to one another. Each jaw member has an opposing sealing surface and one or both of the jaw members is moveable relative to the other about a pivot from a first position to a second position for grasping tissue therebetween. The pivot is positioned either coincident or offset from the longitudinal axis defined through the shaft. When the jaw members are disposed in the second position, a plane is formed between the opposing sealing surfaces of each of the jaw members. The plane is configured to be positioned offset from the longitudinal axis.

"In one embodiment, the pivot is offset a distance 'X' relative the longitudinal axis, where 'X' is preferably in the range of about 0.036'' to about 0.046''.

"In another embodiment, the plane formed between the opposing sealing surfaces is offset a distance 'Y' relative to the longitudinal axis, where 'Y' is preferably in the range of about 0.005'' to about 0.025''.

"In yet another embodiment, the forceps further includes a knife assembly disposed within the shaft and a knife channel defined within one or both of the jaw members. Upon activation, a knife blade is configured to translate distally from the shaft and extend at least partially through the knife channel(s) to cut tissue disposed between the jaw members. The knife blade may be configured such that when the knife blade is translated distally from the shaft through the knife channel(s), the knife blade is offset a distance 'Z' relative to the pivot.

"In still yet another embodiment, the forceps further includes at least one handle that operably couples to a drive assembly for moving the jaw members between the first and second positions. One or both of the jaw members may be adapted to connect to an electrosurgical energy source to communicate energy to tissue disposed between the jaw members.

"In accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure, a forceps is provided including a housing having a shaft attached thereto. The shaft has a longitudinal axis defined therethrough and an end effector assembly disposed at a distal end thereof. The end effector assembly includes first and second jaw members disposed in opposing relation relative to one another. Each jaw member includes a sealing surface opposed to the sealing surface of the opposing jaw member. The first jaw member is moveable relative to the second jaw member about a pivot from a first position to a second position for grasping tissue therebetween. The sealing surface of the second jaw member is offset relative to the longitudinal axis defined through the shaft.

"In one embodiment, the sealing surface of the first jaw member has a thickness 'T' that forms a substantially parallel plane beyond the longitudinal axis and toward the opposing sealing surface. The thickness 'T' may be in the range of about 0.105'' to about 0.120''."

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Kingsley, Dylan R.. Vessel Sealing Jaw with Offset Sealing Surface. U.S. Patent Number 8323310, filed September 29, 2009, and issued December 4, 2012. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=92&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=4559&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=20121204.PD.&OS=ISD/20121204&RS=ISD/20121204

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