U.S. Patent 7942303 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-05-17 and describes a “Knife lockout mechanisms for surgical instrument.” This patent has been cited 332 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

A cartridge assembly for use with a surgical stapling instrument is disclosed. The cartridge assembly includes a channel, a cover, a staple cartridge and a knife. The channel includes a protrusion thereon. The cover is configured for mechanical engagement with the channel and includes a blocking member and a surface defining a plane. At least a portion of the blocking member is configured to move away from the plane upon contact with the protrusion. The staple cartridge is configured for mechanical engagement with the cover. The blocking member is configured to substantially prevent distal translation of the knife after the knife has been translated proximally past a predetermined position. Link: U.S. Patent 7942303

This patent was originally filed on 2008-06-06 which gives it a processing time of 1075 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Sachin Shah of Milford, CT. The primary examiner was Paul R Durand.

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