U.S. Patent 8186555 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2012-05-29 and describes a “Motor-driven surgical cutting and fastening instrument with mechanical closure system.” This patent has been cited 334 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 surgical cutting and fastening instrument is disclosed. According to various embodiments, the instrument includes an end effector comprising an elongate channel, a clamping member pivotably connected to the channel, and a moveable cutting instrument for traversing the channel to cut an object clamped in the end effector by the clamping member when the clamping member is in a clamped position. The instrument may also comprise a main drive shaft assembly for actuating the cutting instrument in the end effector, a gear drive train connected to the main drive shaft assembly, and a motor for actuating the gear drive train. The instrument may also includes a closure trigger and a firing trigger, separate from the closure trigger, for actuating the motor when the firing trigger is retracted. Also, the instrument may comprise a mechanical closure system connected to the closure trigger and to the clamping member for causing the clamping member to pivot to the clamped position when the closure trigger is retracted. Link: U.S. Patent 8186555

This patent was originally filed on 2006-01-31 which gives it a processing time of 2310 days, compared to an average processing time of 1218 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Frederick E. Shelton, IV of Hillsboro, OR. The primary examiner was Rinaldi Rada.

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