U.S. Patent 8408442 was awarded to Covidien LP on 2013-04-02 and describes a “Tool assembly for a surgical stapling device.” This patent has been cited 270 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 device comprising an anvil, a cartridge assembly, a dynamic clamping member, a clamp ring and a drive mechanism is disclosed. The cartridge assembly is configured to house a plurality of fasteners at least partially therein. The anvil and cartridge assembly are movable in relation to each other between open and approximated positions. The dynamic clamping member is slidably positioned to translate at least partially through the cartridge assembly to eject fasteners therefrom. The dynamic clamping member engages the anvil and the cartridge assembly. The clamp ring is movable from a retracted position to an advanced position at least partially encircling proximal portions of the anvil and cartridge assembly for preventing a gap between proximal portions of the anvil and cartridge assembly from exceeding a predetermined distance. The drive mechanism includes a single actuator for driving both the clamp ring and the dynamic clamping member. Link: U.S. Patent 8408442

This patent was originally filed on 2011-09-26 which gives it a processing time of 554 days, compared to an average processing time of 837 in the field. Covidien LP has 3582 total patents. The first named inventor is Ralph A. Stearns of Bozrah, CT. The assistant examiner was Michelle Lopez.

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