U.S. Patent 8464922 was awarded to Covidien LP on 2013-06-18 and describes a “Variable compression surgical fastener cartridge.” This patent has been cited 250 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 fastener cartridge is provided and includes a cartridge body having a tissue contacting surface that includes a plurality of fastener retention slots. A plurality of surgical fasteners is operatively disposed in the plurality of fastener retention slots. A plurality of pushers is operably associated with the plurality of surgical fasteners. Each pusher is configured for ejecting an associated surgical fastener towards a depression in an anvil. An actuation sled is housed within the cartridge body and includes a plurality of cam wedges. The plurality of cam wedges configured to sequentially contact the plurality of pushers such that a surgical fastener that is ejected closer to a cut line produces a greater compression force to stapled tissue than a surgical fastener ejected further from the cut line. Link: U.S. Patent 8464922

This patent was originally filed on 2009-03-25 which gives it a processing time of 1546 days, compared to an average processing time of 1080 in the field. Covidien LP has 3582 total patents. The first named inventor is Stanislaw Z. Marczyk of Stratford, CA. The primary examiner was M. Alexandra Elve.

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