ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,690,872, issued on July 28, was assigned to Aesculap AG (Tuttlingen, Germany).
"Medical sliding shaft instrument" was invented by Richard Mattes (Duerbheim, Germany) and Thomas Pleil (Bad Duerrheim, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A medical sliding shaft instrument includes a tool element carrier, a tubular sliding shaft surrounding the tool element carrier and defining a sliding direction, and an actuating device for moving the sliding shaft relative to the tool element carrier in the distal direction. At least one tool element is arranged or movably mounted on the distal end of the tool element carrier. The at least one tool ele...