US Patent Issued to Cilag GmbH International on Jan. 27 for "Articulatable surgical instruments with movable jaws located in close proximity to an articulation axis" (Ohio Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 28 -- United States Patent no. 12,533,127, issued on Jan. 27, was assigned to Cilag GmbH International (Zug, Switzerland).

"Articulatable surgical instruments with movable jaws located in close proximity to an articulation axis" was invented by Frederick E. Shelton IV (Hillsboro, Ohio) and Jason L. Harris (Lebanon, Ohio).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical instrument that includes a first jaw that has a pair of laterally aligned vertical slots formed in a proximal end portion thereof. Each vertical slot includes an open upper end. A second jaw is movably supported for selective pivotal travel relative to the first jaw between a fully open and a fully closed position...