US Patent Issued to Covidien on Dec. 30 for "Sealed electrical connection between surgical loading unit and elongated shaft" (Connecticut Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,508,023, issued on Dec. 30, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).

"Sealed electrical connection between surgical loading unit and elongated shaft" was invented by Pawel Abramek (Berlin, Conn.), Kenneth H. Whitfield (North Haven, Conn.), Roanit A. Fernandes (Hamden, Conn.) and Kenneth M. Cappola (Monroe, Conn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical stapling apparatus includes a housing assembly, an elongated shaft extending from the housing assembly, a housing electrical connector assembly, and a loading unit selectively attachable to the elongated shaft. The loading unit extends distally to an end effector supporting at leas...