US Patent Issued to Covidien on March 3 for "Articulating ultrasonic surgical instruments and systems" (Colorado Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,564,418, issued on March 3, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).

"Articulating ultrasonic surgical instruments and systems" was invented by Matthew S. Cowley (Frederick, Colo.), Thomas E. Drochner (Longmont, Colo.), David J. Van Tol (Boulder, Colo.), Michael B. Lyons (Boulder, Colo.) and James R. Fagan (Erie, Colo.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An ultrasonic surgical instrument includes a housing, an elongated shaft extending distally from the housing, an end effector extending distally from the elongated shaft, and a transducer assembly disposed at least partially within the elongated shaft. The end effector includes a jaw a...