ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,746,003, issued on Sept. 29, was assigned to Intuitive Surgical Operations Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
"Surgical instrument with adjustable jaws" was invented by Ashley Wellman (East Palo Alto, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical instrument, such as a tissue sealing instrument, is provided with an end effector having first and second movable jaws that define a gap therebetween in the closed position for clamping, sealing and/or stapling tissue. The jaws are movable relative to each other in the closed position to reduce a thickness of least one portion of this gap. This configuration allows the jaws to be moved closer togethe...