FIRING MEMBER RETRACTION DEVICES FOR POWERED SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS

摘要

A surgical instrument that includes a motor-powered drive unit that drives a portion of a firing member assembly in an axial direction to actuate a surgical end effector coupled to the instrument. The instrument may further include a retraction system configured to interact with the firing member assembly to permit a clinician to manually retract the portion of the firing member assembly should it become jammed or inadvertently stopped during a firing process. The surgical instrument includes a locking arrangement that interfaces with the retraction system and the motor-powered drive unit to prevent the transfer of the retraction forces generated by the retraction system to the motor shaft without physically separating portions of the motorized drive unit.

主权项

1. A surgical instrument comprising:
a firing member assembly including a portion supported for selective axial movement in a distal direction and a proximal direction; a drive unit, comprising:
a motor including a motor shaft; anda gear assembly drivingly coupled to the motor shaft and including an output shaft assembly configured to interface with the firing member assembly such that upon rotation of the motor shaft in a first rotary direction, the portion of the firing member assembly is axially driven in the distal direction and upon rotation of the motor shaft in a second rotary direction, the portion of the firing member assembly is axially driven in the proximal direction and wherein the surgical instrument further comprises: a retraction assembly interfacing with the firing member assembly for manually applying other rotary motions to the firing member assembly in the second rotary direction when the motor is deactivated; and locking means interfacing with the retraction assembly and the drive unit for preventing transfer of the other rotary motions to the motor shaft during operation of the retraction assembly and while the gear assembly remains drivingly coupled to the motor shaft.