Importance

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Abstract

The disclosed subject matter describes a tubular shaft for a tubular shaft instrument having a hollow shaft component, an actuating rod arranged in the hollow shaft component and functional elements that are disposed at the distal ends of the shaft component and/or the actuating rod. The actuating rod is axially displaceable relative to the hollow shaft component to thereby move the distal segments of the functional elements toward one another, past one another and/or away from one another. The actuating rod has at least one area in which flexible segments and support segments alternate with one another and in which the actuating rod has a clearly lower bending resistance at least in one transverse direction than outside this at least one area. The hollow shaft component additionally has at least one area in which the wall of the shaft component features recesses and the shaft component has, at least in a transverse direction, a clearly lower bending resistance than that outside this at least one area. The at least one areas of the actuating rod and of the shaft component overlap at least partially in the longitudinal direction of the tubular shaft. A friction-reducing layer is provided at the at least one area of the actuating rod, which decreases the friction of the actuating rod at the inner wall of the shaft component. The friction-reducing layer is preferably comprised of a heat-shrink tube.

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First Claim