Surgical stapling instrument and cartridge therefor

Claim 1

A surgical stapling system comprising a surgical stapling instrument and a separate surgical staple-carrying cartridge therefore, said instrument being pliers-like and having upper and lower handles, said upper handle having at its forward end a body portion terminating in an elongated downwardly depending nose portion, said nose portion terminating at its lower end in a forwardly extending anvil having an upper surface comprising an anvil surface, said nose and body portions of said upper handle having coplanar forward surfaces, a staple former being removably and slidably mounted on said forward surfaces above said anvil surface, said lower handle having a forward end, said lower handle being pivotally connected near its forward end to said body portion of said upper handle, said forward end of said lower handle being operatively connected to said former to shift said former from a normal retracted position through a staple engaging position to a staple forming position adjacent said anvil surface when said lower handle is shifted from its normal position toward said upper handle, and to shift said former from its staple forming position to is normal retracted position when said lower handle is shifted away from said upper handle to its normal position, and means biasing said lower handle and said former to their normal positions, said staple carrying cartridge comprising a one-piece, elongated member having sides, top and bottom surfaces and ends, a plurality of slots formed in said top surface of said cartridge and extending vertically downwardly thereform, said slots extending transversely of the long axis of said cartridge and being in parallel spaced relationship with respect to each other so as to form a row of said slots along the length of said cartridge, each slot terminating in vertical end surfaces and being so sized as to receive a surgical staple therein of the type having a crown terminating in downwardly depending legs, with said vertical end surfaces of said slot frictionally engaging said downwardly depending staple legs to maintain said staple within said slot, said cartridge having a longitudinal groove in said top surface, said longitudinal groove extending the full length of said cartridge and through said ends thereof, said groove intersecting each of said transverse slots, said longitudinal groove being so configured as to just nicely receive said nose portion of said surgical stapling instrument with said anvil surface below and said staple former above an endmost staple in said row of transverse slots, whereby upon partially shifting said staple former from said normal to said staple engaging position said staple will be engaged by said anvil surface and said former and slightly deformed to release the frictional engagement of said staple legs by said slot end enabling said staple to be withdrawn from said cartridge slot by said surgical stapling instrument.