Appeal No. 2003-1568 Page 6
Application No. 09/516,603
of said jaw members being adapted to receive a staple cartridge for supporting a
plurality of staples.
31. A surgical instrument comprising:
a handle portion;
a body portion fixed to the handle portion and defining a longitudinal axis;
a tool portion remotely actuable from the handle portion, the tool portion having
an anvil jaw and a cartridge jaw containing a cartridge with staples, the cartridge
jaw being mounted for reciprocal longitudinal movement relative to the body
portion and handle portion between a first position wherein the jaws are in a
closed position and a second position wherein the jaw members are in an open
position;
an actuating mechanism connected to the cartridge jaw, the actuating
mechanism being movable to move the jaws between the open and the closed
positions; and
a firing mechanism actuable from the handle portion to fire the staples
from the cartridge jaw when the jaws are in the closed position.
34. In a surgical instrument configured for capturing tissue, the surgical
instrument including an elongated body portion extending distally from a handle
portion and a distal tool portion supported by the elongated body portion and
having a staple supply, the improvement comprising the distal tool portion having
first and second jaw members extending from a distal end of the elongated body
portion, one of the jaw members being adaptable to receive a staple cartridge,
and an actuating portion connected to at least one of the jaw members and
being longitudinally movable to cause longitudinal movement of the at least one
jaw member with respect to the elongated body portion, wherein the jaw
members open and close in response to the longitudinal movement.
Green's invention relates to surgical stapling apparatus, and more specifically to
a drive member within a surgical stapler for driving a surgical staple into body tissue.
Figure 7 is a perspective cut-away view of a surgical stapling apparatus including the
staple drive member of Green's invention. Figure 7 shows a surgical stapling apparatus
510 which includes an endoscopic portion 512 and a handle portion 514. The
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