Apparatus for feeding and severing fastener attachment stock. The stock is formed by elongated side members that are intercoupled by a plurality of spaced apart cross links. The side members are fed and severed between adjacent cross members to form individual fastener attachments.

A surgical staple for use in joining the skin or fascia of a patient. The staple is adapted to be formed about an anvil during emplacement. The staple has points formed by diagonal cuts across the ends, and its configuration prior to emplacement is such, that the diagonal cuts are perpendicular to the upper surface of the anvil and the skin or fascia, whereby the staple penetrates the skin or fascia without the tendency to slide therealong. The configuration is such that at initial contact of the staple points with the skin or fascia, the points lie substantially in the plane of the forming corners of the anvil, thereby affording greater skin gathering during emplacement. The configuration disclosed facilitates stacking of the staples for use in a cartridge, and provides for an improvement in the space factor within the cartridge over staples of conventional shape.

A medical stapling device in which, upon activation, spaced lugs on a driver advance open staples along a track between two grooved rails frictionally holding the staples so that the leading staple will be closed around an anvil at the end of the track and can suture adjacent living tissue. Subsequently cam members which maintained the lugs in engagement with the staples as the lead staple was closed are biased by a spring to a position at which the lugs separate from and move around the staples as the driver is returned to its original position at which the lugs again engage subsequent staples along the track.

A surgical stapling instrument for forming and implanting a staple in the skin or fascia of a patient to close a wound or incision therein. The surgical stapling instrument is intended to be used with a staple carrying cartridge of the type taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,504 and characterized by a staple feeding track containing a stack of staples, a parallel staple forming tack, a longitudinally shiftable feeder actuator operative to cause the bottommost staple of the stack to be shifted from the staple feeding track to the staple forming track and a longitudinally shiftable staple former to implant the staple and form it about an anvil mounted on the instrument. The surgical stapling instrument has a handle portion and a nose portion rotatively mounted in the handle portion and capable of being set and remaining in any rotative position with respect to the handle portion. The nose portion carries the instrument anvil and releasably supports the surgical staple carrying cartridge. The nose portion also mounts a longitudinally shiftable feeder block operatively connected to the cartridge feeder actuator and a longitudinally shiftable driver operatively connected to the cartridge staple former. A trigger is mounted in the handle portion and is operatively connected to the driver to shift the driver to cause the cartridge staple former to form and implant a staple. A feeder pawl causes the feeder block to travel with the driver during the driver's initial travel to operate the cartridge feeder actuator to provide a staple for the cartridge staple former to implant and form.

A driving mechanism is provided as a means to clamp and implant surgical staples pneumatically. First, one pneumatic line propels a clamping piston to clamp the tissue and to propel a driving piston into position to be fired. Then a second pneumatic line causes the driving piston to propel a driver which implants staples into the tissue.