Patent ID: 8505801

Claim:
A surgical stapling apparatus, comprising: a cartridge half-section; a replaceable staple cartridge assembly selectively receivable in the cartridge half-section, the replaceable staple cartridge assembly including: a cartridge body with staple retaining slots; a plurality of surgical staples disposed within the staple retaining slots of the cartridge body; a plurality of staple pusher members; and a knife having a coupling member disposed at a proximal end of the knife; an anvil half-section having an anvil surface for forming the plurality of surgical staples deployed from the cartridge half-section; a knife drive member secured to at least one of the cartridge half-section and the anvil half-section, the knife drive member having a knife coupling feature disposed at a distal end of the knife drive member, the coupling member of the knife being configured to engage the knife coupling feature of the knife drive member such that reciprocal axial movement of the knife drive member moves the knife between extended and retracted positions within the staple cartridge assembly; and a firing lever secured to at least one of the anvil half-section and the cartridge half-section, the firing lever being longitudinally movable to sequentially fire the plurality of surgical staples, wherein the firing lever is pivotable to extend from a selected one of a right and left side of the apparatus.