Patent ID: 8491608

Claim:
An apparatus for application of surgical clips to body tissue, the apparatus comprising: a handle assembly including a trigger and a drive bar reciprocally translatable by the trigger upon an actuation thereof; a shaft assembly extending distally from the handle assembly and defining a longitudinal axis, the shaft assembly including: a housing; a plurality of surgical clips disposed within the housing; a jaw mounted adjacent a distal end portion of the housing, the jaw being movable between an open spaced-apart condition and a closed approximated condition; a pusher bar disposed within the housing for reciprocal movement between proximal and distal positions, the pusher bar being configured to load a distal-most surgical clip into the jaws while the jaws are in the open condition and remain in the distal position during an approximation of the jaws, the pusher bar including a first spring clip supported thereon for detachably connecting to a stationary feature of the housing for maintaining the pusher bar in the distal position; an advancer plate disposed within the housing for reciprocal movement between proximal and distal positions, wherein the advancer plate is engaged by the pusher bar during a distal and a proximal movement of the pusher bar to effectuate one of a distal and proximal movement of the advancer plate; and a wedge plate disposed within the housing for reciprocal movement between proximal and distal positions, wherein a distal end of the wedge plate is disposed in the jaws when in the distal position and a the distal end thereof is free from the jaws when in the proximal position.