Patent ID: 8899465

Claim:
A surgical staple cartridge comprising: a cartridge housing, comprising: a longitudinal axis; a proximal end; a distal end; and a knife channel disposed along the longitudinal axis dividing the cartridge housing into a first side and a second side; a first, a second and a third row of staple pockets located on the first side of the cartridge housing having staples therein, wherein the first, the second and the third row of staple pockets are aligned parallel to the knife channel, and wherein at least the second row of staple pockets is offset from the first and the third rows along a transverse axis; a first staple driver oriented to drive at least four staples from the staple pockets simultaneously, wherein one of the at least four staples is driven from a staple pocket in the first row, wherein one of the at least four staples is driven from a staple pocket in the second row, and wherein two of the at least four staples are driven from a staple pocket in the third row; and a second staple driver configured to eject a staple from the staple pockets, wherein the second staple driver is positioned proximally with respect to the first staple driver, wherein the second staple driver is configured to be moved independently relative to the first staple driver, and wherein the second staple driver is configured to eject a different quantity of staples than the first staple driver.