Patent ID: RE38708

Claim:
A disposable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising: a) a staple cartridge body having a longitudinal pathway extending therethrough and a plurality of spaced apart retention slots defined therein, each supporting a respective surgical fastener; b) a plurality of fastener ejection members disposed adjacent the plurality of spaced apart retention slots and communicating with the longitudinal pathway; c) an actuator at least partially disposed within the staple cartridge body and configured to be translated through the longitudinal pathway to contact the fastener ejection members and thereby sequentially eject the surgical fasteners from their respective retention slots, the actuator including a base portion defining a plane and having at least two upstanding parallel cam plates each defining an angled leading edge for contacting the fastener ejection members; d) a cutting member configured to translate through the staple cartridge body, the cutting member having a blade and a blade support, the blade support including a camming surface spaced from the blade configured to interact with an abutment surface defined within a distal end portion of the staple cartridge body, wherein the staple cartridge body includes a planar tissue contacting surface through which extends a linear slot to accommodate translation of the cutting member, the planar tissue contacting surface defining a tissue contacting plane, the cutting member intersecting the tissue contacting plane during the translation thereof, and moving out of intersection with the tissue contacting plane when the camming surface of the cutting member contacts the abutment surface of the staple cartridge body.