Patent ID: 8409223

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 connector plate reciprocally disposed within the housing; 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 includes: 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; and a second spring clip supported thereon for detachably connecting to a first feature of the connector plate, wherein the first feature of the connector plate disengages from the second spring clip following completion of an initial distal joint movement of the connector plate and the pusher bar; 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, wherein the advancer plate includes a spring clip supported thereon for detachably engaging a stationary feature of the housing to maintain the advancer plate in the distal position; 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, wherein the wedge plate includes a spring clip supported thereon for detachably connecting to a second feature of the connector plate, wherein the second feature of the connector plate disengages from the spring clip of the wedge plate following completion of an initial distal joint movement of the connector plate and the wedge plate.