Patent ID: 7438208

Claim:
A nasal septal stapling apparatus, comprising: a) an instrument body having proximal and distal end portions; b) a handle at the distal end portion that enables a user to hold and manipulate the instrument body; c) a pair of spaced apart arms extending from the handle including a staple arm and a tensioning arm; d) the body having a trigger that moves between resting and firing positions; e) an actuator link that moves between first and second positions, the actuator link being moved by the trigger, wherein the actuator link includes a staple moving member that is attached to the staple arm; f) the staple arm having a staple bank that includes multiple staples; g) wherein a gap exists between the staple arm and the tensioning arm when the trigger is in the resting position and when the trigger is in the firing position; h) wherein the trigger, actuator link, staple bank and staple moving member are configured to move a staple to stapling position when the trigger is pulled from the resting position to the firing position; i) wherein the tensioning arm is configured to move toward the staple arm when the trigger is pulled from the resting position to the firing position; and j) wherein the trigger is configured to move in a line parallel to the staple arm when the trigger is pulled from the resting position to the firing position.