Patent ID: 8636193

Claim:
A surgical stapler device for closing staples, each staple having a distal staple leg and a proximal staple leg, the device comprising: an anvil portion including at least two rows of staple pockets, each one of the at least two rows including a staple pocket set corresponding to each staple, each staple pocket set including a distal staple pocket for receiving and forming the distal staple leg of the corresponding staple and a proximal staple pocket for receiving and forming the proximal staple leg of the corresponding staple, wherein at least a portion of a staple pocket of a staple pocket set from a first row of staple pocket sets is disposed in a region between the staple pockets of a staple pocket set from a second row of staple pocket sets, wherein a first space is defined between each staple pocket set and a second space is defined between the distal staple pocket and the proximal staple pocket of each staple pocket set so that the distal staple pocket and the proximal staple pocket are free from contact with one another, and wherein at least one proximal staple pocket of a first row of staple pocket sets is transversely aligned with at least one distal staple pocket of a second row of staple pocket sets.