Patent ID: 7004950

Claim:
A surgical stapler for closing wounds in tissue, comprising: a housing with a forward end; a chamber for receiving surgical staples having laterally spaced tines; an anvil with a staple bending surface having a width for receiving a staple in an unbent condition; a staple driver for driving the laterally spaced tines of the staple into margins of tissue on lateral sides of the wound and bending the staple around the staple bending surface to draw the tines and the margins of the tissue captured therebetween toward each other; an actuator trigger connected with either of said staple driver or said anvil for moving one relative to the other between a retracted position and a staple forming position; and a tissue spacer at a forward end of said housing having a lower end adapted to be removably positioned between lateral sides of the wound to space and hold facing margins of tissue on lateral sides of the wound apart while the staple tines are inserted into the margins of tissue and the staple is bent around said staple bending surface to close the staple tines and draw the tissue margins captured therebetween toward each other; and said lower end having a width greater than the width of said stable bending surface and less than the distance between the tines of the staple in an unbent condition to provide a metered amount of tissue on lateral sides of the wound to be captured between the staple tines such that the facing margins of tissue are drawn together to close the wound without crushing or overlapping of the captured tissue.