Patent ID: 8231041

Claim:
A surgical fastener applying apparatus comprising: a cartridge body including a tissue contacting surface, the tissue contacting surface including a plurality of fastener retention slots arranged in a plurality of rows including at least an inner row and an outer row; a plurality of surgical fasteners disposed in the inner and outer rows, and configured such that a plurality of fasteners disposed in the inner row have a first diameter that is less than a second diameter of a plurality of surgical fasteners disposed in the outer row; an anvil having an inner row and an outer row of depressions for forming the fasteners; and a plurality of pushers operably disposed within the cartridge body, each pusher of the plurality of pushers being operably associated with a respective one of the plurality of surgical fasteners to eject the surgical fasteners towards the respective depression in the anvil, the plurality of pushers are flexible to provide a requisite driving force to form the inner and outer rows of fasteners against the respective depressions in the anvil such that the plurality of surgical fasteners disposed in the outer row deflect the pushers more than the plurality of surgical fasteners disposed in the inner row such that upon formation of a corresponding surgical fastener, the surgical fasteners ejected from the inner row provide a greater compressive force to tissue than the surgical fasteners ejected from the outer row.