Patent ID: 8529588

Claim:
A surgical clip applier, comprising: a cartridge defining a disposable discrete subassembly adapted to be removably coupled to a reusable handle assembly, the cartridge comprising: a housing defining a longitudinal axis; a drive pin protruding from the housing transversely to the longitudinal axis, the drive pin movable along the longitudinal axis a train of clips disposed in a plane; a single clip removed from the train of clips and disposed in a staging position; a pair of jaws sized and configured to receive the single clip from the staging position, the pair of jaws longitudinally fixed with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing; a clip advancer movable in the plane of the train of clips, the clip advancer biasing the train of clips in a first direction; and a jaw loader moveable outside the plane of the train of clips for advancing the single clip from the staging position into the jaws, the jaw loader operatively coupled to the drive pin; wherein, the jaw loader is movable independently of the clip advancer; and the staging position is removed from the plane of the train of clips and removed from the pair of jaws.