Patent attributes
A surgical instrument for use with a staple cartridge removably storing a plurality of staples is disclosed. The surgical instrument comprises a handle, a firing actuator operably coupled to the handle, a closure drive configured to selectively generate a closing motion and an opening motion, a firing drive configured to selectively generate a rotary firing motion upon actuation of the firing actuator, and an elongate shaft assembly operably coupled to the closure drive and the firing drive to separately transmit the closing motion before the rotary firing motion, and an end effector responsive to the closing motion. The end effector comprises a staple cartridge, an anvil, a cutting member movable relative to the staple cartridge in response to the rotary firing motion from the elongate shaft assembly, and an I-beam configured to control spacing between the anvil and the staple cartridge during deployment of the staples.
