US Patent 7533790 Surgical stapler

A surgical stapler may include a staple, a pusher that holds the staple, a driver, and a splay arm, where motion of at least one of the splay arm and the pusher relative to the other may cause the splay arm to contact and then splay the staple, and wherein the driver may deform the staple against the splay arm to close the staple. Splaying the staple may be performed by plastically deforming the distalmost staple against splay tips on the splay arm. Closing the staple may be performed by plastically deforming the distalmost staple against the splay tips.