Abstract: A magazine fed, trigger driven surgical stapler to close a surgical incision. The stapler has an anvil and a staple driving die, an adjustable stop for controlling movement of the staple driving die so that staples can be reformed to a range of closed positions. The anvil is pivotable under control of the staple driving die between a staple engaging position and position clear of the staples. A forcep assembly operable under actuation control of the staple driving die acts to draw the edges of the incision into close approximation. A staple blank with a concave back, upper arms extending the concave shape of the back and pointed lower arms extending downwardly and inwardly from the upper arms, which blank on reformation around the anvil will adopt a substantially hexagonal configuration.

Abstract: A retractor device to facilitate aligning and opposing the edges of a wound preparatory to its closing. The retractor is a resiliently flexible strip member having hooks attached at each end thereof. The hooks are adapted to engage the extremities of the incision when the strip member is bent to a partially bowed configuration so that the resulting tension which is applied through the hooks operates to align the edges of the wound along the entire length of the incision.