Linear stapling instrument with improved staple cartridge

A linear stapling instrument for use in surgical procedures comprising:

• a handle;
• an elongated shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, said proximal end of said shaft being coupled to said handle;
• a tip coupled to said distal end of said shaft and including two opposed jaws;
• one of said jaws including a housing, said housing having opposing ends, an upper surface extending between said opposing housing ends, a floor extending below said upper surface, a central cavity between said upper surface and said floor, and a plurality of staple openings extending between said upper surface and said central cavity;
• said housing including a longitudinal slot extending through said upper surface of said housing and a sled including a knife, said knife extending through said longitudinal slot and having a cutting edge which extends above said upper surface, said housing further including safety projections on both sides of said longitudinal slot to limit access to said knife when said sled is in a proximal unfired position;
• a plurality of staples disposed in said staple openings such that each said staple opening has an associated staple;
• a plurality of staple drivers, said staple drivers having at least one upper surface having a width bearing on at least one of said staples such that each said staple and said staple opening has an associated staple driver and a lower camming surface, said staple drivers being slidably mounted in said housing for movement from an initial lower position in which said lower camming surface is adjacent said floor to an upper position in which said lower camming surface is distant from said floor and being arranged such that their lower camming surfaces are disposed in two or more spaced rows;
• said sled slidably mounted in said housing for movement through said central cavity and above said floor from said unfired position, said sled having a least one camming surface such that movement of said sled from its unfired to its fired position causes said sled camming surface to contact in sequence said lower camming surface of said staple drivers in said rows and to cam said staple drivers from their lower to their upper positions, thereby ejecting said staples from said staple openings;
• said tip is coupled to said shaft for articulation about an articulation axis and wherein said sled in its unfired and fired positions is distal to said articulation axis.