Manually driven surgical cutting and fastening instrument

A cutting and fastening instrument, comprising:

• a handle assembly;
• a closure shuttle movably supported by said handle assembly;
• a closure trigger operably supported by said handle assembly and operable to apply a closing and opening force to said closure shuttle;
• an elongate spine assembly having a distal end and a proximal end, said proximal end supported by said closure shuttle and said distal end coupled to an elongate channel configured to receive a staple cartridge therein;
• an anvil pivotally coupled to said elongate channel;
• a closure tube assembly supported on said elongate spine assembly and coupled to said handle assembly, said closure tube assembly cooperating with said anvil such that upon application of said closure force to said closure shuttle, said spine assembly moves distally within said closure tube assembly causing said anvil to pivot to a closed position and upon application of said opening force to said closure shuttle, said spine assembly moves proximally within said closure tube assembly causing said anvil to pivot to an open position;
• a cutting and severing member operably supported within said elongate channel;
• a shifter assembly supported in said handle assembly and being selectively movable between a firing orientation and a retraction orientation, said shifter assembly cooperating with a firing trigger such that upon actuation of said firing trigger when said shifter assembly is in said firing orientation, said shifter assembly applies a rotary firing motion to said cutting and severing member to drive said cutting and severing member distally through said elongate channel and such that upon another actuation of said firing trigger when said shifter assembly is in said retraction orientation, said shifter assembly applies a rotary retraction motion to said cutting and severing member to drive said cutting and severing member proximally through said elongate channel.

A surgical instrument comprising:

• a handle assembly;
• closure means supported by said handle assembly for generating a closing motion and an opening motion;
• firing means supported by said handle assembly for manually generating a rotary firing motion and a rotary retraction motion upon manual actuation of a firing trigger operably coupled to said handle assembly;
• cartridge support means coupled to said handle assembly for supporting a staple cartridge therein;
• cutting means supported within said cartridge support means;
• force transmitting means coupled to said handle assembly and communicating with said closure means and said firing means to separately transfer said closing motion, said firing motion and said retraction motion to said cutting means;
• and
• anvil means pivotally coupled to said cartridge support means, said anvil means being pivotally responsive to said open and closing motions from said force transmitting means.

A surgical instrument, comprising:

• an end effector, comprising:
• a channel configured to receive a staple cartridge;
• and
• a cutting member operably supported within said channel;
• a firing member operably engaged with said cutting member;
• a trigger;
• a firing drive configured to advance said firing member toward said end effector and to move said cutting member relative to said channel, wherein said trigger is selectively engageable with said firing drive to operate said firing drive;
• and
• a reversing drive configured to retract said firing member away from said end effector and to move said cutting member relative to said channel, wherein said trigger is selectively engageable with said reversing drive to operate said reversing drive, and wherein said trigger can be operably disengaged from said firing drive and operably engaged with said reversing drive prior to or upon an actuation of said trigger.

A surgical instrument, comprising:

• an end effector;
• a firing member;
• a trigger;
• a firing drive selectively engageable with said firing member, wherein said firing drive is configured to advance said firing member relative to said end effector upon an actuation of said trigger;
• and
• a reversing drive selectively engageable with said firing member, wherein said reversing drive includes a gear configured to retract said firing member relative to said end effector upon a subsequent actuation of said trigger.

A surgical instrument, comprising:

• an end effector;
• a firing member;
• a trigger;
• a firing drive selectively engageable with said firing member, wherein said firing drive is configured to advance said firing member relative to said end effector upon an actuation of said trigger;
• and
• a gear train, comprising:
• a first gear operably engaged with said firing member;
• a second gear operably engaged with said trigger, wherein said second gear is selectively operable with said first gear such that a subsequent actuation of said trigger retracts said firing drive relative to said end effector.