Method of manufacturing surgical staples

1. A process for manufacturing a surgical apparatus, comprising:

providing a flat, generally-planar strip of biocompatible material;

cutting said strip to produce a feeder belt with at least one lateral edge, and a plurality of staples affixed to said feeder belt in proximity to at least one said lateral edge, said staples and said feeder belt substantially aligned along a first plane; and

bending at least one said staple out of said first plane, while said feeder belt remains in said first plane.

2. Surgical apparatus manufactured by the process of claim 1 .

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biocompatible material is stainless steel.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein said biocompatible material is a titanium alloy.

5. The process of claim 1 , further comprising coining at least one said staple after said cutting and before said bending.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein said cutting is performed by stamping said flat strip.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein said bending is performed by stamping said feeder belt and said staples.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein said bending comprises bending at least one said staple to form substantially a right angle between said at least one staple and said feeder belt.

9. A process for manufacturing a surgical apparatus, comprising:

providing a flat, generally-planar strip of biocompatible material;

cutting said strip to produce a feeder belt with a plurality of edges, and a plurality of staples affixed to different said edges of said feeder belt; and

coining at least one said staple after said cutting.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein said cutting produces a plurality of staples extending from each of two laterally-opposed edges of said feeder belt.

11. The process of claim 9 , wherein said biocompatible material is stainless steel.

12. The process of claim 9 , wherein each of said cutting, said coining and said bending are performed by stamping.

13. The process of claim 9 , further comprising bending at least one said staple relative to said feeder belt after said coining.

14. The process of claim 13 , wherein said bending comprises bending at least one said staple to form approximately a right angle between said at least one staple and said feeder belt.

15. A process for manufacturing a surgical apparatus, comprising:

providing a flat, generally-planar strip of biocompatible material;

stamping said strip to cut a feeder belt with at least one lateral edge, and cut a plurality of staples affixed to said feeder belt in proximity to said lateral edge, said staples and said feeder belt substantially aligned along a first plane; and

stamping at least one of said feeder belt and said staples to coin at least one said staple after said stamping said strip to cut a feeder belt; and

stamping at least one said staple to bend said at least one staple out of said first plane, while said feeder belt remains in said first plane.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein said biocompatible material is stainless steel.

17. The process of claim 15 , wherein said stamping said strip to cut a feeder belt with at least one lateral edge, and cut a plurality of staples affixed to said feeder belt, includes cutting at least one staple with two spaced-apart ends, one of which is affixed to said feeder belt and one of which is free.

18. The process of claim 15 , further comprising moving said strip, then repeating each of said stamping actions on a portion of said strip that was not previously stamped.

19. The process of claim 15 , wherein at least one said staple is generally V-shaped.

20. The process of claim 15 , wherein at least one said staple is generally U-shaped.