Surgical instrument with integral knife blade

1. A surgical instrument comprising:

an end effector including two opposed jaws coupled to an elongated shaft;

a housing included in one of the two opposed jaws, the housing including a housing proximal end and a housing distal end, the housing having a housing receptacle;

a drive member slidably mounted in the housing; and

a knife member movably supported within the housing, the knife member including:

a body portion;

a first protrusion extending from the body portion transversely to a cutting plane of the knife member, the first protrusion being accommodated by the housing receptacle and retained within the housing receptacle via engagement with the receptacle and an upper surface of the drive member during a first movement of the drive member toward the housing distal end from a first position to a second position, the first protrusion being dislodged from the housing receptacle during a second movement of the drive member toward the housing distal end from the second position to a third position; and

a cutting blade attached to the body portion and configured to cut tissue along the cutting plane when the knife member is moved toward the housing distal end.

2. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the distance between the first position and the second position is approximately 4 mm.

3. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein the knife member is rotated to remove the first protrusion from the housing receptacle prior to the drive member reaching the third position.

4. The instrument of claim 3 , wherein the drive member has a drive member receptacle that receives the first protrusion and accommodates the first protrusion during the second movement of the drive member, the drive member receptacle being disposed below the housing receptacle.

5. The instrument of claim 4 , wherein the knife member includes a drive feature, the drive member not interfacing with the drive feature during the first movement of the drive member, the drive member interfacing with the drive feature during the second movement of the drive member to drive the knife member toward the housing distal end.

6. The instrument of claim 5 , wherein the drive feature comprises a second protrusion extending from an opposite side of the body portion from which the first protrusion extends.

7. The instrument of claim 6 , wherein the housing further comprising a cam surface that interfaces with the second protrusion as the drive member is moved distally through a third movement from the third position to a fourth position, during which the second protrusion is driven along the cam surface to raise a distal end of the knife member and lower the cutting blade into the housing.

8. The instrument of claim 6 , wherein the first protrusion is retained within the drive member receptacle via engagement between the first protrusion and the housing during the second movement of the drive member.

9. The instrument of claim 8 , wherein:

the housing further comprising a cam surface that interfaces with the second protrusion as the drive member is moved distally through a third movement from the third position to a fourth position, during which the second protrusion is driven along the cam surface to raise a distal end of the knife member and lower the cutting blade into the housing; and

the first protrusion is retained within the drive member receptacle via engagement between the first protrusion and the housing during the third movement of the drive member.

10. The instrument of claim 1 , the housing further comprising a cam surface that interfaces with the knife member as the drive member is moved distally through a third movement from the third position to a fourth position, during which a distal end of the knife member is driven along the cam surface to raise the distal end of the knife member and lower the cutting blade into the housing.

11. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein:

the housing defines a plurality of staple openings extending between an upper surface of the housing and a central cavity of the housing;

the instrument further comprises a plurality of staples disposed in the staple openings and a plurality of staple pushers;

the drive member interfaces with each of the plurality of staple pushers during the second movement of the drive member to displace each of the plurality of staple pushers to push a respective one of the plurality of staples to deploy the staple from a respective one of the staple openings.

12. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein:

the housing forms a longitudinal slot that accommodates a portion of the body portion while the knife member is moved toward the housing distal end; and

the receptacle extends transversely from the longitudinal slot.

13. The instrument of claim 1 , wherein:

the housing has a tissue clamping surface configured to interface with a tissue clamped by the two opposed jaws; and

the housing receptacle is disposed between the tissue clamping surface and the upper surface of the drive member during the first movement of the drive member.

14. The instrument of claim 13 , wherein:

the drive member has a drive member receptacle that receives the first protrusion and accommodates the first protrusion during the second movement of the drive member; and

the housing receptacle is disposed between the drive member receptacle and the tissue clamping surface when the first protrusion is received by the drive member receptacle.