A surgical stapling instrument having a staple fasteningassembly including a curved cartridge device is disclosed.The device has a curved open row of staples having firstand second ends, a concave side and a convex side. A curvedanvil for forming the ends of the staples is opposite thecartridge device. A moving device is adapted to move theanvil with respect to the cartridge device in a parallelrelationship. A staple driving device is adapted to drivethe staples out of the cartridge device towards the anvil.A knife having opposing first and second sides is containedin the cartridge device. A knife actuating device isadapted to move the knife towards the anvil. The staplefastening assembly having a retaining pin is adapted tomove between the cartridge device and the anvil. Theretaining pin is located on the second side of the knife.
