in its retracted position and the lower region 16 39 at the front of the channel 16 a staple magazine 26 fig1 and 6 extends parallel to the channel 16 in the front housing portion 11 staples 24 are arranged in the magazine standing upright side by side and extending along the feed passage of the magazine parallel to the channel 16 a helical spring 25 braced against the housing contacts the rearmost staple and urges the rearmost staple and with it the entire stack of staples forward under constant tension the forward section 26 39 of the staple magazine 26 is curved upwardly at an angle of 90 u00b0 and opens into the channel 16 the staples are urged into the curved section 26 39 of the magazine and extend along the arc of the curve as depicted in fig6 with the forwardmost staple 24 39 being disposed lying flat in the channel 16 the lower region 16 39 in the forward portion of the channel 16 in which the leaf spring 19 can move vertically is of greater width than the region above it the height of the wider lower channel portion 16 39 is only slightly greater than the thickness of the staples 24 so that channel portion 16 39 forms a guide channel for the advance of.