Appeal No. 95-4369 Application 08/117,242 The Invention The invention is directed to an apparatus and method using a remote laser to ablate a hazardous material sample, exciting the sample in a remotely located inductively coupled plasma source, and analyzing the elemental constituents of the sample in a detector remotely located from the plasma source. Claims 45, 64, 73 and 81 are the only independent claims. Claims 45, 64 and 81 recite an aerosol transport system for transporting the material sample to the remote inductively coupled plasma source. Claim 73, on the other hand, recites not an aerosol transport system but a filter for collecting the sample. Representative claims 64 and 73 are reproduced below: 64. A method for sampling and analyzing a material located at a hazardous site, the material having a surface and elemental constituents, comprising the steps of: a) positioning a portable sampling probe proximate the surface of the material at the hazardous site; b) directing laser radiation from a laser source located remote from the probe onto the surface of the material through a first optical fiber, the first optical fiber having two ends, a first end coupled to said laser source and a second end mounted to the portable sampling probe, the laser radiation ablating a sample from the material; c) transporting the sample through an aerosol transport system from said probe to a remotely located inductively coupled plasma source; and 3Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: November 3, 2007