Appeal No. 96-4107
Application No. 08/368,262
“connector” having a spiked end shaped to mate with the outlet
of a compressible bag of sterile fluid and a nozzle end
“having the size and shape of a syringe tip such that it can
friction fit inside the hub of an IV catheter.” All three of
the applied references disclose a connector having a spiked
end that meets the requirements of the claim. However, none
explicitly teach that the other end of the connector is of
such size and shape as to friction fit inside the hub of a
conventional IV syringe. Nor, in our view, is there any
indication that such inherently would be the case. Harvey
merely describes the other end of the connector as fitting
into a conduit (column 3, lines 55 through 57). Harrison
describes it only as “a connecting section” (column 1, line
54). In the Adolph device, the connectors (unnumbered in
Figures 9 and 10) are not described.
The examiner admits that while none of the references
discloses specific size limitations, the limitations in
question merely concern the size of the invention, which does
not distinguish it from those of the applied prior art
(Answer, page 5). We do not agree. We view the size and
shape requirements recited in the claims to be structural
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