Appeal No. 96-4138
Application 08/392,609
Appellant’s invention relates to a catheter assembly in
which the improvement resides in a lap joint for connecting a
catheter segment (22) or catheter apparatus, as it is called in
claim 1, to a selected device such as another catheter segment
(12) (see Figure 3) or a tip (30) (see Figure 5). The catheter
or, more particularly, the catheter apparatus (22) is of the type
having inner and outer tubular members and a support member in
the form of a braid (15) between the tubular members. The lap
joint is made by forming a counterbore (25) in one end of the
catheter apparatus and by forming a reduced diametered male
portion or member (16) on the selected device for reception in
the counterbore.
According to appellant’s invention as defined in independent
claims 1 and 14, the counterbore has a sufficiently large
diameter to effectively remove all of the support member along
the length of the counterbore to provide what is called a
“flexibility transition area” in the appealed independent
claims. As stated in appellant’s specification, this lap joint2
construc-tion overcomes kinking problems with prior art catheter
joints.
Consistent with appellant’s specification, we have interpreted the2
word “effectively” to mean that the support member is completely removed
along the entire length of the counterbore.
2
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