Appeal No. 96-0918
Application 08/059,017
35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Wechsler in view of
Larson and Racioppi.
Claims 28 and 34 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as
being unpatentable over Wechsler in view of Larson and
Racioppi as applied in the rejection of claim 23 et al., and
further in view of Nordgren.
OPINION
According to appellants’ specification, the bristles of
the disclosed cleaning device can act to clean surgical
instruments in several ways. For example, a surgical
instrument can be dragged or pushed across the bristles or
rotated within the bristles to clear the exposed surfaces of
the instrument. Also, the interior of a suction tube can be
cleaned by moving the tube vertically up and down over
bristles which enter the tube to dislodge coagulum or the
like. Emphasis in the specification is placed on forming each
bristle to have a non-circular cross-section and one or more
vertical sharp edges. The sharp edges are said to act to
facilitate the scraping action of the bristles and the non-
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