Appeal No. 99-0228
Application No. 08/721,504
claim 1 by the recitation of a hollow tube terminating at its
distal end in a cutting surface and being of a smaller
diameter near the distal end than at the proximal end, and
ejection means for urging the slug cut by the hollow tube and
lodged in the distal end of the tube toward the proximal end.
Independent method claim 13 contains the same limitation.
Dann, the primary reference, discloses a punch for
cutting slugs from a semisolid material such as bacterial
culture media and forming them into cups into which liquid can
be placed. The apparatus for accomplishing this comprises
coaxial inner (1) and outer (4) hollow tubes, each of which
terminates at its distal end in a cutting edge (2 and 6). Air
inlet holes (7) are provided in the outer tube at a point
adjacent to the cutting edge, and a source of vacuum is
connected to the proximal end of the inner tube to pull the
slug through the inner tube. In operation, the cutting edge
of the outer tube creates a disc-shaped slug form the
semisolid media which, when pulled through the inner tube by
the vacuum, is formed into a cup-like configuration inasmuch
as the distal opening in the inner tube is of a lesser
diameter than the slug. Dann does not disclose a single
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