Appeal No. 2000-0472
Application No. 08/868,536
threaded sleeve is rotatably carried on the tubular member.
Therefore, we will not sustain the § 103 rejection of
claim 14 and dependent claim 15.
Rejection Pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b)
Pursuant to 37 CFR § 1.196(b), claims 7 and 9 to 11 are
rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over
Groshong in view of APA.
As indicated in our discussion of the § 102(b) rejection,
supra, Groshong discloses structure meeting all the
limitations of these claims except for the recitation in claim
7 that the stylet body is "bent adjacent a distal end [etc.]."
APA, which is in the section of the specification titled
"Description of the Prior Art," states (emphasis added):
When inserting a venous catheter for total
parenteral nutrition or an endotracheal tube, it is
general practice to insert a metal wire or a stylet
into a catheter to give some rigidity to the
catheter or tube since such a catheter is too soft
to insert into the blood vessel or trachea without
causing bending of the catheter. The stylet is bent
into a desired shape as occasion demands. For
example, in case of intratracheal intubation, the
stylet is bent into a shape corresponding to the
shape of [the] respiratory tract of a patient whose
larynx [is] being expanded.
As mentioned above, Groshong discloses that the stylet 28
7
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