Abstract: An improved nasal cannula is made of a soft pliable material and has two hollow tubular prongs which are ribbed to prevent significant closure of the airways through the prongs upon bending of the prongs and a base adapted to receive a soft strip of foam-like material which can be attached to a skull cap for securing the prongs of the cannula in the nasal passages of a patient.

Abstract: A catheter is disclosed for measuring the intrauterine pressure of a woman in labor. It comprises an elongated flexible tube filled with liquid and having one end apertured to permit the liquid therein to communicate with bodily fluids in the uterus; the other end is sealed by a relaxed diaphragm. The catheter tube is inserted into a curved guide tube which is scored at the end adjacent the apertured end of the catheter to permit the catheter to be extended from the guide tube. The guide tube is also scored along its length to permit a portion of the wall of the guide tube to be peeled away leaving a longitudinal slot through which the catheter can be passed after insertion into the uterus. The catheter and guide tube are disposed in a liquid-tight envelope, the open end of which is sealed about the catheter to prevent escape of the liquid within the catheter.

Abstract: An adapter to be connected between a respirator and a patient artificial airway has an axial bore communicating between the respirator and artificial airway and one or more sloping bores communicating between the axial bore and the periphery of the adapter body to provide one or more respective access openings leading to the bore through which a suction catheter can be inserted. Means for sealing the access openings from the ambient environment when a suction catheter is not in use is provided by an access closure means which includes a member movable on the adapter body and an elastomeric sealing means which is compressed about each access opening to form an airtight seal when the access closure means is in a position to cover the access openings. Each access opening can accept a catheter for insertion through the axial bore and into the artificial airway when the access closure means is in a position to expose the access opening.

Abstract: A fixation ring for a transcutaneous gas sensor probe adapted to be removably mounted on the probe with a bore in the ring communicating with the electrodes of the probe. The fixation ring includes a membrane mounted therein which is tensioned in cooperation with the probe when the fixation ring is attached to the probe at which time the membrane permits only gases to which it is permeable to pass through the bore in the fixation ring and into an ion solution in contact with the electrodes of the probe. A cap member removably mountable on the fixation ring is provided with a resilient disc for depressing the membrane to prevent excessive ion solution and any entrapped air from accumulating adjacent to the electrodes.

Abstract: A catheter is disclosed for measuring the intrauterine pressure of a woman in labor. It comprises an elongated flexible tube filled with liquid and having one end apertured to permit the liquid therein to communicate with bodily fluids in the uterus; the other end is sealed by a relaxed diaphragm. The catheter tube is inserted into a curved guide tube which is scored at the end adjacent the apertured end of the catheter to permit the catheter to be extended from the guide tube. The guide tube is also scored along its length to permit a portion of the wall of the guide tube to be peeled away leaving a longitudinal slot through which the catheter can be passed after insertion into the uterus. The catheter and guide tube are disposed in a liquid-tight envelope, the open end of which is sealed about the catheter to prevent escape of the liquid within the catheter.

Abstract: An electrode wire clamp formed from a single piece of resilient material for affixation to one end of a tube having a wire running through it from an electrode affixed to the tube's other end, the wire being releasably held in fixed axial relationship to the tube by the clamp.