Importance

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Abstract

A tongue and groove construction maintains the catch and latch part of a tube clamp in full registration with one another across its entire range of positions from fully open to fully closed. A groove bisects the teeth of the latch member and a complementally formed tongue bisects the catch member of the clamp. Thus, when the tongue is slidably received within the groove, the parts of the catch member that flank the tongue releasably engage the parts of the latch member that flank the groove. This maintains the tube pinching elements in full alignment with one another so that when the pinching elements are fully displaced toward one another, no liquid fluid may flow through a cannula disposed therebetween. The teeth are not provided in a second embodiment, but the tongue and groove arrangement is employed in that embodiment. The tongue engages the underside of a lip, and the clamp is either fully open or fully closed.

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First Claim