Self-inflating bag catheter

Claim 1

A SELF-INFLATING BALLOON CATHETER COMPRISING AN ELONGATED, FLEXIBLE, TUBULAR SHAFT HAVING PROXIMAL AND DISTAL ENDS, THE TUBULAR BORE OF SAID SHAFT COMPRISING A DRAINAGE CHANNEL THROUGH THE LENGTH OF SAID SHAFT, AN INFLATABLE SLEEVE ATTACHED TO AND SURROUNDING SAID SHAFT ADJACENT THE DISTAL END THEREOF, AND WHICH UPON INFLATION RETAINS SAID CATHETER IN POSITION BY FORMATION OF AN ENLARGED BALLOON SURROUNDING SAID SHAFT, SAID SHAFT HAVING A BALLOON INFLATING PASSAGE THEREIN EXTENDING ALONG THE LENGTH THEREOF AND SEPARATED FROM SAID TUBULAR BORE, SAID INFLATING PASSAGE OPENING AT ITS DISTAL END INTO SAID SLEEVE, MEANS CLOSING THE PROXIMAL END OF SAID BALLOON INFLATING PASSAGE, A BALLOON INFLATING FLUID WITHIN SAID BALLOON INFLATING PASSAGE ADJACENT SAID PROXIMAL END THEREOF, MEANS CONFINING SAID FLUID WITHIN THE PROXIMAL END PORTION OF SAID BALLOON INFLATING PASSAGE UNDER COMPRESSIVE FORCES, SAID CONFINING MEANS INCLUDING MEANS CLOSING SAID BALLOON INFLATING PASSAGE ADJACENT THE PROXIMAL END THEREOF BETWEEN SAID SLEEVE AND SAID BALLOON INFLATING FLUID, SAID CLOSING MEANS BEING RELEASABLE EXTERIORLY OF SAID CATHETER TO RELEASE SAID INFLATING FLUID FROM ITS CONFINEMENT TO INFLATE SAID BALLOON.