Terminal assembly for a carbon fiber implantable lead

Claim 1

A terminal assembly for an implantable carbon fiber lead having an outer cover disposed about a stylet tube and one or more carbon fiber bundles, each of said bundles having an insulating outer sheath and having an exposed carbon fiber tip at the end to be coupled, comprising: A. a terminal member having a hollow cylindrical portion, the first end of said cylindrical portion being disposed about and substantially coaxial with one end of said stylet tube, said one end being at the coupling end of said lead, and the second end of said cylindrical portion being disposed about a portion of said stylet tube near said one end and about portions of said carbon fiber bundles, said second end having one or more ports in its lateral surface, wherein a portion of at least one of said carbon fiber bundles near its exposed tip and at least a portion of the sheathing of said bundle is guided through an associated one of said ports from the region inside said second end to the region outside said second end to the region outside said second end, and folded back against the outer surface of said second end, B. a hollow cylindrical housing member disposed about said second end wherein the inner surface of said terminal housing member cylindrical portion frictionally engages the exposed tips and associated sheathing of the carbon fiber bundles which extend through said ports, and C. means for securing said housing member to said terminal member.