Patent ID: 7163618

Claim:
A manifold for receiving medical waste, said manifold including: a head, the head having a side wall assembly that defines an enclosed void space within said head, the void space having a cross-sectional area; a plurality of adjacent inlet ports, each inlet port configured to receive a separate tube through which medical waste is flowed; and a base that is a bottom-located structural member of said head, the base having a cross sectional area; a stem that extends below said base, said stem having a cross sectional area less than the cross sectional area of said base so that the stem can be inserted in a conduit of a medical waste receiver; and a through bore, wherein said head base is formed with an opening between the head void space and the stem through bore, the base opening having a cross sectional area that is less than the cross sectional area of the head void space; a filter member disposed in the head void space that extends upwardly against an interior surface of the side wall assembly to define within the head void space a hollow space, wherein said inlet ports each open directly into the hollow space; a filter element disposed in the head void space that is above and spaced away from the base opening, that extends to and abuts the at least one interior surface of said head and that has a surface area, the surface area of said filter element being greater than the cross sectional area of the base opening; and a plurality of caps, each said cap shaped to selectively cover a separate one of the inlet ports, wherein each said cap is connected to said head by a tether.