Method of making grooved plastic medical tubing
AssigneeSherwood Medical Industries Inc.
InventorRonald T. Agdanowski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Grooved tubing having a groove in the outer sidewall and a hole through the bottom of the groove is made by extruding a first plastic to produce a molten tubular extrudate, extruding a second plastic in the exterior of the sidewall of the tubular extrudate, subsequently removing the second plastic to provide a groove in the tubular extrudate and forming an opening through the bottom of the groove. This method can be used in making suction catheters wherein the groove walls prevent invagination of body tissue into the hole in the groove during suctioning.
Claims26
A method of making plastic tubing having a selected wall portion thereof with a wall thickness less than that of wall portions adjacent thereto and an opening through that wall portion comprising the steps of coextruding first and second plastic materials so as to form plastic tubing of the first plastic material with the second plastic material in the sidewall of the tubing, the first and second plastic materials being capable of separation after solidification, removing the second plastic material from the tubing to provide tubing having a wall portion of less thickness than wall portions adjacent thereto, and forming an opening through that wall portion.
A method of making plastic tubing having a groove and an opening extending through the bottom wall of the groove comprising the steps of extruding a first plastic material to produce a molten tubular extrudate, while extruding the tubular extrudate extruding a second molten plastic material including the step of extruding the second plastic material at a location in the exterior of the sidewall of the molten tubular extrudate, the first and second plastic materials being capable of separation after extrusion, allowing the second plastic material to solidify, removing the solidified second plastic material from the sidewall of the tubular extrudate to provide tubing with a groove where the second plastic material was removed and forming an opening through the bottom wall of the groove.
A method of making plastic tubes having a groove and an opening extending through the bottom wall of the groove comprising the steps of extruding a first plastic material to produce a molten tubular extrudate, while extruding the tubular extrudate extruding a second plastic material including the step of extruding the second plastic material at a location in the exterior of the sidewall of the molten tubular extrudate during selected time intervals to produce axially spaced groove forming plastic strips in the extrudate, the first and second plastic materials being capable of separation after extrusion, allowing the second plastic material to solidify, removing the solidifed second plastic material from the sidewall of the tubular extrudate to produce a groove where each plastic strip was removed, separating the extrudate into tubes so that each tube includes a groove formed by at least a portion of one of the grooves in the extrudate, and forming an opening through the bottom wall of each groove so that each tube has a groove with an opening therein.
The method of making plastic suction catheters comprising the steps of extruding a first plastic material to produce molten tubular extrudate, extruding a second plastic material while extruding the molten tubular extrudate including the step of extruding the second plastic material at a location in the exterior of the sidewall of the molten tubular extrudate during selected time intervals to produce a plurality of successively extruded groove forming plastic members at axially spaced positions in the sidewall of the extrudate, the first and second plastic materials being different and capable of separation after solidication thereof, allowing the second plastic material of said members to solidify, removing the solidified members from the tubular extrudate to provide axially spaced grooves in the tubular extrudate where the plastic members were removed, separating the extrudate into tubes of predetermined length so that each tube includes a groove formed by at least a portion of one of the grooves of the tubular extrudate, and forming a suction opening through the bottom wall of each of the grooves so that each tube has a suction opening and can serve as a suction catheter.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.