Back to results
US 4,842,782 AGranted
Manufacture of ophthalmic lenses by excimer laser
AssigneeAllergan, Inc.
InventorsValdemar Portney, Albert C. Ting
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Complex small objects such as ophthalmic lenses are quickly and accurately fabricated from plastic or glass blanks of ablatable material such as plastic or glass by cutting, shaping, and radiusing the blank entirely by laser light, using appropriate masks and focusing optics.
Claims34
A method of making small objects from a blank of ablatable material, comprising the steps of:
- cutting a workpiece from said blank by exposing said blank to laser light in the outline of said workpiece without focusing the laser light at the workpiece;
- exposing the surface of said workpiece to laser light through a mask having areas transmitting said light in varying degrees;
- and
- beveling the edges of said workpiece by exposing them to an inclined beam of laser light.
1 more element
The method of shaping the edges of a workpiece formed of an ablatable material, comprising the steps of:
- providing an excimer laser beam;
- masking said beam to obscure the center thereof but leave a peripheral portion thereof unobscured;
- deflecting said peripheral portion toward a focus;
- positioning a workpiece at one point of time spaced from the focus in such a manner that said peripheral portion intersects an edge portion of said workpiece at an angle;
- and
- causing said beam to have sufficient power to ablatively photodecompose said workpiece in its path.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- directing laser energy through a mask without focusing the laser energy at the mask and with the mask having variable transmissivity characteristics to the laser energy to provide a first laser beam of variable energy across its width;
- and
- directing the laser beam of variable energy against a surface of a workpiece for a sufficient time to remove material from multiple locations on the surface of the workpiece in accordance with said characteristics with more of the material being removed at one of the locations than is removed at another of the locations.
A method comprising:
- directing laser energy through a mask toward an object without focusing the laser energy on the mask or the object and with the laser energy passing through the mask being in a pattern and exposing the object to the laser energy for a sufficient length of time to allow the laser energy to cut a workpiece having the shape of said pattern from the object.
A method comprising:
- directing laser energy in a pattern toward an object without focusing the laser energy on the object and exposing the object to the laser energy for a sufficient length of time to allow the laser energy to bevel an edge of the object.
A method comprising:
- directing laser energy through a mask without focusing the laser energy at the mask and with the mask having variable reflective characteristics to the laser energy to provide a first laser beam of variable energy across its width;
- and
- directing the laser beam of variable energy against a surface of a workpiece for a sufficient time to remove material from multiple locations on the surface of the workpiece in accordance with said characteristics with more of the material being removed at one of the locations than is removed at another of the locations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.