Contact lens transfer device
AssigneeJohnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.
InventorsRussell James Edwards, Darren Scott Keene, William Edward Holley, John Mark Lepper, Wallace Anthony Martin, Daniel Tsu-Fang Wang, Ture Kindt-Larsen, Niels Jorgen Madsen, Borge Peter Gundersen, Thomas Christian Ravn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention, which relates to the transfer of contact lenses in post hydration processing of the lenses. A lens transfer and insertion assembly removes contact lenses from lens hydration pallets, alters their spatial distribution, and deposits them into packaging elements. The lenses are transferred with fluid and retained on the transfer assembly by surface tension.
Claims15
An automated apparatus for transporting a plurality of contact lenses from a first processing location to a second processing location, said apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of elongate finger elements, each element having a convex lens transport surface defined thereon;
- a lens transfer carriage, said carriage having an array of said elongate finger elements which receive the contact lenses at a first location;
- at least one reciprocating drive to alter the spatial relationship of the array;
- a translation device to transport the carriage and the lenses to a second processing location;
- an orifice defined within said convex lens transport surface for injecting a fluid between a one of said plurality of contact lenses and said transport surface to deposit said contact lenses into a lens carrier at said second processing location;
- and
- a controller for actuating said reciprocating carriage, said translation device and said reciprocating drive to effect transfer of said plurality of contact lenses from said first processing station to said second processing station.
An assembly for extracting an array of contact lenses from a hydration pallet, changing the spatial relationship of the array of contact lenses, and depositing said contact lenses into packaging elements, said assembly comprising:
- a mounting bracket including a plurality of horizontal guide rails;
- a plurality of beam elements, slidably mounted in parallel on said plurality of horizontal guide rails;
- at least one drive assembly coupled to said beam elements for reciprocation thereof along said guide rails between a compact spacing and a wide spacing;
- a plurality of finger elements disposed in a linear array, extending downwardly from at least one of said beam elements, each of said finger elements comprising;
- an elongate shaft, having an upper and lower end,
- a central bore, extending from said upper end to said lower end, for receiving therethrough a quantity of fluid, and selectively ejecting from said lower end said quantity of fluid,
- a lens transfer surface at the lower end of the shaft for receiving, and securely holding, thereon a contact lens,
- a slotted annular skirt disposed along the shaft adjacent to said lower end, for maintaining the contact lens at a predetermined position;
- and
- a dual axis translation mechanism for reciprocating said mounting bracket along a vertical axis and a horizontal axis.
A contact lens transfer assembly, said assembly comprising
- at least one beam element, said beam element facilitating transfer of contact lenses between two locations;
- a finger element, said finger element including an elongate shaft having a lens transfer surface on a first end and a means for attaching said shaft to said beam element on a remote second end;
- said elongate shaft including a slotted annular skirt adjacent to said first end;
- and
- a central bore extending through said elongate shaft for introducing a fluid between said lens transfer surface and a contact lens secured thereon to release said lens.
A method of automatically transporting contact lenses from a first processing location to a second processing location, said method comprising the steps of:
- positioning an array of elongate finger elements above an array of lens carrier cavities at said first processing location, each of said cavities having a contact lens therein, each of said finger elements having a lens transfer surface defined thereon;
- injecting a fluid into each of said cavities having a contact lens therein to eject said lens from its associated cavity and transfer the contact lens to an associated lens transfer surface;
- transporting said array of elongate finger elements to said second processing location;
- and
- releasing the contact lenses into a set of lens carriers at said second processing location
- automatically controlling said positioning, injecting, transporting and releasing steps with a controller to effect automatic transfer of the contact lenses from the first processing location to the second processing location.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.