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US 6,214,115 B1Granted
Coating
AssigneeBiocompatibles Limited
InventorsAlistair Stewart Taylor, Lee Alan Tollhurst, Donal Thomas Hempensall
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides an apparatus for coating tubular members, such as stents, and also provides a method for coating tubular members. The invention improves manufacturing efficiencies of existing manual-dipping technology for stents and also addresses manufacturing problems from stents having plural surface apertures associated with the presence of excess liquid, inconsistent drying of the liquid and blockage.
Claims12
An apparatus for coating tubular members, the apparatus comprising:
- a liquid reservoir;
- a support member for supporting at least one of said tubular members;
- support member dipping means for placing the support member in the liquid reservoir and drawing the support member therefrom;
- and
- pressure differential generating means for generating a pressure differential, wherein:
- the support member is arranged to provide a central passageway through the tubular member placed thereon, the central passageway having a plurality of perforations formed therein, and
- the pressure differential generating means is positioned for providing the pressure differential between the passageway and the tubular member.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.