Method for automatic manufacture of and printing on astigmatic contact lenses and apparatus therefor
AssigneeNovartis AG
InventorRobert Cameron
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of automatic manufacture of an astigmatic contact lens having a toric portion and a ballast portion such that said ballast portion causes the toric portion of the contact lens to properly orient in the eye of the wearer. The toric lenses are manufactured by moving a pallet containing at least half of a casting cup assembly and an information tag under a filling assembly and filling half of a casting cup assembly with liquid monomer, then moving the pallet to a closing assembly and, based on information obtained from the information tag, rotating one or both halves of the casting cup assembly and closing the casting cup assembly. The liquid monomer is then cured thereby creating a toric contact lens.
Claims40
A method of manufacturing an astigmatic contact lens, comprising the steps of:
- a) placing a pallet containing a first half toric lens casting cup and an information tag onto a conveyor;
- b) locating the pallet under a filling assembly;
- c) filling said first half toric lens casting cup with liquid monomer;
- d) locating said pallet into a closing assembly;
- e) communicating information from said information tag to a programmable controller;
- f) rotating a second half toric lens casting cup based on the information communicated to the programmable controller;
- g) closing said second half toric lens casting cup into said first half toric lens casting cup, thereby making a closing cup assembly;
- h) moving said pallet away from said closing cup assembly;
- and
- i) curing said liquid monomer.
A method for manufacturing toric contact lenses, comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a plurality ofcontact lens molds, each having ai front curve casting cup and a base curve casting cup;
- (b) defining a plurality of rotational orientations between said front and base curve casting cups of a mold, each rotational orientation corresponding to an astigmatism-correcting characteristics of a toric contact lens;
- (c) providing on a pallet one of a plurality of machine readable codes, each machine readable code specifying one of the rotational orientation,,;
- (d) placing one or more contact lens molds or casting cups thereof in said pallet;
- (e) automatically reading the machine readable code on said pallet;
- (f) automatically adjusting the rotational orientation of said front and base curve casting cups for said one or more molds to the particular rotational orientation defined by said machine readable code;
- and
- (g) molding one or more toric contact lenses with the front and base curve casting cups engaged in said particular rotational orientation, the lenses having a desired astigmatism-correcting characteristic corresponding to a particular rotational orientation defined by said machine readable code.
A method for manufacturing a contact lens, comprising the steps of:
- providing a contact lens mold having a plurality of pieces and forming a mold cavity for a toric contact lens with a front curve casting cup and a base curve casting cup;
- defining a selected rotational orientation for at least one of said casting cups, wherein the selected rotational orientation corresponds to a desired astigmatism-correcting characteristics of a toric contact lens;
- providing on a carrier a machine readable code which specifies the selected rotational orientation of the at least one casting cup required to produce the toric contact lens with the desired astigmatism-correcting characteristic;
- placing at least one of the casting cups of the contact lens mold in said carrier;
- automatically adjusting the orientation of said at least one casting cup to the selected rotational orientation;
- performing a manufacturing operation with said at least one casting cup positioned at the selected rotational orientation;
- and
- producing the contact lens having at least the desired astigmatism-correcting characteristics.
A system for automatically manufacturing toric contact lenses comprising:
- a plurality of contact lens molds, each mold having a front curve casting cup and a base curve casting cup;
- a carrier for the front or base curve casting cups of said plurality of molds;
- a machine readable code carried on said carrier, the code defining a rotational orientation of the cups of the carrier required to form a toric contact lens having a corresponding astigmatism-correcting optical characteristic;
- means for reading said code and automatically rotating the casting cups of the carrier to the corresponding rotational orientation;
- and
- means for forming toric contact lenses in said molds with the cups held in the defined rotational orientation and providing an astigmatism-correcting optical characteristic of the lenses.
A method for manufacturing an astigmatic iontact lens having a desired toric rotational axis, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a contact lens mold, said mold including a first mold half and a second mold half;
- placing a tag on a pallet capable of carrying a plurality of contact lens molds, said tag providing information corresponding to a desired toric rotational axis of an astigmatic contact lens to be manufactured;
- placing the contact lens mold on a pallet;
- communicating to a programmable controller the information;
- rotating one of said first and second halves to the desired toric rotational axis communicated to the programmable controller;
- filling one of said first and second halves with a predetermined amount of liquid monomer;
- assembling said first and second mold halves to define a contact lens mold cavity therebetween having a rotational alignment corresponding to the desired toric rotational axis;
- maintaining the rotational alignment between the mold halves;
- and
- curing said liquid monomer in said mold cavity to form the astigmatic contact lens having the desired toric rotational axis.
A process for manufacturing from moldable material a plurality of toric contact lenses having a desired astigmatism-correcting characteristic, each lens having a front curve and a base curve, the process comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing an information tag on a mold holder having a plurality of toric contact lens molds containing moldable material, each mold comprising a front curve casting surface and a base curve casting surface, said information tag containing information specifying a particular rotational orientation of the front curve casting surface with respect to the base curve casting surface of each mold in the mold holder, the particular rotational orientation corresponding to the desired astigmatism-correcting characteristic of the tc)ric contact lens;
- (b) automatically adjusting the rotational orientation of the front curve casting surface with respect to the base curve casting surface to the particular rotational orientation defined by said information tag;
- (c) causing the moldable material in the molds to form toric contact lenses, each lens having the desired astigmatism-correcting characteristics.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.