Preform for making a prosthetic limb socket
OwnerDennis E. Meyerinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A preform for making a prosthetic limb socket includes an injection molded flat circular disk of rigid thermoplastics material, and the disk has a peripheral portion with an embedded reinforcing ring which was spaced as an insert within the mold cavity. The preform is heated within an oven on a flat surface support ring, and the softened disk is manually drawn and stretched downwardly over a positive model of a residual limb while vacuum is introduced through small holes within the model to form a plastic socket which conforms to the positive model. After the plastic cools, the annular base portion of the disk with the embedded reinforcing ring is trimmed from the socket, and the model is removed from the socket.
Claims17
A preform for making a prosthetic limb socket from a positive model of a residual limb, comprising an injection molded rigid disk of thermoplastics material, a rigid reinforcing ring embedded within a peripheral portion of said disk, said ring having a melting temperature above the melting temperature of said thermoplastic material, and said ring having a width substantially larger than the width of the positive model to facilitate drawing and stretching the disk downwardly over the model after the disk has been heated to a softening temperature.
A preform for making a prosthetic limb socket from a positive model of a residual limb, comprising an injection molded generally circular rigid disk of thermoplastics material and having a generally uniform thickness, a rigid generally circular reinforcing ring embedded within a peripheral portion of said disk, said ring having a melting temperature substantially above the melting temperature of said thermoplastic material, and said ring having a diameter substantially larger than the diameter of the positive model to facilitate drawing and stretching the disk downwardly over the model after the disk has been heated to a softening temperature.
A method of making a preform for producing a prosthetic limb socket from a positive model of a residual limb, comprising the steps of forming a mold having a generally flat cavity, positioning within a peripheral portion of the cavity a rigid reinforcing ring having a width greater than the width of the positive model, injection molding a thermoplastics material into the cavity to form a disk having a peripheral portion with the reinforcing ring embedded therein, allowing the disk to cool, and removing the disk and embedded reinforcing ring from the cavity to produce a preform wherein said ring facilitates drawing and stretching the disk downwardly over the model after the disk has been heated to a softening temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.