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US 7,771,450 B2Granted
Balloon cones and waists thinning methodology
AssigneeBoston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Keith Tomaschko, Daniel James Horn, Xiao Kang Zhang, Nao Pao Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Medical balloons and balloon preforms are made by methods which include the step of selectively removing material from the proximal and/or distal ends of a segment. In the case of a thermoplastic material characterized by one or more glass transition temperatures, the segment may optionally be maintained at a temperature below the glass transition temperature of the segment during the material removal step.
Claims18
A method comprising the steps of:
- providing a segment of thermoplastic material tubing having a predetermined wall thickness and length, the segment having a proximal end portion, a distal end portion and a center portion;
- drawing the segment to a predetermined length, wherein during the drawing step the temperature of the segment is maintained below the glass transition temperature of the thermoplastic material or below the highest glass transition temperature of the thermoplastic material if the material is a block copolymer;
- removing material from an outer surface of at least one of the distal and proximal end portions of the segment to a desired reduced thickness while maintaining the temperature of substantially all of the segment below about the glass transition temperature of the thermoplastic material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.