US 8,801,067 B2Granted

Gripper for grasping an ophthalmic lens immersed in a liquid

AssigneeNovartis AG

InventorsGünter Lässig, Roger Biel, Karsten Straube

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Abstract

A gripper for grasping an ophthalmic lens immersed in a liquid, for example a contact lens or soft contact lens, the gripper including a housing having an opening arranged at the distal end of the housing, the opening being in communication with an interior space defined by the housing and being sized to allow the ophthalmic lens to pass therethrough; a supply channel to generate suction in the interior space of the housing to allow the ophthalmic lens together with an amount of the liquid in which the ophthalmic lens is immersed to be sucked through the opening into the interior space of the housing; and a supply channel for generating overpressure in the interior space of the housing so as to allow the ophthalmic lens together with the amount of liquid to be released from the interior space through the opening at the distal end of the housing.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A gripper for grasping an ophthalmic lens immersed in a liquid, the gripper comprising:

a housing having an opening arranged at the distal end of the housing, the opening being in communication with an interior space defined by the housing and being sized to allow the ophthalmic lens to pass therethrough,
a supply channel for generating underpressure in the interior space of the housing to allow the ophthalmic lens together with an amount of the liquid in which the ophthalmic lens is immersed to be sucked through the opening into the interior space of the housing, and
a supply channel for generating overpressure in the interior space of the housing so as to allow the ophthalmic lens together with the amount of liquid to be released from the interior space through the opening at the distal end of the housing;
wherein the supply channel for generating underpressure and the supply channel for generating overpressure are in communication with the interior space of the housing at a proximal end portion of the housing;
and
further comprising a piston movably arranged in the interior space of the housing between a distal end position of the piston and a proximal end position of the piston.

3 more elements

A method for grasping an ophthalmic lens immersed in a liquid, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a gripper comprising a housing having an opening arranged at the distal end of the housing, the opening being in communication with an interior space defined by the housing and being sized to allow the ophthalmic lens to pass therethrough,
generating underpressure in the interior space of the housing causing the ophthalmic lens together with an amount of the liquid in which the ophthalmic lens is immersed to be sucked through the opening into the interior space of the housing, and
generating overpressure in the interior space of the housing causing the ophthalmic lens together with the amount of liquid to be released from the interior space through the opening at the distal end of the housing;
and
wherein the gripper further comprises a piston movably arranged in the interior space of the housing between a distal end position of the piston and a proximal end position of the piston, wherein the step of generating underpressure in the interior of the housing comprises moving the piston towards its proximal end position, and wherein the step of generating overpressure in the interior of the housing comprises moving the piston towards its distal end position.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.