Importance

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Abstract

A single-lumen, one piece catheter approximately 0.04 inch in diameter with an integral balloon at its end having a wall thickness of 0.005 inch or less, sufficiently small to be retractible by suction into the catheter and to be extensible at a desired site by fluid pressure. The balloon may have a calibrated restricted leak aperture. The balloon portion of the catheter is made by heating a portion of the catheter tubing, stretching the tubing lengthwise, and applying fluid pressure to the tubing. The apparatus for forming the balloon includes a spring-loaded clamp to hold the tubing at one end, a capstan to hold the tubing at the other end, a heating coil wrapped around the tubing near the clamped end thereof and mounted with the clamp, and a mechanism for controlling the pressure and volume of the pressurizing gas entering the lumen of the tube in accordance with the retractile movement of the spring-loaded clamp.

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First Claim