Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

An apparatus and process for forming a feathered tapered tip on a plastic tube which utilizes a mandrel mounted relative to a work table to slidably receive and support a catheter in an aligned relation to the forming aperture in a tip forming die assembly, normally disposed in a spaced apart relation to the tube tip end. The die assembly preferably includes two portions, a first portion to slidably receive and support the tip end therethrough and to direct it into a tapered forming cavity in a second die portion. The first die portion is cooled and the second die portion is electrically heated, and the two portions, normally disposed in a spaced apart relation, are, first, cam operated into engagement and, second, are cam operated onto the catheter tip end, whereupon the tip end is tapered in response to the heat generated in the second die portion. The die portions are then cam operated out of engagement with the tip end and out of engagement with each other, and the catheter is removed from the mandrel.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim