Becton Dickinson and Company Limited

Attila E Kiss

Joseph Francis Keenan

James Joseph Hughes

Vadim Mark Daskal

Susan M Chavez

Victor Isaac Politis

Eric Bene

Gail Marie Siewiorek

Alex Chaves

Rachael Turner Kelly

Max Ryan

Laurie Bums

Marc Hunter

Gail Hunter

Megan Kohnen

A fluid connector, including a fluid path portion having an integral cannula extending in a first direction from a interior surface, and a latching portion secured to the fluid path portion and having a pair of displaceable arms. Each arm includes a connector latch disposed at a first cantilevered end of the arm, and an activation lever disposed at an opposite cantilevered end of the arm and extending in a second direction, not parallel to the first direction. A portion of the activation lever includes a first lateral tactile feature aligned substantially parallel to the first direction to prevent forward slippage of the fluid connector from a user's grasp in the second direction, and a portion of the activation lever includes a lateral tactile feature aligned substantially parallel to the second direction to prevent slippage of the fluid connector from a user's grasp in the first direction.

Tactile features to guide user interaction with fluid connector

Ophthalmic surgical blades are manufactured from either a single crystal or poly-crystalline material, preferably in the form of a wafer. The method comprises preparing the single crystal or poly-crystalline wafers by mounting them and etching trenches into the wafers using one of several processes. Methods for machining the trenches, which form the bevel blade surfaces, include a diamond blade saw, laser system, ultrasonic machine, a hot forge press and a router. Other processes include wet etching (isotropic and anisotropic) and dry etching (isotropic and anisotropic, including reactive ion etching), and combinations of these etching steps. The wafers are then placed in an etchant solution which isotropically etches the wafers in a uniform manner, such that layers of crystalline or poly-crystalline material are removed uniformly, producing single, double or multiple bevel blades. Nearly any angle can be machined into the wafer, and the machined angle remains after etching. The resulting radii of the blade edges is 5-500 nm, which is the same caliber as a diamond edged blade, but manufactured at a fraction of the cost. A range of radii may be 30 to 60 nm, with a specific implementation being about 40 nm. The blade profile may have an angle of, for example, about 60&#xb0;. The ophthalmic surgical blades can be used for cataract and refractive surgical procedures, as well as microsurgical, biological and non-medical, non-biological purposes. Surgical and non-surgical blades and mechanical devices manufactured as described herein can also exhibit substantially smoother surfaces than metal blades.

Methods of fabricating complex blade geometries from silicon wafers and strengthening blade geometries

Ophthalmic surgical blades are manufactured from either a crystalline or polycrystalline material, preferably in the form of a wafer. The method comprises preparing the crystalline or polycrystalline wafers by mounting them and machining trenches into the wafers. Methods for machining the trenches, which form the bevel blade surfaces, include a diamond blade saw, laser system, ultrasonic machine, a hot forge press and a router. The wafers are then placed in an etchant solution which isotropically etches the wafers in a uniform manner, such that layers of crystalline or polycrystalline material are removed uniformly, producing single, double or multiple bevel blades. Nearly any bevel angle can be machined into the wafer which remains after etching. The resulting radii of the blade edges is 5-500 nm, which is the same caliber as a diamond edged blade, but manufactured at a fraction of the cost. The ophthalmic surgical blades can be used for cataract and refractive surgical procedures, as well as microsurgical, biological and non-medical, non-biological purposes.

Silicon blades for surgical and non-surgical use

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Andover, MA, United States of America

Attila E Kiss