Specialty Silicone Fabricators, Inc.

David B Batdorf

Charles A Schryver

Gregory N Nordgren

A unitary tube useful for the conduction of fluids to and from a site within the body of a patient. A particularly preferred embodiment is a drainage tube. The drainage tube, which may be continuously extruded from a biocompatible elastomer, has a variable exterior and interior cross section along its length. The drainage tube has collecting, transition and extension portions. The collecting portion, which has a hollow interior to receive fluids, is temporarily implanted within a wound site or other body cavity to enable body fluids to collect therein. The collecting portion is preferably a flattened tubular member having a width that exceeds the height. The interior wall of the collecting portion has longitudinal ribs or struts to prevent opposing walls from collapsing upon each other. The collecting portion preferably has fenestrations in its wall to permit the passage of body fluids from the surrounding tissue into the hollow interior lumen of the collection portion. The outer wall of the collecting portion tapers down by means of a transition portion to a tubular extension portion. The extension portion has a proximal end and a distal end which extends from the patient. The tube is also useful for delivering exogenous fluids to a site within the body of a patient.

Unitary drain and method for making

An apparatus for making extruded tubing having one or more lumens therein with a variable outer diameter. The apparatus is useful for forming tubing of an extrudable material such as an elastomer or thermoplastic. The extrudable material is forced around a mandrel and through a die aperture over a mandrel wherein the inside surface of the tubing is of uniform diameter along its length but the wall thickness varies throughout its length. Such an apparatus may be used, for example, to make kink-resistant tubing. In one embodiment, the aperture in the extrusion die has a variable diameter while the mandrel remains constant. In a second preferred embodiment, a moveable ring with a central aperture is disposed within the extrusion chamber coaxially with the mandrel. The ring is capable of reciprocal motion in the direction of extrusion. During extrusion, when the moveable ring is moved toward the die opening, it constricts the outer diameter of the tubing thus formed. When the ring is moved away from the die opening, the outer diameter of the extruded tubing increases to the full diameter of the die opening.

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Paso Robles, CA, United States of America

David B Batdorf