Thoratec Laboratories Corporation

David E Downie

Robert Joseph Harvey

J Donald Hill

John Robert Rueff

Gary Schneiderman

Stanley J Withers

Eric D Shulse

A tool for applying a membrane on a small upstanding post like device, which tool incorporates a housing with means for securing the membrane across the top of the post with additional means disposed opposite the post for holding the membrane against the post and urging it down the side of the post, the housing being closeable to serve as a shipping container and a calibration cell for the device to be membraned with means to secure the post captive with little or no chance of its falling into a non-sterile environment.

Combination membraning tool, package and calibration unit for eyelid

A disposable aortic perforator has an elongated stem with an exterior stem surface circular-cylindrical about a longitudinal axis and extending between a far end and a near end. A coaxial disc having an exterior circumferential cylindrical disc surface of a first predetermined diameter is separated from the remainder of the stem by an intervening groove leaving an axial shank therebetween. The coaxial disc has a near surface on said disc normal to the axis and meeting the disc peripheral surface substantially at a right angle to form a blunt outside corner that is a non-cutting edge. An elongated tube is telescoped over the stem and is slidable a predetermined distance, about one-third of an inch, on the stem. The tube has an interior, circumferential cylindrical or tube surface of a second predetermined diameter about 0.0002 inches larger than the first predetermined diameter of the stem. An annular surface at the far end of the tube and normal to the axis meets the interior tube surface substantially at a right angle and forms a blunt inside corner that is a non-cutting edge. A cross bar normal to the axis engages the stem and preferably is disposed in a jacket slidable on or with respect to the tube. A spring is interposed between the stem and the tube for urging the tube axially away from the disc, the motion being limited by interengagement of slots in the tube with the cross bar.

Disposable aortic perforator

An implanted device for determining the patentcy of a transplanted vein directly connecting the aorta to transfer blood to a coronary artery has a physiologically inert bulb of flexible material disposed and retained in pressure transferring relationship to the distal region of the transplanted vein. A cuff or non-expansible sleeve surrounds the bulb and the vein and is held in position. The bulb has a single opening leading into one end of an implanted catheter. The other end of the catheter opens through a single opening in a thick-walled reservoir implanted in a subcutaneous location convenient for piercing by a hypodermic needle. At least a part of the reservoir wall is able to close upon withdrawal of the needle. The bulb, catheter and reservoir are completely filled, without distention, by an appropriate, usually isotonic, liquid. There may be a break-away connection in the catheter and various radio-opaque indicia for X-ray monitoring.

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Lafayette, CA, United States of America

David E Downie