Japan Tobacco Inc.

Johnson & Johnson Vision Products Inc.

Junichi Fukuchi

Kiyoshi Imai

Michiaki Takatsu

Daniel Tsu-Fang Wang

Ture Kindt-Larsen

Darren S Keene

Svend Christensen

Kaj Bjerre

Timothy P Newton

Finn Thrige Andersen

David Dolan

Katsuaki Yoshida

David Clarence Byram

Gary Hall

Toshikazu Yoshino

Junji Ueno

Hisaki Tsumori

Hole making device for web material

A piercing apparatus includes a traveling unit for causing a tip paper to travel at a predetermined speed along a traveling path, a plurality of laser piercing heads for irradiating pulsed laser beams onto plural positions which are spaced apart from one another on the traveling path, and a controller for pulse-driving laser oscillators of the laser piercing heads in a manner synchronized with one another at time intervals of a period which varies depending on the tip paper traveling speed, whereby minute holes of a desired size are stably formed with a desired spacing in the tip paper which travels at a high speed. The controller variably adjusts the spacing with which minute holes are formed, by controlling the timings at which drive pulses are supplied to the respective laser piercing heads.

Laser piercing apparatus for moving web material

A piercing apparatus includes a laser oscillation head for irradiating a pulsed laser beam onto a tip paper which travels at a prescribed speed along a traveling path to form minute holes at spacial intervals in the tip paper, a camera for picking up a picture image of a minute hole formed in the tip paper, and a controller for feedback-controlling the drive of the laser oscillation head in accordance with the size of and the spacing between minute holes obtained by analyzing one or more picture images of minute holes, so that minute holes of a desired size are formed in the tip paper with a desired spacing, to provide the tip paper with a desired air permeability.

Laser piercing apparatus for a web material

An automated means for hydrating a molded hydrophilic contact lens is provided in which a first robotic assembly removes a plurality of contact lens molds from a production line carrier, each of the lens molds having a contact lens adhered therein. The first robotic assembly transports the molds to a first staging area where the lens molds are sandwiched between a lens mold carrier and a top chamber plate to form a first hydration carrier. A first rotary transfer device then hands the first hydration carrier to a second robotic assembly which immerses the first hydration carrier in a hydration bath to hydrate the lens and to release the lens from the lens mold. While the lens is immersed in the hydration bath, each lens is transferred from its respective mold to a lens transfer means found within the top chamber plate. After a predetermined period of time, the second robotic assembly removes the first hydration carrier from the hydration bath and hands the hydration carrier off to a second rotary transfer device which rotates the first hydration carrier and aligns it for transfer to a third robotic assembly. The third robotic assembly then carries the top chamber plate and contact lenses through a series of steps in which the lens mold carrier and lens molds are removed from the top chamber plate. The lenses carried on the lens transfer means are then flushed and transported for assembly with a hydration base member to form a second hydration carrier for processing the lens in subsequent extraction stations. The second hydration carrier is then transported through a plurality of flushing or extraction stations wherein fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chambers at each hydration station to flush leachable substances from the hydration chamber. At each flushing station, fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chamber to remove previously extracted impurities and the products of hydrolysis. A final robotic dis-assembly device separates the top chamber plate and lens transfer means from the hydration base member, to provide fully hydrated lenses in a concave lens holding means ready for transfer to inspection and packaging stations.

Automated method and apparatus for hydrating soft contact lenses

Automated apparatus for hydrating soft contact lenses

A belt-like material stably transferring apparatus an absorbing and feeding apparatus for continuously absorbing and feeding the belt-like material by use of a difference in air pressure. The absorbing and feeding apparatus comprises a reserving chamber for absorbing and feeding the belt-like material to be reserved therein, and a pressure detecting chamber connected to the reserving chamber through a slit. The reserving chamber has an opening portion for feeding the belt-like material, and blowers and are connected at a position, which is opposite to the opening portion. The pressure of the pressure detecting chamber is changed in accordance with the change of the pressure in the reserving chamber connected to the pressure detecting chamber through the slit. The pressure of the reserving chamber is changed in accordance with the amount of absorbing and feeding the belt-like material absorbed and fed to the reserving chamber. Due to this, the pressure of the pressure detecting chamber is detected by pressure detectors, thereby the amount of absorbing and feeding the belt-like material absorbed and fed to the reserving chamber is detected. The belt-like material stably transferring apparatus comprise analog cards for controlling the amount of supplying the belt-like material based on the amount of absorbed and fed belt-like material.

Apparatus for stably transferring belt-like material

A rotating polygon mirror deflects a continuous laser beam, applying the deflected beam to a beam-splitting mirror through a focusing lens 6 which functions as an f.theta. lens. The beam is applied to the two reflective surfaces of the mirror alternately. As a result, the mirror splits the beam into two beams, which are applied to two beam-splitting mirrors, respectively. The mirrors split the input beams, each into two segment beams. The four segment beams are focused by four lenses onto the surface of a web sheet, thereby forming beam spots. The beam spots move in the same direction and at the same speed as the web sheet, thus scanning limited surface regions of the sheet. As a result, rows of perforations, each being a truly circular hole, are formed in the web sheet.

Apparatus boring perforations in a web sheet

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Junichi Fukuchi