Covidien LP

Other

Leland Stanford Junior University

Pi Medical, Inc.

Techni-chem, Inc.

Walter J Stevens

Stephen W Lee

Michael Stephan Mirizzi

Hoa D Nguyen

George S Springer

Mark B Knudson

Timothy R Conrad

Anja Metzger

Larry A Walter

Stephen Lee

An apparatus for treating a hollow anatomical structure can include a light delivery device. The light delivery device comprises an optical fiber that is located in a lumen of a shaft suitable for insertion into the hollow anatomical structure and has a fiber tip located proximal of a distal end of the shaft during treatment of the hollow anatomical structure. The apparatus can further include a liquid source for providing a liquid flow over the optical fiber at a predetermined liquid flow rate.

Systems and methods for treating hollow anatomical structures

An implant and delivery system including a female coupler at a proximal end of the implant and a male coupler at a distal end of an elongate tubular delivery member. The male coupler is insertable within the female coupler and expandable under the influence of an elongate control member that is slidable within the tubular delivery member. Expansion of the male coupler locks the implant to the tubular delivery member. Withdrawal of the control member unlocks the implant from the tubular delivery member, enabling placement of the implant within a body.

Occlusive implants for hollow anatomical structures, delivery systems, and related methods

An expandable space frame is manufactured by linking a plurality of flexible joints through spacing arms to form a closed structure. The spacing arms are sterically offset, linking the bottom of one joint to the top of the next joint in an stepwise fashion. The offset allows the frame to be collapsed with minimal steric hindrance between the centered joints. This lack of steric hindrance permits a very high ratio of the expansion to compression diameters for the frame. The space frame forms the basis for different types of stents. A spiral frame, or a series of individual frames are linked to each other to form a luminal stent, or are linked to longitudinal struts to form the support structure for a stent. The stents formed from the expandable space frame can be designed to have a number of additional features as set forth herein.

Expandable space frame

A method for treating snoring includes identifying first and second locations disposed on right and left sides, respectively, of a soft palate and separated by an anterior-posterior midline extending centrally positioned on the palate. The first and second locations are linked across the midline by creating a linkage between the first and second locations and through the midline with the linkage having a stiffness greater than a stiffness of untreated tissue naturally residing between the locations.

Lateral stiffening snoring treatment

A sharpening tool has a flat central portion circular plate to which is affixed circumferential abrasive bead having convex profile and formed of an abrasive grit bonded by epoxy to the plate. The tool is less wide than the spacing between the depth gauge and the cutting tooth of a chain saw blade and is mounted to a motor which is pivotal on a frame to bring the sharpening tool into position between the depth gauge and the cutting tool. The sharpening tool may then be urged against the cutting tooth to cut a desired tooth profile.

Chain saw sharpener with built-up grinding tool

The invention includes a fuel tank containing an emergency supply of fuel for an internal combustion engine in the general proximity of the engine, with the arrangement being such that proper communication from this alternate source of fuel directly to the air-fuel mixer of the engine is effected. The preferred example of the air-fuel mixer is a carburetor. In this way, by utilizing a reliable arrangement for the delivery of fuel directly to the carburetor, a temporary problem with the primary fuel supply can be circumvented.

Automatically functioning emergency fuel supply system for internal

An ion exchange liquid treatment apparatus including a tank having an upwardly dished bottom wall and a distributor of the type having a central header and a plurality of distributor conduits extending outwardly from this header. Each distributor conduit is formed of a first straight conduit section that extends generally radially outwardly from the header and a second straight conduit section that is connected to the first conduit section by a pipe elbow whereby the second conduit section can be positioned oblique to a plane through the longitudinal axis of the tank and at a shallow angle to a plane perpendicular to the tank axis to generally conform to the contour of the dished bottom wall of the tank. Each of the second distributor conduit sections preferably have lateral conduits extending transverse thereto to achieve generally uniform liquid flow throughout the cross-section of the tank. The distributor conduits are supported on the tank bottom by a distributor support structure including radially extending arms and annular ring members interconnected to form a generally frusto-conical grid that underlies and supports the distributor conduits.

Growing community of inventors

Winter Garden, FL, United States of America

Walter J Stevens