The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 12, 1996
Filed:
Sep. 08, 1994
Herbert A Waggener, Pottersville, NJ (US);
Kazimierz Przydzial, Clark, NJ (US);
Waggener, Przydzial and Associates, Chippewa Falls, WI (US);
Abstract
A medical device having a regular or irregular shape is sterilized in a sterilizing apparatus comprising a means for moveably supporting the medical device, and a electrode having an anode tip at one end thereof which is positioned to form a gap with a predetermined length between the anode tip and the medical device. To sterilize a portion of an outer surface of the medical device at the anode tip of the electrode, predetermined first and second voltages are applied to the anode tip and the medical device, respectively. The voltage and current applied to the anode tip and the medical device are raised to predetermined values to provide a voltage differential across the gap to form a glow discharge adjacent the outer surface of the medical device for sterilizing the outer surface of the medical device. The entire outer surface around the medical device is sterilized by, for example, positioning a plurality of energized electrodes around the medical device to form a continuous band of glow discharges around the medical device. A length of the medical device can be sterilized by moving the medical device and the anode tips of the electrodes relative to each other while forming a sequence of overlapping glow discharges both along a predetermined length and around the outer surface of the medical device.