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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 14, 1996
Applicant:
Inventors:
Douglas Warren Ackerman, Gainesville, GA (US);
Timothy Sardelis, Somerset, NJ (US);
William McJames, Belle Mead, NJ (US);
Assignee:
Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, NJ (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
C21D / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
148606 ; 606222 ; 163-5 ;
Abstract
A continuous process for heat treating and cleaning and tempering martensitic stainless steel surgical needles is disclosed. The method comprises exposing the surgical needles to a partial vacuum at a temperature less than the heat treating temperature to remove volatile surface contaminant. Then the needles are heat treated in an argon gas environment at a pressure equal to or greater than 1.0 Torr. Next the temperature of the oven is lowered to temper the needles.