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:
Aug. 01, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 13, 1998
Clifford A Dey, San Angelo, TX (US);
Robert J Cerwin, Pipersville, PA (US);
J Mark Findlay, San Angelo, TX (US);
Konstantin K Ivanov, Bound Brook, NJ (US);
Robert Nunez, Asbury, NJ (US);
Donald Pompei, Montville, NJ (US);
William R Reinhardt, Belle Mead, NJ (US);
Mehmet Reyhan, E. Windsor, NJ (US);
David A Szabo, Branchburg, NJ (US);
Ethicon, Inc., Somerville, NJ (US);
Abstract
Automated packaging of surgical needle-suture assemblies includes a framing operation in which adjacent sheets of polymer coated aluminum foils are conveyed through a sequence of steps in an apparatus which produces frames containing plastic packets of needle-suture assemblies. A vision system having video cameras connected to a specially adapted computer enables monitoring the product traveling through the framing operation to detect various defects in the foil and in the product formation. Upon detection of a defect, the computer system can either identify and separate rejected product from good product or shut down the apparatus.