Abstract: A package consists of a plastic "card" made up of a flat, rectangular piece of material having a centrally located scoring allowing the piece of material to be folded upon itself to provide an inner enclosure. The card includes two halves to either side of the scoring, a first half including cut-outs forming two tabs that enmesh with two slots formed in the second half so that when the card is folded about the scoring, the tabs may be inserted into the slots to hold the card in the folded configuration. The second half has a series of slots of various configurations and located in desired locations to allow retention of a guide wire, suture and suture anchor in a desired configuration.

Abstract: A universal dispenser for implants or other items includes a lightweight, thin housing made up of two clamshell halves pivoted together at a hinge. One of the halves has two laterally spaced recesses and the other of the halves has two laterally spaced projections configured to be frictionally retained within respective ones of the recesses when the halves are pivoted to a closed position. At least one of the clamshell halves has an elongated recess to form a chamber when the clamshell halves are pivoted to the closed position. The ends of the clamshell halves most remote from one another may include halves of an opening which is formed when the halves are pivoted to the closed position.

Abstract: A process for stretching natural staple fibers to reduce the diameter includes the steps of treating a substantially untwisted traveling assembly of natural fibers to plasticize the natural fibers, twisting the traveling assembly sufficiently to substantially prevent drafting of the assembly during subsequent stretching, subsequently stretching the twisted assembly and setting the stretch. Staple fibers having reduced diameters are provided as a result of the stretching process.

Abstract: An apparatus for stretching natural staple fibers to reduce their diameter includes a plurality of rotatable arrays of driven pulleys which are mounted for rotation between two twist blocking nips. The rotatable arrays are rotatable on a longitudinal axis corresponding to the direction of travel of an assembly of fibers through the apparatus to impart false twist into the assembly. The assembly of fibers is stretched between two of the pulley arrays with the pulleys of the downstream array being driven at a higher speed than the pulleys of the upstream array. A steam chamber is provided for setting the stretch while the false twist is being maintained by further rotatable pulley arrays. Post treatment stages may be added to further stabilize the stretched fibers.