Patents by Inventor Olin W. Calvin
Olin W. Calvin has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
-
Patent number: 6610220Abstract: This invention provides a method of manufacturing a contact lens comprising the step of: dosing a contact lens mold comprising optical mold surfaces with an oxygen-sensitive reaction mixture, wherein said optical surfaces of said contact lens mold have between from 0.13×10−9 to 2.6×10−9 moles/cm2 O2 available to interfere with the reaction of said reaction mixture. This invention further provides a method of manufacturing a contact lens comprising the steps of: dosing a contact lens mold comprising optical mold surfaces with a reaction mixture, and sealing said reaction mixture and said optical mold surfaces away from a gaseous environment, wherein said optical surfaces of said contact lens mold were exposed to said gaseous environment comprising greater than 0.5 percent oxygen just prior to said sealing step.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2000Date of Patent: August 26, 2003Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.Inventors: Jeffrey D. Caltrider, Joseph W. Ricard, Terry L. Spaulding, Jeffrey E. Steven, Olin W. Calvin, John B. Enns, Ture Kindt-Larsen
-
Patent number: 6241918Abstract: A method of casting polymer contact lenses between two mold halves in an ambient (air) environment containing molecular oxygen (O2) in which the mold halves forming the cast geometry are exposed to the environment where the air exposure time, the time between which the injection mold used to form the mold halves is opened until the mold halves are assembled is less than 70 seconds, more preferably 40 seconds or less, and most preferably 24 seconds or less.Type: GrantFiled: December 28, 1998Date of Patent: June 5, 2001Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc.Inventors: Olin W. Calvin, John B. Enns, Ture Kindt-Larsen
-
Automated method and apparatus for single sided hydration of soft contact lenses in package carriers
Patent number: 6071112Abstract: An automated means for hydrating and packaging a molded hydrophilic contact lens in one of the mold parts used to mold the lens is provided in which a first robotic assembly removes a plurality of contact lens molds from a production line carrier, each of the lens molds having a contact lens adhered therein. The first robotic assembly transports the molds to a first staging area where the lens molds are sandwiched between a lens mold carrier and a top chamber plate to form a first hydration carrier. The hydration carrier is then transported through a plurality of flushing or extraction stations wherein fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chambers at each hydration station to flush leachable substances from the hydration chamber. At each flushing station, fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chamber to remove previously extracted impurities and the products of hydrolysis.Type: GrantFiled: July 29, 1999Date of Patent: June 6, 2000Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.Inventors: Olin W. Calvin, Mark E. Schlagel, Darren S. Keene, Ture Kindt-Larsen, Craig W. Walker, Wallace A. Martin, John C. Heaton -
Automated method and apparatus for single sided hydration of soft contact lenses in package carriers
Patent number: 6012471Abstract: An automated means for hydrating and packaging a molded hydrophilic contact lens in one of the mold parts used to mold the lens is provided in which a first robotic assembly removes a plurality of contact lens molds from a production line carrier, each of the lens molds having a contact lens adhered therein. The first robotic assembly transports the molds to a first staging area where the lens molds are sandwiched between a lens mold carrier and a top chamber plate to form a first hydration carrier. The hydration carrier is then transported through a plurality of flushing or extraction stations wherein fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chambers at each hydration station to flush leachable substances from the hydration chamber. At each flushing station, fresh deionized water is introduced into the hydration chamber to remove previously extracted impurities and the products of hydrolysis.Type: GrantFiled: August 14, 1996Date of Patent: January 11, 2000Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.Inventors: Olin W. Calvin, Mark E. Schlagel, Darren S. Keene, Ture Kindt-Larsen, Craig W. Walker, Wallace A. Martin, John C. Heaton -
Patent number: 5616184Abstract: An apparatus and a method for removing a liquid from a container having a bowl and a flange, the bowl holding the liquid and containing a hydrophilic ophthalmic lens, wherein there is provided a nozzle with a central face and a shoulder around the periphery of the face. The shoulder has a sealing means which is sized to fit on the flange of the container, where it forms a sealed volume above the container bowl, this volume including the volume of the bowl itself. The central face has through it at lease one fluid entrance passage and at least one fluid exit passage arranged so that the flow is distributed substantially symmetric about the center axis of the lens. The apparatus includes a lens retainer which resiliently urges the lens into engagement with the bowl so that when the purging fluid is introduced into the sealed volume, there is no migration of the lens.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 1996Date of Patent: April 1, 1997Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.Inventors: Gregory S. Duncan, Olin W. Calvin, Mark E. Schlagel, Darren S. Keene, Russell J. Edwards
-
Patent number: 5417557Abstract: Described is an apparatus and method for removing a molded ophthalmic lens from between the mold portions in which it is produced. A source of intense electromagnetic radiation, preferably a carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) laser of about 80 Watts at a wavelength of 10.6 .mu.m, is applied to at least one of the mold portions. The exposure of the mold portion to the laser is between one half and one second. Differential expansion of the heated mold polymer relative to the cooler polymer shifts one surface with respect to the other, and the shear force breaks the polymerized lens/polymer mold adhesion and assists in the separation of mold portions. The greater the temperature gradient between the surfaces of the mold portions, the greater the shearing force and the easier the mold portions separate. The heated back mold portion is promptly removed so that very little energy is transferred to the polymer lens, avoiding the possibility of thermal decomposition of the lens.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 1994Date of Patent: May 23, 1995Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.Inventors: Denwood F. Ross, Craig W. Walker, Olin W. Calvin, Thomas G. Davis
-
Patent number: 5294379Abstract: An apparatus and method for removing a molded ophthalmic lens from between the mold portions in which it is produced. A source of intense electromagnetic radiation, preferably a carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) laser of about 80 Watts at a wavelength of 10.6 .mu.m, is applied to at least one of the mold portions. The exposure of the mold portion to the laser is between one half and one second. Differential expansion of the heated mold polymer relative to the cooler polymer shifts one surface with respect to the other, and the shear force breaks the polymerized lens polymer mold adhesion and assists in the separation of mold portions. The greater the temperature gradient between the surfaces of the mold portions, the greater the shearing force and the easier the mold portions separate. The heated back mold portion is promptly removed so that very little energy is transferred to the polymer lens, avoiding the possibility of thermal decomposition of the lens.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 1992Date of Patent: March 15, 1994Assignee: Johnson & Johnson Vision Products, Inc.Inventors: Denwood F. Ross, Craig W. Walker, Olin W. Calvin, Thomas G. Davis