Patents by Inventor Timothy R. Willis

Timothy R. Willis 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: 5179262
    Abstract: Complex small objects such as ophthalmic lenses are quickly and accurately fabricated from plastic or glass blanks of ablatable material such as plastic or glass by cutting, shaping, and radiusing the blank entirely by laser light, using appropriate masks with focusing and imaging optics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1991
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1993
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Valdemar Portney, Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis
  • Patent number: 5152789
    Abstract: An intraocular lens comprising a deformable optic and a fixation member for use in supporting the optic in the eye. The fixation member includes an annulus surrounding the optic and a plurality of resilient struts interconnecting the optic with the annulus. The struts tend to be compressively loaded by the posterior capsule of the eye after implantation. To prevent buckling of the resilient struts in an axial direction due to the imposed compressive loads, the struts are curved in a circumferential direction when in an unloaded state, thereby being predisposed to further bow in the same circumferential direction upon imposition of the compressive load. This predisposition to bow circumferentially avoids severe problems incurred if the struts are permitted to buckle axially, such as tilting of the optic and impaired vision for the patient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 1991
    Date of Patent: October 6, 1992
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventor: Timothy R. Willis
  • Patent number: 5147395
    Abstract: An intraocular lens comprising a deformable optic and at least one fixation member for use in fixing the optic in the eye. The fixation member includes a deformable element integral with the optic and at least one resilient stiffening element within in the optic and attached to the optic by the deformable element. The stiffening element stiffens the deformable element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 16, 1991
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1992
    Assignee: Allergan Inc.
    Inventor: Timothy R. Willis
  • Patent number: 5098439
    Abstract: An apparatus for inserting a foldable lens into an eye through an incision in the eye comprising: a paddle permanently affixed to the apparatus, and sized and adapted to contact the lens in the unfolded state; an elongated tube including a distally open interior space sized and adapted to receive the paddle in contact with the lens in the folded state, and a distal end portion sized and adapted to be inserted into the eye through the incision, the tube being cooperable with the paddle to fold the lens into the folded state as the lens in contact with the paddle is received through the distal opening into the interior space; and a mechanism to provide relative movement between the paddle and the tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 1989
    Date of Patent: March 24, 1992
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles M. Hill, Daniel Brady, Timothy R. Willis, Lyle E. Paul
  • Patent number: 5061840
    Abstract: Complex small objects such as ophthalmic lenses are quickly and accurately fabricated from plastic or glass blanks of ablatable material such as plastic or glass by cutting, shaping, and radiusing the blank entirely by laser light, using appropriate masks and focusing optics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 1990
    Date of Patent: October 29, 1991
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Valdemar Portney, Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis
  • Patent number: 5053171
    Abstract: Complex small objects such as ophthalmic lenses are quickly and accurately fabricated from plastic or glass blanks of ablatable material such as plastic or glass by cutting, shaping, and radiusing the blank entirely by laser light, using appropriate masks with focusing and imaging optics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 1, 1991
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Valdemar Portney, Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis
  • Patent number: 4938767
    Abstract: A method of making an intraocular lens including providing a fixation member having a proximal end portion with the proximal end portion including an elongated filament, converting a region of said filament at said proximal end portion from a first configuration into a second configuration which is adapted to provide a mechanical interlock and molding an optic about the proximal end portion of the fixation member to form a mechanical interlock between the second configuration and the optic and to attach the fixation member to the optic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1989
    Date of Patent: July 3, 1990
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis, F. Richard Christ, Steven R. Bacich, Dean K. Pettit, Stanley L. Van Gent, Jeffrey C. Day
  • Patent number: 4888013
    Abstract: A method of making an intraocular lens including providing a fixation member having a proximal end portion with the proximal end portion including an elongated filament, converting a region of said filament at said proximal end portion from a first configuration into a second configuration which is adapted to provide a mechanical interlock and molding an optic about the proximal end portion of the fixation member to form a mechanical interlock between the second configuration and the optic and to attach the fixation member to the optic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1988
    Date of Patent: December 19, 1989
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis, F. Richard Christ, Steven R. Bacich, Dean K. Pettit, Stanley L. Van Gent, Jeffrey C. Day
  • Patent number: 4880426
    Abstract: A method of making an intraocular lens including providing a fixation member having a proximal end portion with the proximal end portion including an elongated filament, converting a region of said filament at said proximal end portion from a first configuration into a second configuration which is adapted to provide a mechanical interlock and molding an optic about the proximal end portion of the fixation member to form a mechanical interlock between the second configuration and the optic and to attach the fixation member to the optic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 1988
    Date of Patent: November 14, 1989
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Albert C. Ting, Timothy R. Willis, F. Richard Christ, Steven R. Bacich, Dean K. Pettit, Stanley L. Van Gent, Jeffrey C. Day
  • Patent number: 4759359
    Abstract: A lens implantation instrument includes first and second prongs connected together in a forceps-like configuration that is adapted to be grasped in the hand of a user for purposes of holding an intraocular lens to be implanted in an eye. The first prong has a distal end portion that defines a trough extending distally, the trough having a size and shape adapted to receive at least a portion of the optic of the lens with the optic in a folded configuration, and the second prong has a distal end portion that extends generally parallel to the trough, the distal end portion of the second prong having a size and shape adapted to fit at least partially into the trough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 1987
    Date of Patent: July 26, 1988
    Assignee: Allergan, Inc.
    Inventors: Timothy R. Willis, Lyle E. Paul, Stanley L. Van Gent