Process and apparatus for the manufacture of a contact lens

US5894002A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• CIBA Vision Corporation · US

Inventors

• Karlheinz Boneberger · Zell am Harmersbach, DE
• Lothar Haase · Westerburg, DE
• Horst Schafer · Aschaffenburg, DE
• Werner Steffan · Eichenbühl, DE
• Peter Zang · Großostheim, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 26, 1997
• Grant date: Apr 13, 1999
• Expiry date: Mar 26, 2017

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y10S425/808
• WIPO field: Other special machines
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

In a process for the manufacture of contact lenses, a polymerizable contact lens material is dispensed into a mould half (1) and the mould is subsequently closed by means of the second mould half (2). The material located between the two mould halves in the moulding cavity (12) is then polymerized, thus forming an as yet unhydrated contact lens (CL). The moulding surface of one of the two mould halves (1, 2) is pre-treated, before use, in a region (20) outside the optically active zone of the contact lens (CL) in such a manner that, when the mould is opened, the contact lens (CL) adheres to the pre-treated mould half.