AU642569B2

AU642569B2 - Pincette for an ocular lens

Info

Publication number: AU642569B2
Application number: AU90128/91A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Toyoyasu Tanaka
Original assignee: Menicon Co Ltd
Current assignee: Menicon Co Ltd
Priority date: 1991-01-04
Filing date: 1991-12-31
Publication date: 1993-10-21
Anticipated expiration: 2011-12-31
Also published as: EP0493826A1; CA2058600A1; DE69103391D1; DE69103391T2; JPH0495024U; EP0493826B1; JPH0736649Y2; AU9012891A

Description

1- 642569

AUSTRALIA

PATENTS ACT 1990 COM P LERT E S P EC IF IC A TION FOR A STANDARD PATENT OR I GI N AL

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.000..qame of Applicant: 0 0.00 :7x.tual Inventor: Address for Service: 0..

"I v ni nT t e MENICON CO., LTD.

Toyoyasu Tanaka SHELSTON WATERS 55 Clarence Street SYDNEY NSW 2000 "PINCETTE FOR AN OCULAR LENS" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us:la- PINCETTE FOR AN OCULAR LENS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pincette for an ocular lens, and more particularly to a pincette which is used on the occasion to deal with an ocular lens such as a contact lens and the like.

The contact lens and the like have hitherto been dealt in such a manner as to be pinched either by a thumb and a finger or by a pincette made of stainless steel or hard material such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (ABS resin) and the like. However, if the contact lens is handled by the above way, the contact lens is often hurt. In view of protection of the contact lens, there is such a pincette, a tip of which is covered with plastics such as polyfluoroethylene resin and the like.

S 15 The contact lens cannot be handled without being hurt when such a pincette is used.

For this reason, the pincette made of soft material which is substitute for hard material is proposed. Such a pincette has a shape which is the same as general pincette shown in Fig. 7. When the pincette is compared to a lever, each of a fulcrum (a curved portion S• 51) and a point of application (a tip portion 52 for pinching a lens) is respectively disposed in an end portion of the pincette and a point of force (a glip 25 portion 53) is disposed between the fulcrum and the point of application. A stopper 54 is formed in an inner side of the grip portion 53. Then the pincette is intended not to close exceeding a ce.1ain length.

According to the above-mentioned conventional pincette, when the pincette is inserted into a case for storing a contact lens having a mouth of small diameter, the grip portion 53 must be closed to a certain extent (referring to Fig. Accordingly, it is restricted to open and close the tip portion 52 for pinching the lens which is located in the bottom of the case for storage.

Then it is very difficult to pinch the lens. When the 2 group portion 53 is pinched by a finger and a thumb, a stroke of the tip portion 52 becomes longer than that of the group portion 53. Therefore, it is difficult to perform such a fine work as to deal with the contact lens and the like. The users tend to pinch a portion located in the neighborhood of the tip portion 52 of the pincette wben the users perform the above-mentioned fine work. In such a case, there is a probability to damage the contact lens by pressing the tip portion after the stopper 54 which is formed in the inner side of the group portion 53 is coming into contact with the another side of the group portion 53.

An object of the present invention is to resolve the above described problems, and to provide such a pincette for an ocular lens that the pincette can take out a lens from a case for storage having a small mouth, prevent the lens from being damaged when the lens is pinched and be easily handled.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a pincette for an ocular lens comprising a pair of arms continuous via a curved resilient portion, said arms being crossed at a ful.!rum to respectively define tip portions distal the resilient portion and actuation S 25 portions adjacent the resilient portion, said fulcrum being intermediate the tip portions and actuation portions, wherein stopping means are provided adjacent the fulcrum such that the tip portions cannot be excessively closed regardless of the force manually i 30 applied to the actuation portion.

It is preferable that said pincette is integrally made of a hydrophobic soft material, above all, hydrophobic soft material possible to mold.

It is preferable that the tip portions of said arms 35 are thinned.

eeoc•: S"Further it is preferable that said resilient portion is thinner and narrower than the actuation portion.

3 A term "ocular lens" used in the present invention is a concept including a contact lens or an intraocular lens.

When the actuation portion is pinched by a thumb and a finger against a resilient force of the resilient portion, the tip portion is closed. Accordingly, it is easy to take out the lens from the case having a small mouth. Since the stopping means which are formed in the neighborhood of the fulcrum, a force of closing the arms is not transmitted to the tip portion beyond a restriction by the stopping means.

Further, since the tip portion and the actuation portion are formed in such a manner that the fulcrum is located between the tip portion and the actuation portion, the stroke of closing the tip portion is shorter than that of pinching the group portion or the stroke of closing the tip portion is almost the same as that of pinching the group portion dependent on the relative dimensions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the pincette of the present invention; :Fig. 2 is a front view showing a state of closing 25 the tip portion of the pincette of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front view showing a state before eo constructing the pincette of Fig.l; Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 1 viewed from the direction of an arrow A; 30 Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing a shape of the tip portion of another embodiment of the present 0.

invention; :0: 0ee 0ooI 0 4- Fig. 6 is a perspective view further showing a shape of the tip portion of another embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing an example of conventional pincette; and Fig. 8 is a front view showing a state closing the tip portion of a pincette of Fig. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The pincette in accordance with the present invention is explained below with reference to the drawings.

A pincette 1 shown in Fig. 1 has such a shape that a belt-like-shaped-plate member is curved and folded.

15 A pair of arms 3 which are continuous via a curved portion S2 are crossed each other and fulcrumed in the neighborhood of the central portion of the pincette. Portions between the curved portion 2 and a crossed portion 4 of the arms 3 define a grip portion 5 of the pincette 1.

20 Each of the crossed portions 4 of the arms 3 is formed in such a manner that each crossed portion 4 has a face perpendicular to another portion of the arm 3. A hole 6 for, a pin is formed in approximately the center of one of the crossed portions (referring to Fig. then 25 the hole 6 inserted by a pin portion 7 is formed in another crossed portion. The pin portion 7 is rotatably fulcrumed by the crossed portion 4. The curved portion 2

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of the pincette 1 is biased so that the tip portion 8 can always be opened by means of an elastic force thereof.

30 Then, if the grip portion 5 is pinched, the tip portion 8 is closed. Since the pincette 1 has a crossed portion 4, each distance between arm portions located from the crossed portion 4 to the tip portion 8 is almost the same.

Accordingly, the case for storage having the abovementioned small mouth can be easily inserted by the pincette. Furthermore, since the tip portion 8 is curved in such a manner as to converge (or be inwardly disposed), the lens can be securely retained.

5 Accordingly, the lens can be easily taken out from the above-mentioned case having a small mouth.

Furthermore, when the pincette 1 is closed, first stoppers 9 (referring to Fig. 3) which are defined in the arms 3 in the upper side (the end portion of the curved portion side) of the crossed portion 4 are coming into contact each other and/or second stoppers 10 which are defined in the arms 3 in the lower side (the end portion of the tip portion side) are coming into contact with each other. Therefore, when the grip portion 5 is pinched strongly enough to exceed the state that the first stoppers 9 are coming into contact with each other, the grip portion 5 is bended and the tip portion 8 is never closed by pinching the grip portion 5. Then, the pinched S 15 lens is not damaged.

Further, since the grip portion 5 is defined in such a manner as to be distinguished from the crossed portion 4 which is a distinct portion, the tip portion is o never pinched. Then an effect of the stopper is never 20 lost like the conventional pincette.

The pincette 1 in accordance with the present invention is provided with the crossed portion 4 located in the place where a stroke of pinching the grip portion o •2 is longer than that of closing the tip portion 8 or the stroke of pinching the grip portion 5 is almost the same as the stroke of closing the tip portion 8. Therefore, it S. is easy to perform such a fine work as to deal with the lens.

Further, since the arm portion 3 is thinned in 30 the place from the crossed portion 4 to the tip portion 8 *''.(referring to Fig. the arm portion 3 is easily bended and prevents the lens from transmitting the excessive force.

It is preferable that a thickness T of the tip portion 8 is not more than half of the thickness W of another parts of the arm portion 8 (referring to Fig. 3).

Furthermore, it is preferable that the tip portion 8 has a round shape (or the tip portion 8 has its edge portions 6 chamfered) so as not to damage the lens even in the case of coming into contact with the lens. Especially, in view of an easiness of producing it is preferable that the tip portion has a disk like shape shovyn in Fig. 1 or a ring like shape shown in Fig. 5 or a spherical shape shown in Fig. 6. The tip portion 8 has such a size not to be difficult to pinch the lens. Generally, a maximum width of the tip portion 8 is approximately 2 to 10 mm. As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, the width of the curved portion 2 located in the place from the back side is narrowed gradually and the thickness of the curved portion are thinned little by little.

Accordingly, as elastic force of the curved portion 2 to open the pincette is little and it is easy to •15 control the force of the thumb and finger when the users deal with the pincette. As a material of the pincette 1, it is preferable to employ such a hydrophobic soft material as not to easily become dirty. For instance, 2 polyethylene, polybutadiene, polypropylene, polyester, 20 urethane elastomer, silicone elastomer and the like can be employed.

If the grip portion is provided with a serrated or warty antislipping portion so that the thumb S" and the finger do not slip when the pincette is handled, 25 the pincette can be still more easily handled.

Since the users can adjust to open or close the tip portion by using the pincette of the present invention without being effected by the size of the mouth of the case, the lens can be easily taken out from the case and 30 can be easily controled by the thumb and the finger without adding unnecessary force to the lens which is a pinched article. Therefore, the pincette in accordance with the present invention is very easy to be deal.

Further, the pincette has such an advantage that an injection molding is easily performed since the pincette has a simple shape.

Though several embodiments cf the invention are described above, it is to be understood that the present 7invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various changes and modifications may be made in the invention without departing form the sprit and scope therof.

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Claims

1. A pincette for an ocular lens comprising a pair of arms continuous via a curved resilient portion, said arms being crossed at a fulcrum to respectively define tip portions distal the resilient portion and actuation portions adjacent the resilient portion, said fulcrum being intermediate the tip portions and actuation portions, wherein stopping means are provided adjacent the fulcrum such that the tip portions cannot be excessively closed regardless of the force manually applied to the actuation portion.

2. The pincette of claim 1, wherein said pincette is integrally made of a hydrophobic soft material.

3. The pincette of claim 1, wherein the tip portions of said arms are thinned.

4. The pincette of claim 1, wherein said resilient portion is thinner and narrower than the actuation portion. A pincette for an ocular lens substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED this 9th day of August 1993 MENICON CO., LTD. Attorney: PETER HEATHCOTE Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia S• of SHELSTON WATERS *o o *o 0* *o