CA1152397A - Fluid discharged tube - Google Patents

Fluid discharged tube

Info

Publication number
CA1152397A
CA1152397A CA000373186A CA373186A CA1152397A CA 1152397 A CA1152397 A CA 1152397A CA 000373186 A CA000373186 A CA 000373186A CA 373186 A CA373186 A CA 373186A CA 1152397 A CA1152397 A CA 1152397A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
discharge tube
fluid
tube
chamber
plenum chamber
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000373186A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Joseph W. Kantorski
Robert G. Lavallee
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Warner Lambert Technologies Inc
Original Assignee
Warner Lambert Technologies Inc
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Warner Lambert Technologies Inc filed Critical Warner Lambert Technologies Inc
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1152397A publication Critical patent/CA1152397A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61BDIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B3/00Apparatus for testing the eyes; Instruments for examining the eyes
    • A61B3/10Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions
    • A61B3/16Objective types, i.e. instruments for examining the eyes independent of the patients' perceptions or reactions for measuring intraocular pressure, e.g. tonometers
    • A61B3/165Non-contacting tonometers

Abstract

S/mf IMPROVED FLUID DISCHARGED TUBE
Abstract of the Disclosure An improved fluid discharged tube having a portion thereof extending thereto a plenum chamber and a method for enhancing the con-sistency of repeated regulated fluid discharges is disclosed.

Description

~L~5~3Y7 The present invention relates to devices for enhancing the repeatability of consistént regulated fluid discharges and, more particularly, to discharge tubes and method of enhancing the repeatability of regulated fluid discharges therefrom.
Both the prior art and the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 is a side view in cross-section illustrating the structure of prior art devices having a discharge tube; and Fig. 2 is a side view in cross-section illustrating the structure of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Devices such as non-contacting tonometers are known to require consistently repeatable regulated fluid discharges.
Conventional non-contacting tonometers have a plenum chamber to receive an air pulse and a discharge tube connected to the plenum chamber for directing the air pulse toward an eyeballO
The objective carrying the discharge tube of the only commercial embodiment of such devices is shown in Fig. lo This objective has been used on commercial instruments since 1972 and has a fluid discharge tube which terminates at the junction of the tube and the objective shoulder~
Tonometer housing 1 has air passage 2 for delivering compressed aix to plenum chamber 3. Plenum chamber 3 comprises a bore having stepped cylindrical walls 4, 5 and 6 with the diameter of wall 4 being less than the diameter of wall 5 which, in turn, is less than the diameter of wall 6~ One end of the plenum chamber 3 is defined by window 7 which is cemented to surface 8 of housing 1. Wall 6 is defined by a portion of objective body 9. The other end of plenum chamber 3 mg/), - 2 -S23~7 ~:.
is defined by lens surface 10 of objective doublet 11.
Discharge tube 12 extends from the plane of shoulder 15 of lens retaining ring 16 through doublet ll and front lens 13 to direct an air pulse from plenum chamber 3 toward a patient's eye ~not shown). Interior wall 14 of discharge tube 12 is usually highly polished to a uniform diameter.
Prior Art U.S. Patents 3,756,073, issued September 4, 1973 and 3,832,890, issued September 3, 1974, have drawings illustrating non-contacting tonometers with a discharge tube which appears to extend into the plenum chamber. Both of these patents are assigned to the manufacturer of the only non-c~ntacting tonometer utilizing an objective as generally ; illustrated. However, the inven-tion of neither patent is directed toward the structure of the objective. The objective and discharge tube is only mentioned incidentally ', in describing the environment in which the respective inventions are intended to function.
Other patents directed to various aspects of non-contacting tonometers include:
. .

mg/,~ - 3 -, :

. .

J ~5~3~7 .
PATEMT NO. ISSUE DATE INVENTOR ~S) 3,181,351 5/4/65 N. ~. Staufer 3,232,099 2/1/66 C. D. Motchenbacher 3,246,507 4/19/66 W. L. Hyde 3,304,769 2/21/67 N. Lo Stauffer 3,538,754 11/10/70 B. Grolman et al 3,572,100 3/23/71 B. Grolman et al 3,585,849 6/22/71 B. Grolman While each of these patents utilized uses a regulated air pulse discharged through an opening and an objective or a tube and usually a plenum chamber, none of the art discusses the problem of providing consistently repeatable fluid pulses in such devices although -the need for consis-tent repeatability has always been a commercial requirement.
The prior art structure caused substantial manufacturing difficulty since it has been necessary to select a particular objective for each non-contacting tonometer by trial and error. Prior efforts to solve this problem were unsuccessful in spite of efforts to produce objectives with discharge tubes having exceedingly tight tolerances. Various modifications to the discharge tube such as tapering the end of internal wall of -the tube toward the exterior wall in the vicini-ty of the plenum chamber have also been tried with very limited success.

X
mg/~

: ' . ''' ` " '.. ' ' ' ~ :' . : . ~. ~ ' 52~7 Brief Description of the Present Invention and Drawings -Applicants have discovered that the consistency of repeated regulated discharges can be substantially enhanced and that objective units containing a discharge tube can have substantial interchangeability if the discharge tube length is increased to extend well into the plenum chamber. The portion of the tube extending into the chamber must be of sufficient length to disrupt wavefronts produced therein. The length of the tube portion extending into plenum chambers may vary considerably and may optimize for ! a given chamber size and shape without undue experimentation.
Specifically, the invention relates to a non-contacting tonometer including a plenum chamber, an objective means having a discharge tube,` means for delivering compressed air to the chamber, a portion of the discharge tube extending into the chamber, the portion being effective to disrupt wavefronts affecting the uniformity of repeated air pulses discharged through the discharge tube, wherein the objective means is interchangeable in other non-contacting tonometers.
In the commercial instrument, the preferred length of the tube por-tion extending into the plenum chamber is about 3/16 inches longer than the prior art tube. Consistency of the discharge is further enhanced by texturizing the interior wall of the discharge tube which is believed to create a turbulence p~eventing laminar air flow through the discharge tube.
The method of the present invention includes the steps of increasing the length of a discharge tube extending mg/`~ - 5 -"'; ~,' ' :

S23~7 into a plenum chamher and roughening the interior wall thereof to efEect enhanced consistency of fluid discharges-therethrough.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment Referring to Fig. 2, similar components have the .same numerical identification as the components of Fig. 1.
Discharge tube 12 has its length increasea by portion 17 to extend past shoulder 10 into plenum chamber 3. In the preferred embodiment, portion 17 is nearly 40% of the total length o~ discharge tube 12. One discharge tube 12 found to be particularly satisfactory has a total length (including portion 17) of 1.075", an inside diameter of 0.095" with a wall thickness of about 0.0125".
To further enhance the consistency of the air pulse discharges through discharge tube 12, interior wall 14 should .
be texturized. For example, the preferred embodiment described above was texturized by sand blasting using silicon carbide having a 50 micron particle size ejected through a 0.031 diamater nozzle at 90 PSI.
To demonstrate the improved performance of discharge tubes according to the present invention, a comparison test was run using seven production non-contacting tonometers commercially available under Catalog No. 12415 from American Optical Corporation. Five objectives fitted with prior art discharge tubes with an overall length of 0.654", and I.D. o~
0.095" as illustrated in Fig. 1 were tested in each of the instruments. Six objectives each having discharge tubes with the dimensions of the preferred embodiment noted above were also tested in each of the seven instruments mg/)Q - 6 -, ~5~3~7 using a test fix-ture for providing standard low, medium, and high readings . on a tonometer; fifteen readings were taken with each objective on each instrument (five low, five medium, and five high). Table 1 reports the results of -the mean of standard deviations and the standard deviation of mea.ns for each group of readings.
T~BLE I

, Instrumen-t Mean of Standard Standard Deviation .. . Deviations of Means Prior Present Prior Present ~ 10 Art Invention _ Art Invention .~ Low 0.70 .50 .26 ~ .28 ;~ XX XXXXl Medium .88 .44 .26 .21 High 1.30 82 _ 56 42 Low. .63 .39 .30 .20 XX XXXX2 Medium .88 .51 .36 .10 High 1 67 98 .77 .29 ~ _ Low .82 .7C .21 .38 XX XXXX3 Medium 1.09 .58 o15 .38 High 1.34 1.11 .64 .31 _ Low ,76 .40 .29 .30 XX XXXX4 Medium 1.14 .43 .30 .50 ;~ High 1.73 .79 2.79 .80 _ _ ~ Low .71 .39 .26 .15 .. XX XXXX5 Medium 1.20 .73 .22 .15 High 1.43 1.00 _19 34 , Low .69 .53 .36 .30 XX XXXX6 Medium .84 .59 .64 .36 lligh 1.91 1.18 4.60 .59 _ _ _ Low .76 .35 .22 .14 XX XXXX7 Medium .92 .59 .18 .27 High _ _1.07 71 _48 60 mg/:. - 7 -X

.
-. .: , : ' ~ . ,

Claims (6)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A non-contacting tonometer including a plenum chamber, an objective means having a discharge tube, means for delivering compressed air to the chamber, a portion of said discharge tube extending into said chamber, said portion being effective to disrupt wavefronts affecting the uniformity of repeated air pulses discharged through said discharge tube, wherein said objective means is interchangeable in other non-contacting tonometers.
2. The device according to Claim 1 wherein said tube has an inner wall uniformly textured to a depth effective to prevent laminar fluid flow through said tube.
3. A method of enhancing the consistency of repeated, regulated, fluid discharges from a discharge tube protruding from a plenum chamber which comprises the steps of increasing the length of the discharge tube to extend the discharge tube into the plenum chamber a length effective to disrupt fluid wavefronts formed in the chamber and roughening the interior of the discharge tube an amount effective to prevent laminar fluid flow during fluid discharge.
4. The method of Claim 3 wherein the length is increased about 65%.
5. The method of Claim 3 wherein the interior is roughened by silicon carbide carried in a fluid stream.
6. The method of Claim 5 wherein the fluid is air and the silicon carbide has an average particle size of 50 microns.
CA000373186A 1980-06-02 1981-03-17 Fluid discharged tube Expired CA1152397A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US155,283 1980-06-02
US06/155,283 US4386611A (en) 1980-06-02 1980-06-02 Tonometer with improved fluid discharged tube

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1152397A true CA1152397A (en) 1983-08-23

Family

ID=22554796

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000373186A Expired CA1152397A (en) 1980-06-02 1981-03-17 Fluid discharged tube

Country Status (7)

Country Link
US (1) US4386611A (en)
JP (1) JPS579432A (en)
CA (1) CA1152397A (en)
DE (1) DE3121493A1 (en)
FR (1) FR2489439A1 (en)
GB (1) GB2076986B (en)
HK (1) HK94784A (en)

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* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB8626601D0 (en) * 1986-11-07 1986-12-10 Pa Consulting Services Testing apparatus
US4883056A (en) * 1987-11-05 1989-11-28 Ocular Blood Flow Laboratories, Inc. Pneumatic pressure probe
US5810005A (en) * 1993-08-04 1998-09-22 Dublin, Jr.; Wilbur L. Apparatus and method for monitoring intraocular and blood pressure by non-contact contour measurement
US6206694B1 (en) 1999-11-24 2001-03-27 Crystalmark Dental Systems, Inc. Handpiece assembly for air abrasion
US7241272B2 (en) * 2001-11-13 2007-07-10 Baxter International Inc. Method and composition for removing uremic toxins in dialysis processes
EP2273995B2 (en) * 2008-03-20 2023-11-15 Baxter International Inc. Destruction of microbial products by enzymatic digestion
US8613704B2 (en) * 2011-01-25 2013-12-24 Reichert, Inc. Subsystems and methods for non-contact corneal deformation

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US22574A (en) * 1859-01-11 Albert ostrander
US71756A (en) * 1867-12-03 Improvement in nozzles for fire-engines
US1886623A (en) * 1931-07-22 1932-11-08 Swartzbaugh Mfg Company Liquid dispensing apparatus
US2498596A (en) * 1946-07-03 1950-02-21 Associated Dev & Res Corp Tire inflation device
NL157104B (en) * 1949-11-09 Tokyo Keiki Tokyo Keiki Co Kk GYRO COMPASS.
US2729505A (en) * 1951-04-05 1956-01-03 Salmon C Harvey Lather foam dispenser
US2723882A (en) * 1954-02-11 1955-11-15 Philip L Barnett Spraying apparatus for corrosive materials
US3117726A (en) * 1960-01-05 1964-01-14 Schoberg Borje Lennart Detachable apparatus for cleaning hollows by blowing
FR1294177A (en) * 1961-04-10 1962-05-26 Electrochimie Soc Spray device
US3181351A (en) * 1962-11-06 1965-05-04 Honeywell Inc Non-contacting tonometer
US3232099A (en) * 1962-11-06 1966-02-01 Honeywell Inc Measuring apparatus
US3246507A (en) * 1963-04-05 1966-04-19 American Optical Corp Method and apparatus for measuring intra-ocular pressure
US3304769A (en) * 1964-05-29 1967-02-21 Honeywell Inc Air puff tonometer
US3585849A (en) * 1968-10-09 1971-06-22 American Optical Corp Method and apparatus for measuring intraocular pressure
US3538754A (en) * 1969-01-15 1970-11-10 American Optical Corp Method for measuring intraocular pressure
US3628526A (en) * 1969-04-14 1971-12-21 Du Pont Physiologic fluid pressure sensor head
US3572100A (en) * 1969-05-28 1971-03-23 American Optical Corp Synchronizer for a tonometer
US3756073A (en) * 1971-11-26 1973-09-04 American Optical Corp Non-contact tonometer
US3832890A (en) * 1971-12-29 1974-09-03 American Optical Corp Non-contact tonometer corneal monitoring system
US3984054A (en) * 1974-08-26 1976-10-05 Barry Wright Corporation Nozzle
JPS5438437A (en) * 1977-08-30 1979-03-23 Toyota Motor Corp Engine exhaust gas recycle controller

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB2076986A (en) 1981-12-09
JPS579432A (en) 1982-01-18
US4386611A (en) 1983-06-07
GB2076986B (en) 1984-03-07
FR2489439A1 (en) 1982-03-05
HK94784A (en) 1984-12-07
JPH0130493B2 (en) 1989-06-20
FR2489439B1 (en) 1984-12-28
DE3121493A1 (en) 1982-06-16

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