Claims
- 1. An apparatus for shape setting a wire with a curved three dimensional guide section, said apparatus comprising:
- a mandrel having a temperature stable core, at least one screw thread having spaced apart roots capable of mechanically receiving a wire; and
- a means for retaining said wire under tension within said spaced apart roots and preventing said wire from slipping or shifting.
- 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel has a minor diameter between 0.5 and 20 mm.
- 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel has a non-uniform minor diameter.
- 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel has a uniform linear geometry.
- 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel has a non-uniform linear geometry.
- 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mandrel has a plurality of cross section geometries.
- 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said cross sectional geometries are any combination of regular and irregular shapes.
- 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distance between said roots is between 0.026 mm and 12.7 mm.
- 9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distance between said roots is preferably between 1 mm and 6 mm.
- 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel is hollow.
- 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel is made of brass.
- 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel is made of any form of steel.
- 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said mandrel is made of a ceramic material.
- 14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means is at least one clip.
- 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means is a tube slidably fit over said mandrel.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 08/966,001, filed No. 7, 1997 now pending, and that application in its entirety is hereby incorporated by reference. In addition this application references and claims the benefit under 37 CFR .sctn.1.78 of provisional application Nos.60/081,631 filed Apr. 13, 1998; 60/103,447 filed Oct. 7, 1998; and 60/081,614, filed Apr. 13, 1998 the full disclosure of which are also incorporated herein by reference. The subject matter of this application is related to that of co-pending applications entitled "GUIDEWIRE FOR PRECISION CATHETER POSITIONING," and "VARIABLE STIFFNESS CATHETER FOR THE TREATMENT OF A BODY LUMEN, SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR USING THE SAME," filed on the same date as the present application, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
966001 |
Nov 1997 |
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