Method of making a catheter

摘要

A catheter assembly including a plastic tube having a cup-shaped bulb at one end and which is oval in cross section. The walls of the bulb are thicker than the remainder of the tube and a hub is molded about the bulb both interiorly and exteriorly thereof. The bulb is formed by placing the tube on a mandrel, which extends from a mandrel carrier, and thereafter placing the carrier on a base so that the upper end of the tube and mandrel extend through a slot and into a heating cavity defined by a housing. The upper end of the tube is subjected to radiant heat on opposite sides thereof to heat the circumference of the tube unevenly to form and define the cup-shaped bulb. The upper end of the tube is heated to a temperature close to its melting point.