A device for crimping a radially expandable and collapsible prosthetic valve comprises a crimping loop having a first end portion, a second end portion, and a loop portion extending between the first and second end portions and defining an opening configured to receive the prosthetic valve. The crimping loop is movable between a first state in which the opening has a first diameter and a second state in which the opening has a second diameter smaller than the first diameter such that when the prosthetic valve is positioned within the loop portion, movement of the crimping loop from the first state to the second state is effective to reduce a diameter of the prosthetic valve. A method for crimping a prosthetic valve comprises reducing a diameter of an opening of a crimping loop, thereby radially compressing an at least partially expanded prosthetic valve disposed within the opening.

A hollow shaft includes a cylindrical main body part and an extremity drawn part that is integrally connected to one end of the main body part on the same axis and whose diameter is made smaller than a diameter of the main body part by drawing processing, wherein an inner peripheral face of the main body part and an inner peripheral face of a base portion, which is continuous with one end side of the main body part, of the extremity drawn part are formed as cut faces that are subjected to cutting processing before the drawing processing, and an inner peripheral face of a tip portion, which is continuous with an extremity side of the base portion, of the extremity drawn part is a non-cut face. Accordingly, the hollow shaft can be molded with high shape precision while maintaining a low drawing ratio for an extremity drawn part.

A hollow shaft includes a cylindrical main body part and an extremity drawn part that is integrally connected to one end of the main body part on the same axis and whose diameter is made smaller than a diameter of the main body part by drawing processing, wherein an inner peripheral face of the main body part and an inner peripheral face of a base portion, which is continuous with one end side of the main body part, of the extremity drawn part are formed as cut faces that are subjected to cutting processing before the drawing processing, and an inner peripheral face of a tip portion, which is continuous with an extremity side of the base portion, of the extremity drawn part is a non-cut face. Accordingly, the hollow shaft can be molded with high shape precision while maintaining a low drawing ratio for an extremity drawn part.

A crimping system for crimping fittings on hoses is disclosed and includes an interface and a crimper machine. The crimper machine is configured to analyze collected information based on identified hose and fitting properties; perform a crimping operation based on the collected information and the identified hose and fitting properties; measure crimping characteristics for the crimping operation; generate an alert based on the measured crimping characteristics and the collected information; and provide the alert to the interface.

A method of operating a swaging station includes removably coupling an insert to a distal end of a mandrel and advancing the insert and the distal end of the mandrel into a hollow interior of a tubular body defined by an inner circumferential surface thereof. A die of the swaging station is utilized to deform the tubular body radially inwardly to cause the inner circumferential surface of the tubular body to contact the insert to capture the insert within the tubular body at a desired axial position. The mandrel and die are retracted to result in a tubular component having an integrated insert disposed therein.

A heat pipe operating noiselessly by preventing, or reducing the effects of, the mixing of working fluid at different temperatures includes a hollow tube, a capillary structure, a working fluid, and a bushing. The porous capillary structure able to carry the fluid is disposed on an inner wall of the tube. The bushing is hollow, and the bushing is disposed on a surface of the capillary structure away from the tube. The heat pipe is divided into evaporation, adiabatic, and condensation sections, the capillary structure being at all sections. The working fluid is disposed in the capillary structure of the evaporation section, the bushing is disposed on a side of the capillary structure of the adiabatic section.

A process for preparing a multi-thickness welded steel vehicle rail, the process comprises the steps of: (a) forming a first tube having a first outer diameter, an inner diameter and a first wall thickness; (b) forming a second tube having the first outer diameter, a second inner diameter and a second wall thickness different than the first wall thickness; (c) swaging a first end of the first tube to a second outer diameter less than the second inner diameter of the second tube; (d) inserting the swaged first end of the first tube into an end of the second tube to form a joint; (e) welding the first tube and the second tube together to form a weld at the joint to form a tube blank with a heat affected zone of lower metal strength in the area of the weld; (f) preheating the tube blank to create a common crystalline microstructure along a length of the tube blank; (g) introducing the tube blank into a blow molding tool having inner molding walls; (h) molding the tube blank at an elevated temperature by expanding the tube blank against the inner molding walls of the molding tool by injecting a pressurized medium into an interior cavity of the tube blank; and (i) quenching the tube blank by replacing the pressurized medium with a cooling medium through the molding tool and the tube blank to achieve a rapid cooling effect on the tube blank and to create a completed vehicle rail with essentially uniform material strength across the weld. A completed vehicle rail has an overlapped welded structure and uniform microcrystalline structure along the length of the rail.

Techniques for implementing and/or deploying a swage machine, which includes a die plate that enables a die to be used to conformally deform a pipe fitting around pipe segment tubing to be loaded in the swage machine, a grab plate having grab plate sections that are pivotably connected, and grab adapter sections. Each grab adapter sections includes a base sub-section connected to a corresponding grab plate section, in which an inner surface of the base sub-section includes an alignment notch, and a modular sub-section to be secured to the base sub-section, in which an outer surface of the modular sub-section includes an alignment tab to be disposed within the alignment notch in the base sub-section and an inner surface of the modular sub-section includes a grab tab section that matingly interlocks with a fitting grab notch on the pipe fitting to facilitate securing the swage machine to the pipe fitting.

A strut including an elongated beam portion and a connecting end portion. The elongated beam portion is a tubular structure having an external circumference, the connecting end portion is integral with the elongated beam portion, has a folded and flattened end portion of the tubular structure, and where diametrically opposite inward fold lines meet between flattened parts the end portion of the tubular structure. The resulting connecting end portion includes four material layers and the connecting end portion has a width transverse to a longitudinal centerline of the connecting end portion.

A method of crimping a prosthetic valve on a delivery catheter having an inflatable balloon includes releasably attaching a holding mechanism to a shaft of the delivery catheter, wherein the holding mechanism is connected to a crimping device, positioning the prosthetic valve in the crimping device, actuating the crimping device to radially crimp the prosthetic valve onto the balloon or onto the shaft of the delivery catheter at a location adjacent the balloon, and removing the holding mechanism from the delivery catheter after crimping the prosthetic valve.