A balloon catheter which is inflated after insertion into a tubular tissue includes: a balloon catheter body made of a polymer material, which is inflatable by fluid injection; and a plurality of microneedles formed on the surface of the balloon catheter body, wherein the microneedles are formed by transferring a biocompatible polymer resin or photocurable resin, filled in intaglio patterns formed on a mold, which have a shape corresponding to a shape of the microneedles, to the surface of the balloon catheter body which is in close contact with the mold, by a thermal molding, thermal crosslinking or photocuring process.

A polymeric article includes a body and encoded visual indicia formed on the body. The encoded visual indicia may be scanned to generate instructions. A method of providing the polymeric article includes applying polymeric materials to a mold to provide an article-blank web having formed therein an article preform of a desired shape with encoded visual indicia formed in the article preform.

A pipette may comprise a length, a longitudinal axis, and an inner curved surface enclosing a space. The pipette may have a tip region having a tip thickness. The tip region may be connected to a body region having a body thickness. The tip thickness may be greater than the body thickness. The body region may be connected to a mouth region having a mouth thickness. The mouth thickness may be greater than the body thickness. The inner curved surface may not contain bumps or ridges either between the tip region and the body region or between the body region and the mouth region. The pipette may be formed by blow molding or vacuum forming.

A pipette may comprise a length, a longitudinal axis, and an inner curved surface enclosing a space. The pipette may have a tip region having a tip thickness. The tip region may be connected to a body region having a body thickness. The tip thickness may be greater than the body thickness. The body region may be connected to a mouth region having a mouth thickness. The mouth thickness may be greater than the body thickness. The inner curved surface may not contain bumps or ridges either between the tip region and the body region or between the body region and the mouth region. The pipette may be formed by blow molding or vacuum forming.

A method of blow molding an article having at least one layer of thermoplastic material. The method comprises the steps of heating a mold having an inner surface with two or more areas of different surface textures to a first temperature of greater than 55 C. and subsequently feeding a parison into the mold. The parison is then blown against the inner surface of the mold to form an article. The temperature of the mold is subsequently lowered to a second temperature of between 20 C. to about 55 C. and the temperature cycle time (t.sub.ct) of the mold is less than 250 seconds. Using the two phase heating and cooling process in combination with a mold featuring different surface textures provides a finished article with different visual effects.

A method of manufacturing a pressure container including an in-mold label and a three-dimensional (3D) portion includes heating molds with a 3D groove formed therein to correspond to a 3D portion to be formed on a surface of the pressure container, separating the molds, attaching a label to an internal surface of the molds to allow at least a portion of the label to cover the 3D groove, positioning a pre-form of the pressure container in a cavity of the molds, closing the molds and injecting air into the pre-form at pressure in a specific range through a first route in a specific pressure range and expanding the pre-form, and three-dimensionally deforming a label attached to a surface of the pre-form to correspond to the 3D groove by air pressure along with the surface of the expanded pre-form while the expanded pre-form and the label are attached.

A method of manufacturing a pressure container including an in-mold label and a three-dimensional (3D) portion includes heating molds with a 3D groove formed therein to correspond to a 3D portion to be formed on a surface of the pressure container, separating the molds, attaching a label to an internal surface of the molds to allow at least a portion of the label to cover the 3D groove, positioning a pre-form of the pressure container in a cavity of the molds, closing the molds and injecting air into the pre-form at pressure in a specific range through a first route in a specific pressure range and expanding the pre-form, and three-dimensionally deforming a label attached to a surface of the pre-form to correspond to the 3D groove by air pressure along with the surface of the expanded pre-form while the expanded pre-form and the label are attached.

A molded container of plastic material. The molded container including a neck finish defining an opening into the molded container, a body extending from the neck finish and including a shoulder adjacent the neck finish, a base defining a closed end of the container, and a sidewall extending between the shoulder and the base. Formed on a surface of the container and being defined by the plastic material forming the container are a series of raised dots defining a tactile writing feature.

A molded container of plastic material. The molded container including a neck finish defining an opening into the molded container, a body extending from the neck finish and including a shoulder adjacent the neck finish, a base defining a closed end of the container, and a sidewall extending between the shoulder and the base. Formed on a surface of the container and being defined by the plastic material forming the container are a series of raised dots defining a tactile writing feature.

A unitary elastic mold and cutter combination configured to mold and cut moldable material is disclosed herein. The mold and cutter combination comprises an elastic mold cavity having an elastic bottom wall with an embossed inner surface and an elastic sidewall extending from and unitary with a perimeter of the bottom wall. An elastic cutting blade extends from and is unitary with the sidewall of the mold cavity and is configured to cut moldable material and maintain a substantially consistent perimeter upon cutting. The cutting blade comprises a cutting edge disposed between an inner cutting blade surface and an outer cutting blade surface. The mold and cutter combination may have an elasticity sufficient to release molded material therefrom by hand stretching, wherein the cutting edge, inner cutting blade surface, and the inner surface of the sidewall of the mold cavity are stretched by an amount sufficient to release the molded material.