An embodiment of the invention is a basket for holding contact lenses. The basket comprises a first basket and a second basket mating members, each basket member includes a basket wall defining a first cavity, a planar flange extending out around the first cavity, a plurality of spaced fingers extending upward circumferentially from the periphery of the cavity, wherein the first basket and second basket mating members having a same structure, wherein the first basket and second basket mating members forming a second cavity when mated for receiving said contact lens, the cavity inhibiting inversion or rolling over of said contact lens when emplaced therein. A tray that comprises a plurality of baskets is another embodiment of the invention. In addition, the invention provides a stack assembly that comprises a plurality of trays each of which comprises a plurality of baskets.

The present invention relates to copolymers made from a polymerization mixture comprising (a) one or more polymerizable monomers, which monomers are characterized as having at least one vinylic group and not containing an amino acid residue, (b) one or more not-functionalized side chain-linked amino acids, (c) one or more functionalized side chain-linked amino acids, (d) a free radical initiator and, optionally, (e) a chain-transfer-agent. It also relates to block copolymers comprising the same monomers. The invention also encompasses silicone hydrogel contact lenses coated with or comprising the latter copolymers and block copolymers as well methods for introducing the copolymers and block copolymers into silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

A manufacturing module (MM) for contact lenses comprises a plurality of manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352) arranged in a closed loop and a plurality of lens mold carriers (1, 2) which are transported through the manufacturing stations. Each lens mold carrier (1, 2) comprises a frame (10, 20) having a predetermined number of mounting sites (100, 200) arranged along the frame. Each lens mold carrier (1, 2) further comprises a predetermined number of molds (112, 212) removably mounted to the frame (10, 20) at the mounting sites (100, 200), the molds being reusable male or female molds (212, 112). Two lens mold carriers (1, 2) are assigned to each other to form a pair, so that upon mating the pair of lens mold carriers (1, 2) the male and female molds (212, 112) are mated to form mold cavities defining the shape of the lenses. The manufacturing stations comprise a mold changing station (300, 301, 302) configured to be capable of removing a mold from its mounting site (100, 200) and mounting a different mold at the said mounting site (100, 200), or configured to change the rotational position of a mold (112, 212) mounted to the frame (10, 20), or both.

The present invention relates to copolymers made from a polymerization mixture comprising (a) one or more polymerizable monomers, which monomers are characterized as having at least one vinylic group and not containing an amino acid residue, (b) one or more not-functionalized side chain-linked amino acids, (c) one or more functionalized side chain-linked amino acids, (d) a free radical initiator and, optionally, (e) a chain-transfer-agent. It also relates to block copolymers comprising the same monomers. The invention also encompasses silicone hydrogel contact lenses coated with or comprising the latter copolymers and block copolymers as well methods for introducing the copolymers and block copolymers into silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

A carrier for carrying an ophthalmic lens comprises: a basket (10) comprising a basket wall defining a concave cavity for accommodating an ophthalmic lens (100), the basket further comprising at least three recesses (12) arranged in the basket wall at different locations along the circumference of the basket (10); and
a retainer (20) comprising at least three retainer arms (21) arranged in a star-shaped configuration corresponding to the arrangement of the recesses (12) along the circumference of the basket (10).
In an assembled state each retainer arm (21) of the retainer (20) engages with a corresponding one of the recesses (12) in the basket wall of the basket (10) to retain the ophthalmic lens (100) in the cavity.

A modular production line for the production of contact lenses comprises at least three separate modules: a manufacturing module (MM), an inspection module (IM), and a packaging module (PP). The modular production line further comprises fixedly arranged transfer interfaces between the individual modules (MM, IM, PP) for transferring the lenses from a preceding module to a subsequent module. The manufacturing module (MM) comprises a plurality of manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352) which are grouped to form a plurality of individual manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) arranged in a closed loop. Reusable male and female molds (212, 112) are transported through the manufacturing stations of the manufacturing units, and each manufacturing unit (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) comprises a plurality of the manufacturing stations (300, 301, 302, 310, 320, 321, 322, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 350, 351, 352). A plurality of transfer robots (36) is provided, each transfer robot (36) of the plurality of transfer robots (36) being arranged at a location between two manufacturing units (30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35) to transfer the reusable molds from one manufacturing unit to the other manufacturing unit.

The present invention generally relates to a method for producing silicone hydrogel contact lenses having less optical defects or free of optical defects by subjecting the extraction tray for the formed silicone hydrogel contact lenses to a reciprocating lowering and raising motion thereof to obtain the silicone hydrogel contact lenses.

The invention is generally related to a method for producing coated silicone hydrogel contact lenses each of which has a hydrogel coating thereon and a relative high resistance to uptakes of polycationic antimicrobials as characterized by having a polyquaternium-1-uptake of less than 0.40 micrograms/lens. The hydrogel coating is formed by covalently attached a hydrophilic polymeric material onto a base coating of a polyanionic polymer on a SiHy contact lens. In this method, lower polyquaternium-1-uptake is achieved by using a rinse solution with a higher pH and/or a higher ionic strength (higher salt concentration) for rinsing a treated silicone hydrogel contact lens with a base coating of polyanionic polymer.

A treatment container (1) for accommodating an ophthalmic lens (2) comprises a bottom (3), a side wall (4) surrounding the bottom (3) and together with the bottom (3) forming a cavity (5) for accommodating the ophthalmic lens, a container opening (6) arranged opposite to the bottom (3), and a fluid opening (7) arranged in the bottom (3) or in the side wall (4) of the treatment container (1). The fluid opening (7) is in fluid communication with the cavity (5). The treatment container (1) further comprises a fluid conveyance channel (8) and a supply connector (9). The fluid conveyance channel (8) is connected to the fluid opening (7) so as to be in fluid communication with the fluid opening (7). The fluid conveyance channel (8) is further connected to the supply connector (9) so as to be in fluid communication with the supply connector (9), to allow for introducing a liquid into the cavity (5) or for removing a treatment liquid from the cavity (5) through the supply connector (9), the conveyance channel (8) and the fluid opening (7).

A method of removing a liquid from a container (1) for accommodating an ophthalmic contact lens, in particular a soft contact lens, during transporting the container (1) from a liquid bath (13) to a subsequent processing station (14), the method including the steps of: transporting the container (1) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, generating suction (20), and applying the suction (20) to a bottom (11) of the container (1) during the step of transporting the container (1) from the liquid bath to the subsequent processing station, thereby removing the liquid from the container (1).