Printed Woven Orthopaedic Fiberglass casting Materials (1)
Orthopaedic fiberglass casting tapes have been produced using curable resins coated on a substrate. Typically, the casting tape is stored as a roll, in a water impermeable storage pouch, until needed for use. It is then removed from the pouch, cut to length, if necessary, and soaked with water. Generally, the tape includes a resin therein which is water-curable, and thus shortly after the tape is dipped in water it begins to cure and harden. The medical personnel, applying the tape to a patient, apply the casting tape immediately after it has been soaked with water. Generally, resin materials are chosen which will begin to set within a few minutes after the soaking with water, and which will harden sufficiently to be weight bearing within about 15 to 30 minutes. Examples of such orthopedic casting tapes are described in U.S. Patent Nos. 4,667,661 and 4,774,937 to Scholz et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Patents '661 and '937 are both owned by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota, the assignee of the present invention.