| abstract |
An extruded "Y" or bifurcated tube having unitary construction and an extrusion apparatus therefor. The "Y" tube includes three separate tubes, each tube having a central lumen, and a transition portion integral with the tubes and providing physical connection and fluid communication between the individual lumens of the three separate tubes. The first of the three tubes has a first lumen and is first formed by extrusion through a convention extruding die. The extruder die then gradually bifurcates the first tube, providing a gradual transition between the first tube and the second and third tubes. The lumens in the second and third tubes thus formed remain in uninterrupted fluid communication with the lumen of the first tube. The bifurcation takes place with the first tube to form second and third tubes smoothly and over a transition distance which is easily controlled by the extruder die. The bifurcated second and third tubes are continuous with the first tube making the "Y" tube unitary. There are no joints to pull apart or "T" or "Y" connectors between the tubes which may be vulnerable to separation. Moreover, since the extruded bifurcated or "Y" tubing is unitary and the first, second and third tubes may have any desired length without limitation, the extruded bifurcated tubing of the present invention overcomes length limitation on analogous first, second and third tubes imposed by practical engineering considerations operable for molding "Y" tubing. |