Carl Caspers This is Me

Education

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1. 1. Power Shifts

   www.minnesotatechnology.org/pu - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/1/2005   Last Visited: 11/29/2006

   Carl Caspers
   ...
   By the time Carl Caspers turned to St. Cloud State University (SCSU) for help with exploring vacuum technology in the late 1990s, he was already a renowned prosthetics industry pioneer.Caspers, who lost his lower left leg in 1959 at age 18, had spent four decades mostly innovating by himself.In the mid-1980s, the Sartell resident had discovered that urethane's properties made it a superior liner for prosthetic devices.Through his own research, he also had determined that the pressure of a prosthesis could cause significant fluid volume loss in the residual limb.That pressure helped the friction and shear forces of everyday activities create chronic sores for lower-limb amputees.Many individuals required regular surgical intervention, and reamputation was sometimes necessary.
   
   Caspers began fashioning custom urethane liners for clients and founded a liner manufacturing company, TEC Interface Systems, in St. Cloud.But Caspers wanted more.To move forward, he needed scientific limb volume-loss benchmarks and liner material-efficacy tests."Nobody in our industry had done that type of research, before," he explains, adding that SCSU biomechanics professor Glenn Street and his students helped do the groundbreaking work.
   
   Caspers then turned to Street with an idea he'd had for using vacuum pump technology to maintain a snug fit between stump and socket.
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   Again with the assistance of Street and his SCSU students, Caspers developed the system and found success.
   ...
   A couple years, 25 patents, and numerous awards later, the company's vacuum-pump system, dubbed the Harmony, is a rousing success, In 2003, Minneapolis-based Otto Bock HealthCare purchased TEC Interface Systems from Caspers.

2. 2. Otto Bock HealthCare : a global leader in healthcare products | Otto Bock

   www.ottobockus.com/ABOUT/PRESS - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/16/2001   Last Visited: 7/1/2008

   value-driven products for amputees," said Carl Caspers, Chief Executive Officer of TEC Interface Systems and a below-the-knee amputee.

3. 3. Otto Bock HealthCare : a global leader in healthcare products | Otto Bock

   ottobockus.com/ABOUT/PRESS-REL - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/2/2002   Last Visited: 7/1/2008

   TEC founder Carl Caspers, CPO, agrees with Harman's assessment.
   ...
   Further, Wall adds that, "Otto Bock has entered into a long term development consulting agreement with the company's founder, Carl Caspers, so that we can keep his passion for the patient focused on future products and future clinical solutions-under the Otto Bock brand."