Patent 10094744 was granted and assigned to Puritan Medical Products on October, 2018 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Swabs, materials and methods of making same, include randomly arranged sea-island bicomponent fibers. According to certain embodiments, swabs and methods of using such swabs are provided so as to collect and release a biological sample comprising a flock fiber tipped applicator wherein the flock fibers are sea-island bicomponent fibers attached to an end portion of the applicator with an adhesive selected from the group consisting of a photocurable acrylic adhesive and a polyurethane adhesive, the bicomponent fibers being structurally stable in water and the sea component of the bicomponent flock fibers being intact.