Patent ID: 8293159

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a linker including a jacket radially confining a preformed tablet, the tablet having a longitudinal axis, axial end faces intersecting the longitudinal axis, an outer surface extending between the axial end faces, and recessed lands surrounding the axial end faces, the method comprising: a) grasping the tablet with a plurality of first pincers; b) positioning the grasped tablet and first pincers with respect to a molding apparatus; c) closing mold walls with respect to the tablet such that the mold walls move from a first position to a second position, the second position being radially inward of the first position with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tablet; d) injecting jacket material to substantially cover the outer tablet surface and at least a portion of the plurality of first pincers to form the jacket, wherein jacket material flows into the recessed lands; e) extracting the jacketed tablet and the plurality of first pincers from the molding apparatus; and f) a removing the first pincers from the jacketed tablet.