Oxygen permeable hard and semi-hard contact lens compositions methods and articles of manufacture

Claim 1

An oxygen permeable, hard or semi-hard, machinable, dimensionally stable, wettable, contact lens material of high transparency consisting essentially of a polymer formed by free radical polymerization of (a) 10% to 60% by weight of at least one silicon-containing monomer selected from the class consisting of nonamethyltetrasiloxanylmethacryloxypropyldimethylsilane having the following formula: ##STR9## bis(nonamethyltetrasiloxanyl)methacryloxypropylmethylsilane having the following formula: ##STR10## tris(nonamethyltetrasiloxanyl)methacryloxypropylsilane having the following formula: ##STR11## decamethylpentasiloxanyl-di(methacryloxypropyldimethylsilane) having the following formula: ##STR12## bis(decamethylpentasiloxanyl)di(methacryloxypropylmethylsilane) having the following formula: ##STR13## tris(decamethylpentasiloxanyl)di(methacryloxypropylsilane) having the following formula: ##STR14## and mixtures thereof, (b) 40% to 90% by weight of at least one secondary comonomer selected from the group consisting of methyl acrylate, methyl methacrylate, ethyl acrylate, ethyl methacrylate, propyl acrylate, propyl methacrylate, isopropyl acrylate, isopropyl methacrylate, 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, 2-ethylhexyl methacrylate, cyclohexyl acrylate, cyclohexyl methacrylate, benzyl acrylate, benzyl methacrylate, phenyl acrylate, phenyl methacrylate, N-vinyl pyrrolidinone, 3-hydroxy 2-naphthyl methacrylate, ethyl vinyl benzene, divinyl benzene, methyl itaconate, butyl itaconate, dimethyl itaconate, dibutyl itaconate and mixtures thereof, (c) 0% to 20% by weight of a monomer adapted to actas a wetting agent, and (d) from about 0% to 10% by weight of at least one cross-linking monomer, said weight percents of (a), (b), (c) and (d) being based on the total weight of the entire composition.