stent upon application of sufficient force the sectors form a semicircular depression or step in the stent thereby securely fixing the stent to the catheter balloon when sufficient force has been applied to securely crimp the stent in position the snap action spring 90 will snap to a quasi stable position upon hearing and or feeling the positive snap the operator will then relax his fingers allowing spring 90 to snap back to its initial position the catheter is then removed from the crimping device this embodiment of the crimping device will produce a stepped circular crimp in the stent with a nonuniform pressure distribution between the stent and catheter balloon as shown in fig5 by contrast the crimping device shown in fig1 and 2 produces a stepped circular crimp with a uniform pressure distribution the crimping devices of the present invention can be manufactured by injection molding an elastomeric or plastic material to form the various components after molding the stent crimping devices are packaged in a sealed clear plastic bag polyethelene and are then sterilized by irradiation techniques well known to those skilled in the art while the stent described for use with the crimping device of the present invention is intended to serve as an intraluminal graft within a blood vessel and the balloon delivery catheter is of the type commonly used in coronary angioplasty it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made to the present invention to allow the present invention to be used to crimp any type of graft or prosthesis the present invention is not limited to crimping stents that are deployed in a patient 39 s vasculature but has wide application to grafts or prostheses delivered into various body lumens other modifications can.