US3768971A - Combination surgical instrument table and sterilizer basket - Google Patents

Abstract

A sterilizer basket for surgical instruments which can be set up as an instrument table, with all the sterilized instruments on trays, ready for use and accessible, thus eliminating the present requirement of removing instruments from a sterilizing unit and laying them out on another table top. The invention consists of a series of perforated trays which are linked together by extendable arms so that all trays are accessible in the open condition, together with a bale for clamping the unit to the top of a stand, and for securing a sterile drape around the stand. The necessary basins are clipped to the side of the unit during sterilization.

Description

United States Patent 11 1 Fishpaw I I COMBINATION SURGICAL INSTRUMENT TABLE AND STERILIZER BASKET Inventor: Bernice N. Fishpaw, Deland, Fla.

Filed: Dec. 21, 1971 Appl. No.: 210,393

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 1950 Lewis 21/83 10 1972 8/1963 8 1969 1/1933 Shriver 21/2 /2 waw awe.

[ Oct. 30, 1973 2,088,812 8/1937 Reichenbach 248/226 Primary Examiner-Morris O. Wolk Assistant Examiner-Dale Lovercheck Attorneylloward l. Podell [57] ABSTRACT A sterilizer basket for surgical instruments which can be set up as an instrument table, with all the sterilized instruments on trays, ready for use and accessible, thus eliminating the present requirement of removing instruments from a sterilizing unit and laying them out on another table top. The invention consists of a series of perforated trays which are linked together by extendable arms so that all trays are accessible in the open condition, together with a bale for clamping the unit to the top of a stand, and for securing a sterile drape around the stand. The necessary basins are clipped to the side of the unit during sterilization.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures lll COMBINATION SURGICAL INSTRUMENT TABLE AND STERILIZER BASKET SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION My invention is an apparatus designed to be used as a sterilizer basket for surgical instruments, with the instruments contained ready for use in an accessible manner, thus eliminating the conventional requirement of sterilizing the instruments in one piece of apparatus and then relocating said instruments on another table prior to use.

Perforated trays for containing the instruments are mounted on extendable arms and the apparatus includes a pivotable bale which clamps the unit to a stand, and secures sterile drapes around the stand when in the operating mode.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The objects and features of my invention may be understood with reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention taken together with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus in the closed condition;

FIG. 2 is a perspective front view of the apparatus being installed on a stand;

FIG. 2A is a perspective side view of the apparatus being installed on a stand;

FIG. 3 is a perspective side view of the apparatus fastened to a stand in the partially opened position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from above of the apparatus with all trays opened and fastened to the stand; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view of the perforated tray structure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIG. 1 illustrates the basic apparatus in the compact folded condition consisting of several perforated instrument trays 10, 30 and 31, with mounted clips 12 for suture materials. In this compact condition, the entire apparatus with instruments may be placed in a sterilizer prior to use. In the preferred practice, the apparatus is wrapped with layers of cloth 20 prior to and during sterilization, and as shown in FIG. 2, the sterilized cloth 20 is unfolded and draped over the instrument stand 22 which is supported by legs 21 located over the patient adjacent to the operating area. In this manner, the apparatus and the instruments are maintained in a secure sterile condition prior to and during use. The apparatus is fastened to the stand 22, and the underlying layers of sterilized cloth 20, by pivotable bale 15 which is free to rotate under the stand. Bale 15 has extendable arms 17 which pivot or slide about grips 18. Bale 15 slides in groove 41 of frame 31 as shown in FIG. 2 to fold out of the way, when not required. The fixed arm 16 and the extendable arms 17 serve to fasten the sterile cloth layers 20 under the stand 22, to maintain a sterile field.

The tray 30 for containing instruments is mounted on the end to pairs of parallel pivotable extension arms 11 so that the tray 30 may be raised and seated in a horizontal plane above base 31 or tray holder 45. Additional instrument trays containing specialized instruments such as tray 32 may be added in tray holder 45 which rests on base frame 31 and is moved in or out on runners 33. The trays contain perforations 39 to permit the necessary steam flow during the sterilization phase.

In the preferred embodiment as shown in FIG. 4, the upper opened tray 10 would be the suture tray, tray 30 would contain the basic instruments, and tray 32 might be for the retractor instruments. Additional specialized instrument trays such as tray 32 could be added as necessary. Racks 30A and 34 may be mounted on trays to hold specific instruments. At each end of frame 31 is a horizontal shelf 42 with holes 43 to secure containers of solutions required during the operation and for sterile loading books when used without muslin wrapper. Rectangular basins 19, clip over this shelf 41 when the unit is in the folded state so that these basins may also be sterilized with the apparatus.

While the instrument trays of the preferred embodiment are made of metal such as aluminum or stainless steel, it is contemplated that such trays may be coated with a heat resistant plastic so as to reduce noise and clatter.

Additional clips 44 may be mounted on the apparatus to hold necessary tubing or electrical cords.

Since many obvious changes may be made in the specific embodiment of the invention described herein without departing from the scope thereof, it is indicated that all matter contained herein is intended to be interpreted in an illustrative and not a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instrument trays which can be set up as an instrument table, consisting of several perforated trays each linked to the adjacent tray by a pair of pivotable equal length arms, with the lowermost tray linked to the frame below, by a pair of said pivotable equal length arms, so that the plane of the trays remain parallel to the plane of the frame regardless of whether all trays rest on each other in the compact configuration, or whether any of the trays are located above and to the side of the trays or frame below, with a shaped wire member fitted to slide in grooves in each side of the frame, said wire member being so bent as to clamp the apparatus to the stand upon which the apparatus rests when the wire member is rotated below the top of said stand so as to grip the underside surface of said stand top.

2. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments as described in claim 1 in which said wire member has extendable arms which unfold so as to draw any covering material hanging from the sides of the stand, underneath the stand top, when the wire member clamps the underside surface of the stand top.

3. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments as described in claim 2 in which as many as 4 additional trays may be placed between the mounted trays.

4. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgi-' cal instrument trays as described in claim 3 which contains fittings to fasten rectangular basins to said apparatus, said basins being mounted by said fittings so as to

Claims (4)

1. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instrument trays which can be set up as an instrument table, consisting of several perforated trays each linked to the adjacent tray by a pair of pivotable equal length arms, with the lowermost tray linked to the frame below, by a pair of said pivotable equal length arms, so that the plane of the trays remain parallel to the plane of the frame regardless of whether all trays rest on each other in the compact configuration, or whether any of the trays are located above and to the side of the trays or frame below, with a shaped wire member fitted to slide in grooves in each side of the frame, said wire member being so bent as to clamp the apparatus to the stand upon which the apparatus rests when the wire member is rotated below the top of said stand so as to grip the underside surface of said stand top.

2. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments as described in claim 1 in which said wire member has extendable arms which unfold so as to draw any covering material hanging from the sides of the stand, underneath the stand top, when the wire member clamps the underside surface of the stand top.

3. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instruments as described in claim 2 in which as many as 4 additional trays may be placed between the mounted trays.

4. A sterilizer basket apparatus for containing surgical instrument trays as described in claim 3 which contains fittings to fasten rectangular basins to said apparatus, said basins being mounted by said fittings so as to receive steam flow during the sterilization phase.

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