Surgical instrument bracket assembly

Abstract

A bracket assembly for supporting medical instruments and the like. The assembly includes a support member formed with lines of vent holes, the vent holes in each line being spaced apart a selected distance. The bracket includes a base strip having a plurality of feet extending down for the base strip, the feet having footprints larger than those of the vent holes and being spaced apart along the base strip a distance substantially equal to an intregal multiple of the selected distance. This allows the bracket to be aligned with a line of vent holes in the support member so that its feet overlie selected ones of the vent holes in that line. A plurality of anchors is provided for anchoring the plurality of feet to the support member at the selected vent holes so that any segment of the base strip between the feet is spaced above the support member so as not to obstruct any underlying vent holes in the support member.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] This invention relates to a surgical instrument retention bracket assembly. It relates particularly to a bracket capable of holding irregularly shaped surgical instruments at fixed positions in a tray or other container. [0003] 2. Background Information [0004] There exists in the prior art various retaining means for fixing the positions of articles of one kind or another. These include hooks, pegs, clips, brackets, etc. Such retention means may be used in a wide variety of different applications. They are commonly used in the medical field to fix the positions of various articles such as surgical instruments while those articles are being transported and processed in one way or another. Accordingly, we will describe the invention in that context. It should be understood, however, that the present invention has application in other fields besides the medical field. [0005] Surgical instruments are often transported i...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] Another object of the invention is to provide an improved bracket for releasably retaining a medical instrument or other article in a sterilization tray or container, yet which permits quick release of the instrument or article when necessary.

[0013] Another object of the invention is to provide such a bracket which is relatively easy and inexpensive to manufacture in quantity.

[0017] Preferably, the series of feet depending from the base strip is offset to one side of the longitudinal centerline of the base strip. This enables the bracket to be anchored to a selected line of vent holes in the support member in two different orientations, 180° apart. Resultantly, the blade component of the bracket may be located at two different positions on the support member offset in a direction perpendicular to that line of vent holes. In other words, the positions or spacing of the brackets along the support member can be fine tuned to accommodate the instrument or instruments supported by the brackets, e.g. to avoid protuberances on the instrument(s).

[0019] The bracket component of the assembly may be a simple molded plastic part that can be made in quantity at relatively low cost. Therefore, the bracket assembly as a whole is relatively economical to make and should find wide application particularly in the medical industry where the retention of instruments and other articles in a container or the like is of some importance.

Problems solved by technology

While such brackets are satisfactory for many applications, we have found that when a conventional bracket is installed as aforesaid in an instrument tray, the bracket blocks all of the underlying vent holes in the tray bottom wall thereby preventing the circulation of steam through all of those holes.

Since a given tray may be fitted with many such brackets B, the presence of those brackets can materially reduce the circulation of a sterilizing fluid through the tray.

This, in turn, materially increases the length of time it takes to properly sterilize the medical instruments supported in the tray by the brackets.

The prior brackets are also disadvantaged in that the anchoring holes H in the underside of the bracket B are formed by a drilling operation.

This extra step in the manufacturing of the bracket adds to the cost thereof and constitutes a negative factor in the overall sales of the product.

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