Instrument holder
AssigneeAdvent Medico, Inc.
InventorCraig S. Artzer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An instrument organizer having an elongated body member having a base portion and an upper portion. The upper portion includes spaced-apart, upstanding, resiliently flexible support members defining spaced-apart vertical slots along the body member. A plurality of instruments (e.g., medical instruments) can be supported in the slots in an upright manner such that they can be easily grasped and removed from the device when needed. The resilient support members push against the opposite sides of each instrument to hold it in an upright manner and yet enable the instrument to be removed easily.
Claims10
An instrument holder, comprising:
- (a) an elongated body member having a base portion and an upper portion, said elongated body member having an upraised cross section, and
- (b) a plurality of upward-standing, spaced apart, finger-like spikes disposed on the upper portion of the elongated body member;
- said spikes being oriented so that they are generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the elongated body member, and being disposed in an array defining a plurality of rows, each row having at least two spikes, said rows of spikes defining a plurality of spaced apart slots, each slot oriented at approximately a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the elongated body member;
- and said spikes being resiliently flexible so that adjacent spikes are urged apart when an instrument is pressed downwardly into one of said slots, and are urged together and against said instrument to support it once the instrument is in place.
A method of handling a plurality of surgical instruments comprising:
- (a) placing said instruments onto an instrument holder, said instrument holder including an elongated body member having an upraised cross section, and a plurality of upward-standing, spaced apart, finger-like spikes disposed on the outside surface of the elongated body member, the spikes being disposed in an array defining a plurality of rows, the rows of spikes defining a plurality of spaced apart slots each slot oriented at approximately a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the elongated body member, the spikes being resiliently flexible so that adjacent spikes are urged apart when an instrument is pressed downwardly into one of said slots, and said adjacent spikes are urged together and against said instrument to support it once the instrument is in place, the several instruments being placed onto said instrument holder so that the instruments are oriented generally at right angles to the elongated body member of the instrument holder and on top of the outward tips of the spikes thereof, and
- (b) pressing downwards on said instruments so that each instrument is automatically sorted into its own spaced apart slot, the instrument holder being adopted to sort such instruments simultaneously as the instruments are pressed downwards against the outward tips of said spikes, such action urging each instrument into its own slot, the instruments coming to rest in said slots, the instruments being generally parallel to one another, and each instrument being supported by the upraised cross sectional surface of said instrument holder so that each instrument is disposed at an angle, one end of said instrument being higher than the other end there of.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.