Abstract:
A tray which includes a floor member having openings formed therein for the passage of sterilization material. A plurality of upright flexible brackets are anchored to the floor and a lid is pivotally connected to the brackets in a manner which allows the lid to be frictionally retained in various positions relative to the underlying floor and brackets.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This is a continuation of provisional application No. 60/210,554 filed Jun. 9, 2000. 
     
    
     
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    This invention relates to a tray used to contain medical instrumentation and will have specific but not limited to application to a tray used for sterilizing the instrumentation.  
           [0003]    Heretofore traditional sterilization trays have had rotative lids used for covering instruments and which rotate either to full open at 180 degrees or to slightly over 90 degrees where they engage stops forming a part of the trays. Lids which open to 180 degrees took up valuable space around the operating or emergency room tables. A tray lid that engaged stops and was positioned slightly over 90 degrees in its open position was vulnerable to contact by the nurses or doctors which sometimes caused the tray to be tipped over with the instrumentation being spilled. In this invention the lid of the tray is retained by flexible silicone brackets which serve to frictionally engage the lid in a manner which allows the lid to be placed in any number of selected open positions. Should the lid be accidentally contacted by a nurse or doctor, it will simply be pivoted either closed or more fully open with no tipping or capitulating of the tray occurring. Additionally, the lid may be very simply removed from tray by flexing the brackets to allow the lid to be disconnected. Also, an instrumentation bin or plate can also be secured to the flexible brackets in an underlying position relative to the lid.  
           [0004]    Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a tray for medical instrumentation having one or more lids which can be pivoted into any number or infinite open positions.  
           [0005]    Another object of this invention is to provide a tray for medical instrumentation which can be assembled in an efficient and rapid manner.  
           [0006]    Still another object of this invention is to provide a medical instrumentation tray which may be used for sterilization and which includes flexible brackets to accommodate bins or plates for the storage of instrumentation.  
           [0007]    Other objects of this invention are going to be apparent upon a reading of the following description. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    Preferred embodiments of this invention have been chosen for purposes of illustration and description wherein:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a base forming a part of the tray having the flexible brackets anchored to the base and parts broken away for illustrative purposes.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view like FIG. 1 and including a screw plate carried by the brackets.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view like FIG. 2 and showing a lid pivotally connected to the brackets and overlying the screw plate.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view like FIG. 3 and showing the lid in a partially raised fixed position.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view as seen along line  5 - 5  of FIG. 4.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of the base of the instrumentation tray showing a bin connected to and supported by the brackets.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view like FIG. 6 and showing a lid pivotally connected to the brackets and fixed in a partially open position over the bin.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the component parts of the tray, namely the brackets, screw plate, bin and lid. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0017]    Tray  10  of this invention which is for housing medical devices such as instruments or implants and which may be used as a sterilization tray includes a base  12  having a floor  14  from which four upstanding walls  16  extend to enclose the floor. Floor  14  has a plurality of slotted openings  18  which are used for multiple purposes, such as, ports for the sterilization material and receiving openings for brackets  20 .  
         [0018]    Brackets  20  which are preferably of a silicone construction are used to selectively support instrumentation holders such as the screw plate  22  illustrated and the bin  24 , also illustrated. For this purpose brackets  20  are provided with openings or recesses  26  at selectively located positions above floor  14 . The instrumentation holders, such as plate  22  and bin  24 , include outwardly extending tabs  28  which are fitted into openings  26  in the brackets. Brackets  20  are flexible, shape-retaining as well as resilient which allows the brackets to be flexed outwardly in order to accommodate the initial placement of tabs  28  within bracket openings  26 . This allows for the simple and easy assembly and disassembly of various types of instrument holders for a given tray. As observed in FIG. 5, brackets  20  are press fitted upwardly into the selected openings  18  in base floor  14  and retained by a snap-fitted, wedge fit. The brackets may be easily removed and repositioned in other selected openings  18  depending upon the type of instrumentation and instrumentation holder the tray is to accommodate. As such, in FIG. 2 plate  22  is shown in a supported and suspended position above floor  14  and in FIG. 6 bin  24  is shown supported and suspended above floor  14 .  
         [0019]    A lid  30  is provided to cover the instrumentation or instrument holder. Lid  30  includes at one end oppositely extending trunnions  32  which are inserted into openings or recesses  27  in an opposed set of brackets  20  to cause the lid to rotate relative to the brackets and the underlying instrument holder such as screw plate  22  with its screw receiving openings  23  or bin  24 . Trunnions  32  of lid  30  are force-fitted into openings  27  in brackets  20  with the resiliency of the brackets providing a sufficient interference or frictional fit about the received trunnions that the lid  30  may be positioned or stopped in any selected position during its pivotal movement relative to the brackets and the underlying instrument container and floor  14  such as shown in FIGS. 4 and 7. Thus lid  30  may be placed in a fully opened position at approximately 90 degrees relative to floor  14  or any inwardly angled or outwardly angled position. Should the lid be accidentally contacted by a user of the instrument tray, it will simple give in a rotative manner about its axis of rotation defined by trunnions  32  into a more fully closed or more fully opened position without tilting or otherwise disturbing the orientation of the tray and the instruments contained therein. Lid  30  also includes at its free or opposite end a pair of opposed anchor tabs  34  which fit into accommodating slots  36  formed in the underlying brackets  20  in a slight forced-fit with the flexible and resilient bracket accommodating the forceful entry of tabs  34  so as to releasably secure the lid in a closed position.  
         [0020]    Base  12 , plate  22  and bin  24  may be formed from a metal material or a plastic material. Brackets  20  which are preferably formed from a silicone of medical grade quality. The specific shape and construction of base  12  and the various forms and types of instrument containers can vary depending upon the needs of the user. A cover will also generally be provided for base  12  which is removed during use of the tray to expose the instrumentation.  
         [0021]    The invention is not to be limited to the details above given but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims.