Abstract:
A medical tray having a telescoping leg that selectively telescopes in to be out of the way so as to enable the medical tray to be placed on a flat supporting surface or stored, or that telescopes out to provide a secure and stable support that places the medical tray contents in an elevated position. The telescoping of the telescoping leg is controlled by a one hand operated, dual action release mechanism.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to medical trays. More specifically, the present invention relates to medical trays having telescoping legs that selectively telescope in so as to be out of the way or that telescope out to provide a stable, elevated support. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     When providing medical care or services in a hospital setting it is very common for a medical professional to carry needed supplies in a medical tray to a patient. For example, nurses starting I.V.s or doing point of care testing or phlebotomists taking blood will often carry needles, blood collection tubes, biohazardous waste containers and other items to a patient&#39;s bedside in a medical tray that retains such items in a basket. 
     Medical trays used in a hospital setting are often relatively specialized items tailored to the particular service being performed. For example, a phlebotomist&#39;s tray generally has basket with high sides to prevent content spilling, a central handle for carrying the tray, and internal ribs that not only provide mechanical strength but also retain various items such as needles in a specific position. 
     While generally successful, prior art medical trays have at least one major drawback. To use, they must first be placed on a surface such as a patient&#39;s bed, bed stand, or bedside table. These items are often contaminated with various bodily fluids and possibly by communicable bacteria or viruses. Thus, simply placing a medical tray on a surface near a patient to perform a service may result in transmission of pathogens causing nosocomial infections. 
     Since the foregoing problem is well-known, hospitals sometimes require medical service providers to use mobile carts to support their medical trays. While this may address the specific problem of reducing the transmission of pathogens, it creates several issues. First, mobile carts are not readily moveable up and down stairs. This forces a medical provider to use elevators to move from one floor to another. In turn, that can dramatically slow down the providing of medical services, particularly when one or more elevators are out of service, overused, or simply slow. Mobile carts are also difficult to maneuver around patient tables and I.V. stands, and hospital rooms are sometimes cluttered. 
     Therefore, medical trays having support legs would be beneficial. Even more beneficial would be medical trays having support legs that selectively telescope in to be out of the way to allow the medical tray to be placed on a medical cart or other surface and for storage, and that selectively telescope out to provide elevated, stable supporting platforms. Even more beneficial would be medical trays having telescoping legs that telescope in and out and that further incorporate a one-handed release mechanism that selectively enables telescoped-in legs to telescope out to provide elevated, stable supporting platforms. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The principles of the present invention provide for medical trays having telescoping legs that selectively telescope in and out. Those principles are implemented in a medical tray having a telescoping leg that selectively telescopes in to be out of the way to allow the medical tray to be placed on a medical cart or other surface and for storage, while also selectively telescoping out to provide an elevated, secure and stable support. Preferably a telescoped-in leg is released using a one hand operated, dual action release mechanism. 
     A medical tray in accord with the principles of the present invention includes a basket having a carrying handle assembly, a plurality of sidewalls and a bottom wall. The sidewalls and bottom wall define an interior region for retaining supplies and a lower region. The carrying handle assembly includes a body that extends upward from the bottom wall and out of the interior region, a handle for enabling easy carrying of the medical tray, and a one-hand operated, dual action release mechanism. A telescoping leg comprised of a plurality of telescoping tubes attaches to the medical tray by passing through the bottom wall and into the body. When fully telescoped-in the telescoping leg does not extend out of the lower region. 
     The release mechanism retains the telescoping leg in its fully telescoped-in position until the telescoping leg is released. When the telescoping leg is fully telescoped-in the medical tray can sit unobstructed on a medical cart or other flat surface and for is suitable for easy storage. When the release mechanism releases the telescoping leg at least one telescoping tube drops down such that a portion of the telescoping leg extends out of the lower region. Spring loaded pins selectively lock the telescoping tubes in position. The release mechanism beneficially includes a grip for applying a release force that releases the telescoped-in telescoping leg and a release slide for selectively preventing the grip from applying the release force until desired. Beneficially, the release mechanism can be operated using one hand. Also beneficially, the bottom of the telescoping leg includes a plurality of support legs for providing lateral stability. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The advantages and features of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following detailed description and claims when they are taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are identified with like symbols, and in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified perspective view of a medical tray according to a first embodiment of the present invention wherein a telescoping leg is fully extended; 
         FIG. 2  is a partial cut-away view of the telescoping leg  12  shown in  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is a side perspective view of the medical tray shown in  FIG. 1  wherein the telescoping leg  12  is fully telescoped-in; and 
         FIG. 4  is a partial sectional view of the handle assembly  80  shown in  FIGS. 1 and 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The presently disclosed subject matter will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which an embodiment of the present invention is shown. However, it should be understood that this invention may take different forms and thus should not be construed as being limited to the specific embodiment set forth herein. In the figures like numbers refer to like elements throughout. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an embodiment of a medical tray  10  that is in accord with the principles of the present invention. As shown, the medical tray  10  has a telescoping leg  12  that can telescope out of a basket  20 . As shown, the telescoping leg  12  is comprised of an upper tube  30 , an upper middle tube  32 , a lower middle tube  34 , a lower tube  36 , and at least three feet  38  that terminate in pads  40 . Those feet  38  extend from a clamp  41  that is attached to the end of the lower tube  36 . The tubes  30 ,  32 ,  34 , and  36  are configured to very closely telescope inside one another so that they can extend to support the basket  20  at a useful height. 
     When the telescoping leg  12  is fully telescoped out it is important that the telescoping leg  12  provides both lateral stability and vertical support for the basket  20 . That goal is to some extent provided by features shown in  FIG. 2  (which is a partial cut-away view of portions of the telescoping leg  12  without the feet  38  or the clamp  41 ). As shown, when the telescoping leg  12  is fully extended its lower tube  36  closely fits inside the mating lower middle tube  34  and is retained far enough inside the lower middle tube  34  that the walls of the lower tube  36  and the lower middle tube  34  provide lateral support. A close fit will be required to provide the desired overall stability. The lower tube  36  is retained in its fully extended position by a spring pin  42  that fits into a hole  44  through the lower middle tube  34 . The mating of the spring pin  42  and the hole  44  prevents the lower tube  36  from sliding out of the lower middle tube  34  and also prevents the lower tube  36  from sliding back into the lower middle tube  34 . 
     Still referring to  FIG. 2 , when the telescoping leg  12  is fully extended its lower middle tube  34  extends out of the mating upper middle tube  32  but is retained inside the upper tube middle  32  far enough that the walls of those tubes provide lateral support. The lower middle tube  34  is retained in its extended position by a spring pin  46  that fits into a hole  48  through the upper middle tube  32 . The mating of the spring pin  46  in the hole  48  prevents the lower middle tube  34  from sliding out of the upper middle tube  32  when the telescoping leg  12  is fully extended and also prevents the lower middle tube  34  from sliding back into the upper middle tube  32 . Likewise, when the telescoping leg  12  is fully extended its upper middle tube  32  extends out of the mating upper tube  30  but is retained inside the upper tube  30  far enough that the walls of those tubes provide lateral support. The upper middle tube  32  is retained in its extended position by a spring pin  50  that fits into a hole  52  through the upper tube  30 . The mating of the spring pin  50  and the hole  52  prevents the upper middle tube  32  from sliding out of the upper tube  30  when the leg is fully extended and also prevents the upper middle tube  32  from sliding back into the upper tube  30 . Still referring to  FIG. 2 , the telescoping leg  12  further includes a spring pin  58  that springs into a hole in the basket  20  as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
     When its is desirable that the telescoping leg  12  be fully telescoped-in, this is accomplished by pushing spring pin  42  into the hole  44 , which allows the lower tube  36  to slide into the lower middle tube  34 , by pushing the spring pin  46  through the hole  48 , which allows the lower middle tube  34  and the lower tube  36  to slide into the upper middle tube  34 , and by pushing the spring pin  50  through the hole  52 , which allows the upper middle tube  32 , the lower middle tube  34 , and the lower tube  30  to slide into the upper tube  30 . Likewise, when the spring pin  56  is pushed through its hole  58  all of the telescoping tubes collapse into an aperture  60  in the basket  20  (see  FIG. 1 ,  FIG. 3 ,  FIG. 4 , and reference the discussion that follows). 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 1 and 3 , the shape of the basket  20  is defined primarily by the sidewalls  64  and by the bottom wall  66 . The bottom wall  66  effectively divides the basket  20  into two regions: above the bottom wall  66  is a region referred to hereinafter as the upper volume while below the bottom wall  66  is a region referred to hereinafter as the lower volume. As best shown in  FIG. 3 , the sidewalls  64  extend below the bottom wall  66  enough to provide a large enough lower volume to fully retain all of the telescoping leg  12 , including the feet  38  and pads  40 , when that leg is fully telescoped-in. This provides a flat bottom surface defined by the bottoms of the sidewalls  64  which enables the medical tray  10  to sit unobstructed on a flat surface such as a medical cart while also enabling easy storage. 
     Referring now to  FIGS. 1 ,  3 , and  4 , the basket  20  also includes a handle assembly  70 . The handle assembly  70  includes a body  72  that includes the aperture  60  (best shown in  FIGS. 1 and 4 ) and the hole for the spring pin  58 . Thus when the telescoping leg  12  is fully telescoped-in the various telescoping tubes  30 ,  32 ,  34 , and  36  slide into the aperture  60  of the handle assembly  70 . The handle assembly  70  also includes a carrying handle  80 , a grip  82  and a thumb release  84 . 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the handle assembly  70  in more detail. As shown therein, a pin  90  extends through a wall  91  of the handle assembly  70  and through a plurality of aligned apertures  59 , each of which is defined through a different one of the telescoping tubes  30 ,  32 ,  34 , and  36  (also see  FIG. 1 ). Those apertures  59  are located in their individual tubes such that when the telescoping leg  12  is fully telescoped-in the apertures  59  align such that the pin  90  can pass through all of them, thereby locking the telescoping tubes  30 ,  32 ,  34 , and  36  within the aperture  60 . To maintain the telescoping tubes in position the pin  90  is biased into the aligned apertures  59  by a spring  92 . The pin  90  also connects to a release cable  94  that passes over one or more rollers  93 . A release force applied to the release cable  94  pulls the pin  91  out of the aligned apertures  59  (but not out of the wall  91 ). This releases the telescoping tubes  30 ,  32 ,  34 , and  36 . Gravity drops those tubes drop to cause the telescoping leg  12  to assume the fully telescoped-out position shown in  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 4  also illustrates how a release force can be applied to the release cable  94 . As shown, the handle  80  includes an internal pivot pin  88 . Mounted on the pivot pin  88  is the multiply-curved grip  82  which partially extends out of the bottom of the handle  80  and then passes back into the handle  80 . The grip  82  includes an end  146  that is opposite the end that connects to the pivot pin  88 . The end  146  has an aperture  148 . Attached to that aperture  148  is the release cable  94  which, as noted, runs to the pin  90 . 
     Still referring to  FIG. 4 , the handle  80  further includes a spring  86  that biases the grip  82  so as to rotate the end  146  downward and into a stop pin  85 . The stop pin  85  limits the downward motion of the grip  82 . Above the stop pin  85  and grip  82  is a thumb actuated, spring loaded release slide  84 . When the release slide  84  is not actuated it sits over the grip  82  and allows a user to grab the handle  80  and grip  82  and to carry the medical tray  10  without releasing the telescoping leg  12 . However, when the release slide  84  is moved toward the left the release  84  clears the grip  82  which allows the grip  82  to move upward and thus to release the telescoping leg  12  via the cable  94 . 
     As described herein the medical tray  10  requires two steps to release the telescoping leg  12 . Beneficially both of those steps can be performed using one hand. First, the release slide  84  is slid off the top of the grip  82 . At the same time the grip  82  is moved into the handle  80 , which creates the release force. After release, the spring  86  moves the grip  82  down to the stop  85  and the spring load on the release slide  84  moves the release slide  84  back over the top of the grip  82 . 
     From the foregoing it is obvious that the telescoping leg  12  can be collapsed into a compact condition to facilitate easy storage, transportation, and use. It also can be extended so as to to position the basket  20  in an elevated position to assist a user. 
     It is to be understood that while the figures and the above description illustrate the present invention, they are exemplary only. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. Others who are skilled in the applicable arts will recognize numerous modifications and adaptations of the illustrated embodiments that remain within the principles of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is to be limited only by the appended claims.