Patent ID: 7871581

Claim:
An instrument holding assembly for holding one or more medical instruments during pre-sterilization cleaning, comprising in combination: a coil defining medical instrument-receiving gaps between adjacent turns of said coil and opposing support ends mounted in a substantially upright position at each end of said coil; an inverted V-shaped plate positioned in an interior of the coil and attached to and running along a bottom section of the longitudinal axis of the coil and between penultimate turns of the coil, an apex of the V-shaped plate is substantially centered in the interior of the coil and directed toward a top of the coil, wherein a hinged section of the one or more medical instruments is positioned on top of the apex to hold the one or more medical instruments in an upright position and above a surface on which the instrument holding assembly is positioned; and a plurality of perforations formed though the inverted V-shaped plate, the perforations allowing cleaning solutions and lubricants to flow through the inverted V-shaped plate to penetrate instruments positioned in the holding assembly.