2. Descnption of Related Art It is common practice to put medical instruments in trays or in cases or baskets and place them in high temperature environments for the purpose of sterilization. Steam heated autoclaves are probably the most common devise used for killing germs and other biohazardous materials.

The instruments to be sterilized are generally placed in the trays which, in turn, are placed into the cleansing environment. In order to keep the instruments from moving it is fairly common practice to separate and support them with brackets.

Instrument supporting brackets can take several different forms. Perhaps the most common form is a custom tray that includes custom made brackets laid out according to the specific request of the customer. An outline of the instrument to be supported is frequently printed on the bottom surface of the tray so that accurate instrument positioning is achieved. It is also common practice to place an English language legend, such as "Russian Tissue Forceps" adjacent to the outline of the desired instrument. The custom made brackets, which generally have an irregular shape, are then permanently attached to the tray. While such trays have advantages, they have several disadvantages too. First of all, they are expensive and time consuming to produce because each tray has to be individualized for each specific customer's request. Second, the brackets are not removable and, therefore, there is no flexibility in the layout of the tray. Instrument holding trays, such as described above, are sold under the trademark MEDITRAY by Case Medical, Inc., 65 Railroad Avenue, Ridgefield, New Jersey 07657.

Another approach is to use a flexible, resilient mat with raised projections, such as bristles or fingers, thereon to keep the instruments from sliding. Disclosures of such devices can be found in the following US patents: 5,098,676; 5,279,800; 5340,551; 5,211,915; and, 5,407,648. While such inventions may represent improvements over prior art structures, nevertheless, they frequently have drawbacks too. In particular, the medical instruments tend to slide inside the tray and the distribution of sterilizable steam inside they tray can be uneven thereby preventing

optimum drainage, inhibiting maximum steam penetration and increasing undesirable condensate residue.

It appears from the forgoing that prior art devices taken as a whole lack the ability to economically and flexibly accommodate medical instruments of varying sizes during sterilization.

It was in this context that the present invention arose.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described the invention comprises a divider system for supporting medical instruments in a tray, case or basket during sterilization. A rigid square frame consisting of four orthogonal brackets or sections held together by L-shaped corner brackets provides support to attachable brackets which further subdivide the frame. The attachable brackets include slots that can selectively mate with corresponding slots in the rigid frame so that the instrument support area can be organized into a wide variety of configurations according to the needs of the user.

Scalloped instrument receiving indentations or apertures in some of the attachable brackets permit long or large instruments to be supported by several brackets at once and can be individually customized to the particular shape of the instrument. Some of the attachable brackets may also have break off or frangible sections that can be selectively separated from the bracket to allow the user to create an instrument receiving aperture in the bracket or increase the size of the aperture as required.

The invention may be more fully understood by referring to the following drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a divider system according to the preferred embodiment of the invention shown in relationship to its associated tray.

Fig.2 is an exploded view of the tray divider system shown in Fig. 1 also illustrating an optional mat.

Fig. 3A is a top plan view of the rigid frame of the divider system.

Fig. 3B is a side, elevation view of the rigid frame shown in Fig. 3A.

Fig. 4A is a top view of one of two frame brackets.

Fig. 4B is a side elevation view of the frame bracket shown in Fig. 4A.

Fig. 4C illustrates one of two frame brackets that engage the frame bracket shown in Fig.

4B above.

Fig. 5A is a top view of a short, solid attachable bracket.

Fig. SB is a side elevation view of the short, solid attachable bracket shown in Fig. 5A.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation view of a scalloped attachable bracket with indentations for receiving medical instruments.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a medical tray showing alternative bracket with break off tabs to form customized indentations for receiving medical instruments.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation view of the alternative bracket illustrated in Fig. 7 showing the different ways the break off tabs can be selectively removed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION During the course of this description like numbers will be used to identify like elements according to the different views that illustrate the invention.

The divider system 10 according to the preferred embodiment thereof is shown in its assembled state in Fig. 1 and in an exploded state in Fig. 2. The divider system 10 preferably sits in a tray 12, but could also be received in a standard sterilizable case or basket. Tray 12 has a bottom 16, which includes a plurality of evenly spaced steam penetration holes 14 therein. A pair of handles 20 is attached to the sides 18 of tray 12. Trays 12 such as those illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 are intended to be used with steam autoclaves and other sterilizing machines and are not considered to be part of the present invention.

The divider system or apparatus 10 according to the preferred embodiment employs a square rigid frame 22 for supporting attachable brackets 32. Brackets 32 can be either solid 44, scalloped 42 or include break-off tabs 50 and can be coated with Nylon to protect delicate medical instruments 38. Rigid frame 22 is formed from four equal length frame sections 24 which comprise two north/south brackets 24a and two east/west brackets 24b attached to each other in an orthogonal relationship to form an egg crate or tic-tac-toe pattern. Slots 26 and 76 in frame brackets 24a and 24b respectively engage each other so that the four brackets 24a, 24b have flush top 54 and bottom 58 surfaces when the rigid frame 22 is assembled. L-shaped angle reinforcing brackets 28 are riveted to the intersection of the four brackets 24a and 24b to insure the rigidity of the frame 22. When the rigid frame 22 is assembled in this fashion it naturally forms nine pockets 30 - eight on the outside and one in the center.

As shown in Fig. 2 the divider system 10 can optionally employ a mat 60 located between the divider frame 22 and the tray bottom 16. Mat 60 preferably includes a plurality of steam penetration holes 62 and instrument support bristles or fingers 64 and has a structure like that disclosed in my copending U.S. application Serial No. ~~~~~~~~~~ filed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ and entitled STERILIZABLE SILICONE MAT APPARATUS. The frame 22 and associated attachable brackets 32 (42, 44, 50) nestles comfortably into mat 60 so that the frame 22 sits between the instrument supporting bristles or fingers 64.

The divider system 10 can be customized by the addition of selectively attachable brackets 32 as previously mentioned. If it is desired to sterilize small items 66, then the user may opt to use

solid brackets 44 in order to form more small pockets 52. Solid attachable brackets 44 also include an L-shaped hip section 74 on each end that rests in slots 56 in frame 22. If it is desired, however, to sterilize medical instruments 38 that are larger or longer than pockets 30 or 52, then scalloped brackets 42 would be employed. Scalloped brackets 42 include medical instrument receiving indents or groove 36 which permit a medical instrument 38 to rest in a stable position partially below the top surface 54 of the divider system 10. An instrument receiving groove 36 may also be located in one of the brackets 24a or 24b of the rigid frame 22 if the size of the instrument 38 is so large that it can not be accommodated inside of the rigid frame 22. The attachable brackets 32 (42, 44, 50) each include slots 34, 70 or 82 which selectively mate with slots 56 in frame 22. The slots 34, 56, 70 and 82 are each preferably one half of the width of their respective bracket in length.

Therefore, when the divider system 10 is fully assembled the top surface 54 and bottom surface 58 of the system are relatively flat and flush.

According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the brackets 32 can include frangible brackets 50 as shown in Fig. 8 with break out portions or tabs 40 that can be selectively removed to accommodate medical instruments 38 of different sizes. This permits the user to customize his or her divider system 10 according to his or her preferences. The break out portions can be deep, such as shown in tab 40 in Fig. 8, or shallow, as shown by tabs 80. Tabs 80 are in two sections so that breaking off the top tab 80 produces a shallow indent and breaking off the second tab 80 produces a larger indent. Alternatively, tabs 78 can be side by side, so that breaking off one tab 78 produces an indent of narrow width and breaking off the other tab 78 produces an indent of maximum width. Slot 82 in the bottom of bracket 50 engage with slots 56 in the top of the rigid frame 22.

The brackets 32 of the divider system 10 just described can be mixed and matched to accommodate a wide variety of medical instruments 38 and needs. For example, it would be possible to combine a solid bracket 44, as shown in Figs. 5A and SB, with a scalloped bracket 42, as shown in Fig. 6, and/or a frangible bracket 50, as shown in Fig. 8.

According to another embodiment of the same invention, the divider system 10 can be employed with a silicone mat 60 as seen in the exploded view of Fig. 2. Silicone mat 60 includes a unique S shaped rib and positioning nub structure that optimized drainage, maximizes steam penetration and minimizes condensate residue. It is especially helpful with the divider system 10 of the present invention because it insures that the steam penetration holes or apertures 14 in tray 12 are properly aligned with the steam penetration holes 62 in the mat 60. Mat 60 also includes optimally positioned bristles or fingers 64 which permit the divider system to sit on the mat body yet allow items in the pockets 30 and 52 to be supported by the bristles 64. A silicone mat 60

according to above description can be found in my co-pending application Serial No.

filed filed on April , 1997 and entitled STERILIZABLE SILICONE MAT APPARATUS assigned to Case Medical, Inc.

The divider system 10 just described has several advantages over prior art systems. First, the rigid frame 22 allows for almost any pattem of brackets 42, 44 and/or 50 to be added thus resulting in a wide variety of possible sizes and shapes for pockets or compartments 30, 52.

Second, the attachable brackets 32 can be solid 44 or scalloped 42 depending on the shape and size of the instrument 38 to be held. Third, alternatively the brackets 50 can include break off tabs 40, 78 and 80 to allow the user to customize the size and location of the instrument-receiving indent.

Forth, the brackets 32 can be Nylon coated to further protect delicate instruments 38. Fifth, the divider system 10 fits inside of a conventional tray 12, case or basket and allows room for the handles 20 to rest in the down position. Sixth, the divider set or system 10 can optimally rest in between the fingers or bristles 64 of a silicone mat 60 if desired.

While the invention 10 has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications can be made to the structure and form of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.