The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 26, 1999
Filed:
Feb. 07, 1997
John C Houston, Erie, PA (US);
Steris Corporation, Mentor, OH (US);
Abstract
A decontamination device (10) including a housing (12) and a chamber (16) for receiving articles to be decontaminated by at least one of washing, disinfecting and sterilizing. A control pad (20) for an operator to input control instructions for controlling decontamination cycles to which the articles are subjected. The control pad being disposed adjacent an exterior of the housing and being accessible to the operator through an opening (24) in the housing (12). A door (30) covering the opening (24) and being hingedly attached to the decontamination device by a mechanism (26) disposed entirely within the housing when the door is in a closed position. The mechanism (26) can be a leaf spring (36) having a first end connected with a pivot pin (42) to the door (30) and a second end secured to an internal region (40) of the housing (12). During opening and closing of the door, the lower edge (48) of the door, in cooperation with the outer panel of housing (12), provides a cam type action which causes bending of the leaf spring (36) and allows travel of a longitudinal axis of the pivot pin (42) outwardly and inwardly relative to the housing (12) as the door (30) is opened and closed respectively, and allows about 180.degree. of rotation of the door between open and closed positions. The door can include a horizontal slot (34) through which a paper tape (32) of a printer (22) is fed.