US RE40,432 E1
Container for sharp instruments
Michael Shane Cavanagh, Bowen Mountain (Australia)
Assigned to Catilina Nominees Pty. Ltd., Victoria (Australia)
Appl. No. 10/613,144
PCT Filed Apr. 29, 1997, PCT No. PCT/AU97/00259
§ 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Jul. 21, 1998,
PCT Pub. No. WO97/40753, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 06, 1997.
Application 10/613144 is a reissue of application No. 09/101864, filed on Jul. 21, 1998, now 6,065,596, filed on May 23, 2000.
Int. Cl. B65D 85/24 (2006.01); A61B 17/06 (2006.01); A61B 19/02 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 206—352  [206/363; 206/380] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising a scalpel and a container holding said scalpel, said scalpel including:
a blade attached to a handle, said scalpel having a major cross-sectional dimension and a minor cross-sectional dimension; and
said container including:
an elongated scalpel recess closed at each end and receiving said scalpel, and having a first portion receiving said scalpel blade and a second portion receiving at least part of said scalpel handle, said portions having a width slightly greater than that of the major cross-sectional dimension of the scalpel and depth slightly greater than that of the minor cross-sectional dimension of the scalpel, the length of said scalpel recess being such that the scalpel blade is located within one of said portions irrespective of the position of the scalpel in the scalpel recess, [ the width being substantially constant for the length of each of said portions, ] and guide means for [ physically ] guiding a scalpel placed in said container to [ at a position outside of said recess into ] said scalpel recess;
the arrangement [ scalpel recess ] being such that [ constructed so ] the scalpel received within said scalpel recess is positioned therein such that the scalpel blade is not directed towards the opening of the scalpel recess whereby a user's fingers are substantially prevented from contacting a cutting portion of the scalpel blade.