1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sliding door and inflatable seal constructions for sterilizing apparatus of the type utilized to sterilize hospital and laboratory glassware, liquids, instruments, parenteral solutions, and paper and fabric materials, such as surgical gowns, sheets and pillow cases, contaminated animal wastes and bedding, and like objects.
2. State of the Art
Steam sterilizers are well known and are extensively utilized in hospitals, laboratories and other facilities for sterilizing many types of solid, liquid-containing and porous objects. Typical such sterilizers are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,325,042, 3,339,785, 3,371,986, and 3,488,142.
The foregoing sterilizer designs have substantial limitations in their door constructions, in that the door constructions are relatively expensive to make, difficult to operate and do not represent optimum design. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,986, the door is indicated as being required to be restrained about three sides and has a reinforced fourth side, in order to maintain an adequate seal and door strength and to prevent the door from being "blown off" inadvertently under the substantial pressures of the sterilizer interior. U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,142 is alleged to be an improvement over the design of the foregoing patent, in that it provides restraint of the door about four sides in order to prevent problems that three-sided restraint is inadequate to prevent. The two foregoing designs are, nonetheless, not optimum, in that it is desirable to be able to restrain the door about only two sides, for convenience, ease of fabrication and therefore lower cost, and which is simpler and more convenient to operate.
In addition, door seals represent a substantial problem, particularly due to the abrasion of the door seals from glass objects in the sterilizer, some of which may break inadvertently, and glass particles may abrade and even pierce the door seal member, thus creating the inconvenience, "down time" and expense of replacement of the door seal member. It is therefore desirable to design a sliding door and seal construction which minimizes the likelihood of door seal wear and replacement, and which facilitates the replacement thereof when necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,980 is the most relevant reference known to applicant from the standpoint of the specific design of the seal construction which is the subject of this patent application.