Interlocked surgical drape and method

Claim 3

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material includinG a pair of side edges extending longitudinally along the sheet, a pair of laterally extending end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of said sheet, a first lateral fold of the longitudinally folded sheet generally in the longitudinal mid-region of the sheet, said first fold defining a pair of contiguous end portions extending from the first fold and having free ends, and a lateral accordion fold extending through both of the contiguous end portions to interleave said end portions with ends of the end portions being exposed at an outer surface of the laterally folded sheet, whereby said sheet is interlocked to prevent premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during manipulation of the drape and the sheet may be readily unfolded during placement by grasping the ends of the end portions.

Claim 4

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material includinG a pair of side edges extending longitudinally along the sheet, a pair of laterally extending end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of said sheet, a first lateral fold of the longitudinally folded sheet generally in the longitudinal mid-region of the sheet, said first fold defining a pair of contiguous end portions extending from the first fold and having free ends, and a lateral accordion fold extending through both of the contiguous end portions to interleave said end portions with ends of the end portions being exposed at an outer surface of the laterally folded sheet, whereby said sheet is interlocked to prevent premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during manipulation of the drape and the sheet may be readily unfolded during placement by grasping the ends of the end portions.

Claim 5

The drape of claim 2, wherein said sheet has a rectangular shape, and said longitudinal folds comprises a fan fold of said sheet generally parallel to said side edges.

Claim 6

The drape of claim 2 wherein the accordion folded sheet defines a plurality of contiguous sections of approximately equal length, and at least one end section extending from said contiguous sections.

Claim 7

The drape of claim 4 wherein said drape has a pair of end sections extending from opposite ends of said contiguous sections.

Claim 8

The drape of claim 5 wherein said end sections are folded over the top of said contiguous sections, providing flaps for unfolding the drape.

Claim 9

The drape of claim 5 wherein said end sections have a length approximately equal to one-half the length of said contiguous sections.

Claim 10

The drape of claim 4 wherein said first lateral fold is offset from the longitudinal center of the sheet by a distance approximately equal to one-half the length of a contiguous section.

Claim 11

The drape of claim 4 wherein said accordion folded sheet defines (2i+1) contiguous sections, where i 1,2,3, . . . , n.

Claim 12

The drape of claim 9 wherein said first lateral fold is located at a longitudinal end of the most central contiguous section.

Claim 13

The drape of claim 9 wherein an end edge of the longitudinally folded sheet is positioned adjacent the longitudinal center of an end-most contiguous section after said first lateral fold.

Claim 14

The drape of claim 2 wherein the accordion folded sheet defines a plurality of contiguous sections of approximately equal length, and said first lateral fold is positioned adjacent the longitudinal center of said sheet.

Claim 15

The drape of claim 12 wherein said accordion folded sheet has (2i+2) contiguous sections, where i 1,2,3, . . . , n.

Claim 16

The drape of claim 2 wherein the accordion folded sheet defines (2i+3) contiguous sections of approximately equal length, where i 1,2,3, . . . , n, with the first lateral fold being offset from the longitudinal center of the sheet by a distance approximately equal to one-half the length of a section.

Claim 17

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material including, a pair of side edges, a pair of end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of the sheet, a first lateral fold of the longitudinally folded sheet, said first fold defining a pair of end portions extending from the first fold, and a lateral accordion fold of the laterally folded end portions, with the accordion fold defining a plurality of interleaved intermediate contiguous sections of approximately equal length, and defining a pair of end sections extending from opposite ends of and folded over the top of all of said intermediate sections, with the length of said end sections being approximately equal to one-half the length of the intermediate sections, and with the first lateral fold being offset from the longitudinal center of the sheet a distance approximately equal to one-half the length of the intermediate sections, whereby saId sheet is interleaved and interlocked to prevent premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during manipulation of the drape.

Claim 18

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material including, a pair of side edges, a pair of end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of the sheet, a first lateral fold of the longitudinally folded sheet, said first fold defining a pair of end portions extending from the first fold, and a lateral accordion fold of the laterally folded end portions, with the accordion fold defining a plurality of interleaved intermediate contiguous sections of approximately equal length, and defining a pair of end sections extending from opposite ends of and folded over the top of all of said intermediate sections, with the length of said end sections being approximately equal to one-half the length of the intermediate sections, and with the first lateral fold being offset from the longitudinal center of the sheet a distance approximately equal to one-half the length of the intermediate sections, whereby saId sheet is interleaved and interlocked to prevent premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during manipulation of the drape.

Claim 19

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material including, a pair of side edges extending longitudinally along the sheet, a pair of laterally extending end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of said sheet, a central section of the longitudinally folded sheet and a pair of end portions extending from opposite ends of said central section and having free ends, both of said end portions being fan-folded a sufficient number of times to interleave both end portions with each other and interlock the drape, preventing premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during placement of the drape.

Claim 20

An interlocked surgical drape comprising, a sheet of flexible material including, a pair of side edges extending longitudinally along the sheet, a pair of laterally extending end edges connecting said side edges, a plurality of longitudinally extending folds reducing the width of said sheet, a central section of the longitudinally folded sheet and a pair of end portions extending from opposite ends of said central section and having free ends, both of said end portions being fan-folded a sufficient number of times to interleave both end portions with each other and interlock the drape, preventing premature unfolding of a substantial portion of the drape during placement of the drape.