Mobile loading means for sterilizers

Claim 2

In combination: a. a sterilizing vessel enclosing a sterilizing chamber and having a vessel floor; b. a mobile unit having a plurality of wheel means for rollably supporting said unit on a floor, said mobile unit having a size such that it can be fully received with said wheel means into said chamber, said wheel means being deformable when subjected in said chamber simultaneously to the weight of a loaded mobile unit and to heat; c. first support means fixedly mounted in said vessel for supporting said mobile unit in said chamber in a completely suspended position with said wheel means off of said vessel floor, whereby said wheel means will not become deformed; d. the tops of said first support means being spaced above said vessel floor a sufficient distance to hold said wheel means of said mobile unit up off of said vessel floor when said mobile unit is received within said chamber; e. means on said mobile unit for supporting articles to be sterilized in said chamber; and f. second support means mounted on said mobile unit for contacting and being received on said first support means when said mobile unit is positioned within said chamber.

Claim 3

The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein a. said sterilizing vessel includes vessel sidewalls, a top wall, and said vessel floor for enclosing said sterilizing chamber, and and opening through one of said sidewalls into said chamber; b. a floor including a recess within which said vessel is mounted and having an open channel directly in front of said opening, said channel having a fixed, predetermined width between said floor and said sterilizing vessel; said vessel floor and said floor being at approximately the same level; c. forward projection means mounted on said mobile unit at at least one end thereof for contacting said first support means as said mobile unit is being rolled through said opening and into said chamber and prior to the adjacent wheel means reaching said channel and for lifting up the corresponding end of said mobile unit off of said adjacent wheel means; and d. said forward projection means being located adjacent said second support means such that as said mobile unit moves into said chamber, support for said mobile unit by said first support means is transferred from said forward projection means to said adjacent second support means.

Claim 4

The apparatus according to claim 2 wherein: a. said first support means is mounted on said vessel floor and comprises two parallel, spaced apart, rows of support means, each row being perpendicular to the plane of the vessel wall in which said opening is located; b. said second support means includes track means and said track means comprises a pair of parallel rows of tracks, spaced apart approximately the same distance as are said rows of support means; c. said forward projection means comprise terminal portions of said track means; and wherein, d. said forward projection means terminate in an upwardly tapering elevating cam surface.

Claim 5

The apparatus according to claim 3 including: a. mating detent means on said pair of tracks for contacting said first support means: b. said first support means comprising anti-friction rollers; and c. said pair of tracks being mounted to the bottom of said mobile unit and extending substantially the entire length of said mobile unit and being positioned outwardly from said wheel means.