Surgical retractor holder

Claim 1

In a surgical retractor blade holder for attaching a retractor blade to a supporting structure, said retractor blade having a retractor blade handle, said retractor blade holder having: a body section having a bottom surface and including means for holding said retractor blade handle; an open slot in said body section for engaging a supporting structure, said slot having an inside surface and a top and a bottom surface, none of said slot surfaces interacting with said retractor blade handle; the improvement comprising: a spring detent extending from said body section bottom surface, generally parallel to said bottom surface of said slot in said body section and having a free end extending beyond the open end of said slot; the free end of said spring detent including a raised portion and providing a confronting surface aligned with said open end of said slot, the top of said raised portion extending above the top surface of said slot but not obstructing access of said retractor blade handle to said means for holding said retractor blade handle; the confronting surface of said raised portion spaced apart from the inside surface of said slot a distance at least equal to the width of said supporting structure but less than the combined distance of the depth of said slot and the width of said supporting structure; whereby said retractor blade holder may be placed on said supporting structure by displacing said spring detent and sliding into said slot a first side of said supporting structure until said spring detent springs back into position on the opposite side of the supporting structure to hold said holder on said supporting structure even when said retractor is in the relaxed position.