AU604874B2 - Baby bottle - Google Patents

Description

FORM COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952-1962 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (Original) FOR OFFICE USE: Class Int. Class eeoe nm or ooB 0 oq0 0 00 Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: Related Art: 0000 0 0 '00

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0 c Name of Applicant: *Address of Applicant: Actual Inventor(s): GARY JAMES JAMIESON 23 Nemerang Crescent Waramanga, Australian Capital Territory 2611 Commonwealth of Australia GARY JAMES JAMIESON Address for Service: DAVIES COLLISON, Patent Attorneys, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne V 3000, Australia Complete Specification for the invention entitled: "BABY BOTTLE" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me 1 Technical Field This invention concerns baby feeding devices. More particularly, it concerns a novel form of "baby bottle".

Background Baby bottles have been used for many years to supply o babies (and, on occasions, young animals) with drinks Ofta of sterilised water, juice solutions, "milk" formulae, substitute milk drinks (such as the product e 1 0 sold under the trade mark "SORBY"), and the like.

B, The bottles are made of glass or a clear plastic material. When filled with a liquid to be consumed, they are closed with a cap which holds either a ,4 1 sealing disc (if the bottle is not to be used I. «15 immediately) or a teat made of rubber or a similar material (when a baby is to be given a drink from the i. bottle).

Problems can arise when bottles are used when travelling or when camping with babies. For example, in such circumstances, it is not always possible to warm a bottle to a required temperature; or sterilisation of an empty bottle so that it can be refilled may be difficult if appropriate facilities are not available. To overcome the first of these two problems, insulating bottle holders containing a low-voltage heating element have been marketed. A full baby bottle in this type of holder can be heated when low-voltage power is supplied to the heating element usually through a plug that connects into the cigarette lighter power outlet of a motor vehicle. Sterilisation in the absence of suitable heating facilities can only be effected by immersing the bottle in a solution of a bacteria-destroying chemical, for which a supply of water and appropriate chemicals have to be carried.

o Disclosure of the Present Invention It is an object of the present invention to provide a ubaby bottle which overcomes the sterilisation problem noted above without the inconvenience of carrying chemical solutions, and which keeps the contents of the bottle warm for relatively long periods of time.

So This objective is achieved by a disposable baby bottle, which contains the liquid to be consumed by a baby and which Is hygienically sealed until required Sto be used. The "bottle" is positioned within a rigid or semi-rigid container, which provides thermal insulation for the "bottle" and its contents.

0000 *CDa The "bottle" is manufactured of a foil or synthetic

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film material or thin laminate for example, the foil and terylene laminated material marketed under the trade mark "MYLAR" that collapses as the "bottle" is emptied. Such a "bottle" is sealed to an annular support at the top or neck of the bottle.

The annular support is adapted to connect with the inside of the rigid or semi-rigid (which term includes malleable, resilient material) bottle container. A screw thread arrangement or a II- i ~e II-- -j;~~U.II 4 bayonet-type fitting can be used for this connection.

A teat is also provided, held to, or by, the annular support and a cover made from metallic foil, heat shrinkable plastic material, or any other suitable material is hygienically sealed over the teat and (usually) over the topmost portion of the rigid or semi-rigid container. Such an arrangement ensures M 1 0that the teat remains in a sterile environment until t the cover is removed and the teat is exposed to the a1 0 ambient air.

Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided a drink dispenser for babies comprising, in combination: a) a sheath-like container for a drink, made from a S3.5 flexible plastic, synthetic film or laminate c c o material or the like, said container having one open end; b) an annular support member sealingly connected to the open end of said sheath-like container; c) a teat in sealing engagement with said annular support member; d) a rigid or semi-rigid container, within which said sheath-like container is located; said rigid or semi-rigid container having a single opening to which said annular support member is connected; and i i I' 5 e) a cover which is removably but sealingly connected to an assembly of said sheath-like container, said annular support member, said teat and said rigid or semi-rigid container, to form a hygienic seal around at least the teat.

The teat may be moulded with or bonded to the annular support member. Alternatively, means may be provided Ato support the teat in sealing engagement with the annular support member, (for example, a conventional •1 0 screw cap with an aperture therein, as commonly used with currently available baby bottles). Such a screw cap will be screwed over external screw threads on the upper part of the annular support member, to hold the usual flange of the teat in engagement therewith.

The interconnection between the annular support member and the rigid or semi-rigid container, as already indicated, is preferably by a screw-thread or bayonet-type fitting arrangement.

These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of embodiments of the invention. In this description, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 is a sectional view (not: to scale) through an assembly of the present invention.

i 6 Figure 2 is a perspective sketch of the annular support member used in the assembly of Figure 1, together with a teat and a cap used to clamp the teat to the annular support member.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of an alternative construction of the teat and annular support member.

Detailed Description of the Illustrated Embodiment The baby bottle shown in Figure 1 consists of an elongate sheath-like container 10 closed at its lower 10 end 10A and open at its upper end 10B. The open end lOB is sealingly connected to the inside of an annular support member 11.

As will be clearly seen from Figure 2, the annular support member 11 has upper and lower portions 12, 13 that are externally threaded. The upper portion 12 has a smaller external diameter than the lower portion 13 (this is not essential; the two portions r 12, 13 could have the same external diameter or the lower portion 13 could have the smaller external diameter). The two threaded portions are separated by a non-threaded portion 14, which may be recessed relative to the smaller diameter portion of the support member.

The threaded portion 13 is adapted to be screwed into the internally threaded opening at the top of a tubular rigid or semi-rigid container 15. The lower end of the tubular container 15 is closed. The MN J -7tubular container 15 is conveniently manufactured from a plastics material or an epoxy resin compound, so that the container provides both strength and thermal insulation. Compressed cardboard or any other suitable material may be used, for the container 0 In the arrangement shown in Figures 1 and 2, the top of the annular support member 1 has an inwardly 4q projecting planar flange 1.6, on which the annular 1. 0 flange 18 of a teat 17 may be seated. A cap 19 with a central aperture 20 may then be screwed onto the threaded portion 12 of member 1.1 to hold the teat flange 18 against the top of the flange 16 of the member 11, and thus establish a seal between the teat 4 15 and the support member 11.

In the alternative arrangement illustrated in Figure 3, the teat 17A is held in position on the support member 11 by the resilience of a side wall 18A. In further alternative arrangements, the teat may be bonded to the annular support member or it may be moulded integrally with the annular support member, provided a suitable material is chosen for the support member.

When the container 10 has been filled with a liquid, the support member 11 has been screwed to the container 15 and the teat 17 has been clamped against the support member 11, a cover 21 is attached to the assembly. The cover 21 may be of any suitable 8 material. It may be made from a metallic foil material or a latex-based or other rubber-like material, or from a heat shrinkable plastics material. It may be vacuum packed or heat shrunk around the teat. The important feature is that the cover 21 forms a hygienic seal around the teat 17.

In the illustrated embodiment of Figure 1, the seal between the cover 21 and the annular support member 11 is established at the non-threaded region 14 of h 10 the support member 11 by an O-ring 23. However, this seal may be established at any convenient location.

For example, an annular groove 22 may be provided near the top of the container 15 to enable the seal S.C between the cover 21 and the assembled components of 15 the "bottle" to be established.

It will be appreciated that although specific embodiments of the present invention has been illustrated and described above, variations of and modifications to those embodiments can be made without departing from the present inventive concept.

Some of those variations have been indicated already.

Other variations include the use of a different shape of containers 10 and 15, and the use of a clear plastic material for the container 15 (to enable the remaining contents of the container 10 to be observed as a baby drinks from the "bottle"). For the same purpose, the container 15 may have perforations in it or be in the form of a framework (if heat insulation of the liquid in the container 10 is not important).

-9- In use, the "baby bottle" of this invention can be warmed (by immersion of the assembly in hot water, or using a microwave oven if the assembly contains no metallic or microwave-degradable component) and transported for a considerable time without the contents becoming too cool to be drunk by a baby.

Additional thermal insulation may be used, of course, to extend this period.

It is envisaged that a "baby bottle" manufactured in accordance with the present invention will be disposable, but re-usable versions can be constructed, if required.

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Claims (8)

1. A drink dispenser for babies comprising, in combination: a) a sheath-like container for a drink, made from a flexible plastic, synthetic film or laminate material or the like, said container having one open end; i b) an annular support member sealingly connected S. to the open end of said sheath-like container; c) a teat in sealing engagement with said annular support member; d) a rigid or semi-rigid container, within which said sheath-like container is located; said rigid or semi-rigid container having a single opening to which said annular support member is connected; and e) a cover which is removably but sealingly connected to an assembly of said sheath-like i container, said annular support member, said i teat and said rigid or semi-rigid container, to form a hygienic seal around at least the teat.

2. A drink dispenser as defined in claim 1, in which /L the annular support member has an externally threaded lower portion whicn is screwed into a complementary internally threaded region at the opening of the rigid or semi-rigid container. I--A n 1 -11

3. A drink dispenser as defined in claim I or claim 2, in which the teat is bonded to or formed integrally with the annular support member.

4. A drink dispenser as defined.in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the teat is held in sealing engagement with the annular support member by a cap which has a central aperture through which the teat passes and a side wall which is ~internally threaded and which screws over an externally threaded upper portion of the annular support member, the cap having an inwardly projecting flange region between side wall and its central aperture, the flange region of the cap being adapted to hold a flange of the teat in engagement with the annular support member when the drink dispenser has been assembled.

A drink dispenser as defined in any preceding claim in which the cover is formed from a heat shrinkable plastics material which has been heat shrunk around at least the teat.

6. A drink dispenser as defined in any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the cover is made from metallic foil or a latex-based material and is vacuum L packed around the teat. Ar 12

7. A drink dispenser as defined in any preceding claim, in which the rigid or semi-rigid container contains perforations or is constructed as a framework, so that the sheath-like container may be observed.

8. A drink dispenser substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings. 0 0 0 0 '0 4 0 0 o o 0 00041 0000 0 o 0 0 Or 0000 DATED this 14th day of April 1988 GARY JAMES JAMIESON by his Patent Attorneys DAVIES COLLISON 4 tt *411 0 4 a C 1; 1~ 46h._