DE20119917U1 - Leak-proof bottle for children's food - Google Patents

Description

Leak-proof bottle for baby food
The invention relates to a leak-proof bottle for baby food.

In known bottles for baby food, the teat has a circumferential teat flange on the lower edge, which is sealed to the thread of a baby food bottle using a screw ring. To prevent the liquid from leaking out outside of drinking times, a lid can be placed between the teat flange and the opening edge of the bottle and clamped in place using the screw ring. Inserting or removing the lid is laborious and can also lead to contamination of the bottle contents. The latter is particularly important if the bottle needs to be temporarily closed again after it has been partially emptied.

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Patent Attorneys ■ European Patent Attorneys ■ Authorized Representatives before the European Patent Office
··· . .Authorized representatives at the Harmony Office for the Youth Mask ·
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Based on this, the invention is based on the object of creating a leak-proof bottle for baby food, which makes it easier for the user to prevent leakage and to remove liquid.

The object is achieved by a leak-proof bottle with the features of claim 1. Advantageous embodiments of the bottle are specified in the subclaims.

The leak-proof bottle for baby food according to the invention has

- a bottle with a first external thread around a bottle opening,

- a lower closure ring which has a substantially cylindrical first jacket part with a first internal thread which is screwed onto the external thread of the bottle, and which has a first central part connected to the upper edge of the first jacket part with a first seat surface which is rotationally symmetrical about a longitudinal axis and separated from the interior of the bottle, and at least one first flow hole which opens into the first seat surface on the one hand and into the interior of the bottle on the other hand,

an upper locking ring having a substantially cylindrical second casing part with a second external thread and having a second central part connected to the casing part with a rotationally symmetrical about the longitudinal axis,

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a second seat surface sealingly seated on the first seat surface and at least one second through-flow hole opening into the second seat surface on the one hand and into an outer side facing away from the second seat surface within the second external thread on the other hand, which can be brought into overlapping and non-overlapping positions with respect to the first through-flow hole by rotating the upper locking ring with respect to the lower locking ring,
Locking elements which lock the lower and upper locking rings together in a rotatable and releasable manner relative to each other,
- a teat and

a screw ring with a second internal thread, which is screwed onto the second external thread of the upper locking ring and releasably fastens a lower edge region of the teat to the upper locking ring.

Because the first and second closure rings are seated on one another in a sealing manner with their first and second seating surfaces and are rotatable relative to one another, it is possible to bring the first and second through holes into positions that overlap and do not overlap one another. The lower and upper closure rings thus form a valve that is permeable from the inside of the bottle to the outside of the upper closure ring when the first and second through holes overlap one another, but which blocks the inside of the bottle from the outside when the first and second through holes do not overlap one another. This makes it possible to prevent the baby food from escaping from the inside of the bottle to the outside.

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of the upper closure ring, which faces the interior of the teat fixed to the upper closure ring. By simply turning the upper closure ring in relation to the lower closure ring, it is possible to allow liquid to enter the teat in order to be sucked out of the drinking hole of the mouthpiece, or to prevent liquid from entering the teat in order to provide leak protection. Using the leak protection is extremely simple, as it can be done by simply turning the upper closure ring, and hygienic, as it is not necessary to reach into the interior of the bottle or teat to operate the leak protection. In addition, it is basically possible to provide commercially available bottles with the leak protection, as the existing bottle thread can be used to attach the leak protection. In addition, the leak protection can be connected to conventional teats and screw rings by adapting the second external thread to the thread of known screw rings. This also makes it possible to use the same bottle with and without leak protection.

According to one embodiment, the lower locking ring has a first ring flange projecting outward from the circumference of the first casing part, which facilitates the rotation of the lower locking ring onto or off the first external thread.

According to one embodiment, the first central part has a second annular flange which projects inwardly from the inner circumference of the first central part and which seals against the

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the bottle opening. According to a further embodiment, a first ring-shaped sealing element is arranged between the second ring flange and the edge of the bottle opening. This can be made of a soft elastic material, whereas the lower closure ring can basically be made of a harder and more rigid material.

In principle, the lower locking ring and the upper locking ring can be guided together in a rotatable manner on the first and second seat surfaces. According to one embodiment, the lower locking ring has outer surfaces that are rotationally symmetrical to the longitudinal axis and the upper locking ring has inner surfaces that are rotationally symmetrical to the longitudinal axis and are guided together. These outer and inner surfaces ensure precise guidance, particularly when soft-elastic sealing elements are arranged between the first and second seat surfaces.

The seating surfaces can have various rotationally symmetrical shapes, in particular circular cylindrical or spherical. According to one embodiment, the first seating surface is formed on a first conical section tapering towards the inside of the bottle with the first flow hole and the second seating surface is formed on a second conical section tapering towards the inside of the bottle with the second flow hole. The conical sections can be manufactured particularly inexpensively and can be easily fitted into one another. According to a further embodiment, the first seating surface and the second seating surface are formed on both sides of the first and second conical sections.

·

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arranged cylinder sections, between which second and third annular sealing elements are arranged.

According to one embodiment, the lower edge of the second casing part is connected to an annular bead that overlaps the outside of the first casing part. This gives the lower and upper closure rings an almost jump-free outer contour that merges almost seamlessly into the outer contour of the bottle.

According to one embodiment, the teat is pressed against the second middle part with its lower edge area to form a seal. This means that the teat can be secured to the upper closure ring using the same principle as directly to the bottle opening. According to one embodiment, the teat is pressed against the upper closure ring with a teat flange and/or sealing bead protruding outwards from the lower edge. This enables the use of known teats.

According to one embodiment, the screw ring has an inwardly projecting fourth ring flange above the second internal thread for pressing the suction flange against the top of the upper locking ring. This enables the use of conventional screw rings.

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In one embodiment, at least one knob is arranged on the first and/or second seat surface, which knob can be elastically snapped into the second flow hole and/or the first flow hole and/or in the second seat surface and/or at least one first recess in the first seat surface. This makes it possible to lock the valve formed by the lower and upper locking ring in the closed and open positions. According to a further embodiment, the first seat surface has a plurality of first flow holes and/or knobs and/or recesses spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction at a first distance from the longitudinal axis, and the second seat surface has a plurality of second flow holes and/or knobs and/or recesses spaced apart from one another at a second distance from the longitudinal axis. A plurality of flow holes enable increased throughput quantities with a relatively small size of the leak protection device. All of the flow holes can be closed by a number of knobs adapted to the number of flow holes.

According to one embodiment, the locking elements are snap elements connected to the lower edges of the first and second seating surfaces. The snap elements are thus arranged inside the bottle and can be separated from one another with manual assistance after dismantling the lower and upper locking rings. This applies in particular to a further embodiment in which the lower locking ring has a locking projection protruding inwards from the lower edge of the first seating surface and the upper locking ring from the lower edge of the second

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Seat surface has protruding snap tongues. The locking mechanism can be released by bending a lower edge or protrusion of the snap tongues together. According to one embodiment, the lower locking ring and/or upper locking ring is a component made of partially hard and partially soft material, with the soft areas being integrated sealing elements. Separate sealing elements can therefore be omitted. These are preferably soft-elastic sealing elements.

According to one embodiment, the lower closure ring and/or the upper closure ring on the jacket have facets. The facets facilitate the screwing or unscrewing of the lower closure ring onto the bottle and the facets of the upper closure ring facilitate the rotation of the latter with respect to the lower closure ring.

According to one design, the screw ring has knobs on the casing that make it easier to screw on or unscrew the screw ring. According to another design, the screw ring consists partly of a hard and partly of a soft plastic, with the knobs being made of a soft plastic. The soft plastic knobs have increased friction, which promotes increased screwing forces.

According to a further embodiment, the lower locking ring and/or the upper locking ring and/or the screw ring is a two-component injection-molded part.

Injection molding processes can be used to create the soft and hard areas of the components in question.

According to one embodiment, the bottle has a cup that can be snapped and/or clamped onto the screw ring and/or the upper closure ring and/or the lower closure ring. The cup is used in particular to protect the teat from contamination when the bottle is not being used for drinking. According to another embodiment, the cup has a circumferential bead on the inside at the lower edge that can be snapped into a groove formed in the casing of the screw ring and/or the upper closure ring and/or the lower closure ring or into knobs arranged there.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the attached drawings of an embodiment. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 the leak-proof bottle in a perspective exploded view;

Fig. 2 the same bottle assembled in flow position in a vertical section through the upper half;

Fig. 3 The same bottle assembled in closed position in a vertical section through the upper half.

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In this description, the orientation specifications "top" and "bottom", "up" and "down" and "vertical" and "horizontal" refer, among others, to the orientation of the bottle in Figs. 2 and 3.

According to Fig. 1, the leak-proof bottle comprises a bottle 10 (e.g. wide-neck bottle), a lower closure ring 20, an upper closure ring 40, a teat 60, a screw ring 70 and a cap 80.

The bottle 10 has a cylindrical, waisted bottle body 11, which has a base 12 on the front side and a neck 13 with a single-start, first external thread 14 and a bottle opening 15 on the other front side. The bottle opening 15 is surrounded by an opening edge 16. The bottle 10 has a longitudinal central axis 17.

The lower locking ring 20 has a substantially cylindrical, first casing part 21, which has a first internal thread 22 on the inner circumference, which is screwed onto the first external thread 13 as shown in Fig. 2 and 3. A first ring flange 23 projects radially outward from the circumference of the first casing part 21 and has a downward extension parallel to the casing part 21.

The lower locking ring 20 has a first central part 24 connected to the upper edge of the first casing part 21, which comprises several sections: Adjacent to the first casing part 21 it has a second ring flange 25 which projects radially inwards. The radial ring flange 25 has a first sealing ring 26 on the underside.

The second ring flange 25 is connected internally to a ring section 27 with an L-profile, which has a projecting leg and a horizontal leg at the top aligned parallel to the second ring flange 25.

A first cone section 28 is connected to the inner circumference of the ring section 27, wherein in the transition region of the first cone section 28 to the ring section 27 on the inner circumference there is a small circular cylindrical first sealing surface 29 on which a second sealing ring 30 sits.

The first cone section 28 is arranged concentrically to the longitudinal center axis 17. It has several (in the example 4) first flow holes 31, which are arranged on a circumferential line around the longitudinal center axis 17 and connect the top of the first cone section 28 to its bottom (see Fig. 2). Between the first flow holes 31, four knobs 32 are arranged on the top of the first cone section 28, which are approximately lens-shaped (see Fig. 1). The first flow holes 31 and the knobs 32 are evenly spaced from one another.

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-12-With
A circular cylindrical first pipe section 33 of the first central part 24 is connected to the lower edge of the first cone section 28 and is also aligned concentrically to the longitudinal central axis 17. The first pipe section 33 has a locking projection 34 projecting radially inward at the lower end. A third sealing ring 35 is arranged at the top of the inner circumference of the first pipe section 33.

A first seating surface is formed on the inner circumference of the first cone section 28 and the first pipe section 33 and on the first sealing surface 29.

The lower locking ring 20 has on the outside of the extension of the first ring flange 23 several facets 36 which are evenly distributed over the circumference (see Fig. 1).

The lower locking ring 20 is made in one piece from plastic using a two-component injection molding process. A soft elastic component forms the sealing rings 26, 30 and 35 as well as the knobs 32. A relatively hard and rigid component forms the remaining sections of the lower locking ring 20. The soft elastic component is, for example, a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and the relatively rigid component is a plastic that can be cross-linked with it, e.g. polypropylene (PP).

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The upper locking ring 40 has a substantially cylindrical second casing part 41 with a second external thread 42 on the outer circumference.

The second casing part 41 is guided on the inner circumference on the outer circumference of the ring section 27.

An annular bead 43 is connected to the lower edge of the second casing part 41 and overlaps the first casing part 21 at the top.

A second central part 44 is connected to the inner circumference of the second casing part 41, which is concentric to the longitudinal central axis 17 and has several sections: A third annular flange 45 is directly connected to the inner circumference of the second casing part 41. The inner edge of the third annular flange 45 is connected to a second circular cylindrical pipe section 46, on the outer circumference of which the second sealing ring 30 seals.

A second cone section 47 is connected to the lower edge of the second pipe section 46. This has a plurality of second flow holes 48 on a circumferential line around the longitudinal center axis 17, which connect the inner circumference of the second cone section 47 to its outer circumference. The number and arrangement of the second flow holes 48 correspond to the number and arrangement of the first flow holes 31.

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The second cone section 47 has recesses 49 on the outer circumference on the same circumferential line, which are arranged between the second flow holes 48 and are only accessible from the outer circumference (see Fig. 1).

A third circular cylindrical pipe section 50 is connected to the lower edge of the second cone section 47 and is closed, in the example by a highly arched base 51, the circumference of which is arranged at the level of the lowest point of the flow holes 48. The sealing ring 35 seals the outer circumference of the third pipe section 50.

A second seating surface is formed on the outer circumference of the second tube section 46, the second cone section 47 and the third tube section 50.

Two axially directed snap tongues 52 are connected to the lower edge of the third tube section 50, each of which has a locking lug 53 on the outside.

The second locking ring 40 has several facets 54 on the surface of the edge bead 43 (see Fig. 1).

The upper locking ring 40 is injection-molded in one piece from a relatively hard plastic.

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The teat 60 has a mouthpiece 61 with a slit valve 62 and a nipple 63 with a drinking hole 64 at the end and a spout 65 carrying the mouthpiece 61. At the lower edge of the spout 65 it has an outwardly directed teat flange 66 with a downwardly projecting sealing bead 67. The teat 60 can be made in particular from rubber or from silicone rubber.

The screw ring 70 has a second internal thread 71 and a fourth ring flange 72 that projects radially inward from the upper edge. The sealing bead 67 is fixed between the fourth ring flange 72 and the upper edge of the second casing part 41. The screw ring 70 has knobs 73 made of a soft elastic material on the outer circumference at the bottom (see Fig. 1).

The screw ring 70 has additional nubs 74 made of a soft elastic material on the outer circumference at the top (see Fig. 1). The screw ring 70 is injection-molded using a two-component process using a soft elastic material for the nubs 74 (e.g. TPE) and a relatively hard material (e.g. cross-linking material, in particular PP) for the remaining sections.

The cap 80 is cup-shaped and has an inwardly projecting annular bead 81 on the lower edge. According to Fig. 2, the annular bead 81 is snapped behind the knobs 73.

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In the assembled arrangement according to Fig. 2 to 3, the lower locking ring 20 is screwed onto the first external thread 14. Furthermore, the upper locking ring 40 is placed onto the lower locking ring 20 so that the second cone section 47 engages in the first cone section 28 and the locking lugs 53 are locked with the locking projection 34. In addition, the teat 60 is fixed at its teat flange 66 on the top of the upper locking ring 40 by means of the screw ring 70 which is screwed onto the second external thread 42.

The cap 80 is snapped onto the knobs 73. In the position according to Fig. 2, the first flow holes 31 and the second flow holes 48 overlap one another. Free-flowing baby food can flow from the bottle 10 through the first and second flow holes 31, 48 into the teat 60 and be removed from it. Of course, the cap 80 must be removed first. In this position, the knobs 32 engage in the recesses 49 in the upper locking ring 40, which prevents rotation.

In the position shown in Fig. 3, the upper locking ring 40 is rotated 45° clockwise with respect to the lower locking ring 20, so that the knobs 32 engage in the second flow holes 48. This seals the second flow holes 48 and also secures the second locking ring 40 in its rotational position. Baby food cannot be removed in this rotational position.

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For cleaning, the entire assembly of lower locking ring 20, upper locking ring 40, teat 60 and screw ring 70 can be unscrewed from the bottle 10. Furthermore, the teat 60 can be separated by loosening the screw ring 70. By pressing the snap tongues 52 together, the lock can be released and the upper locking ring 40 can be separated from the lower locking ring 20. Then all the individual parts can be cleaned individually. Reassembly takes place in the reverse order.

Claims (22)

1. Leak-proof bottle for baby food with - a bottle ( 10 ) with a first external thread ( 14 ) around a bottle opening ( 15 ), - a lower closure ring ( 20 ) which has a substantially cylindrical first casing part ( 21 ) with a first internal thread ( 22 ) which is screwed onto the first external thread ( 13 ), and which has a first central part ( 24 ) connected to the upper edge of the first casing part ( 21 ) with a first seat surface ( 28 , 30 , 33 ) which is rotationally symmetrical about a longitudinal axis ( 17 ) and separated from the interior of the bottle, and at least one first flow hole ( 31 ) which opens into the first seat surface ( 28 , 30 , 33 ) on the one hand and into the interior of the bottle on the other hand, - an upper closure ring ( 40 ) which has a substantially cylindrical second casing part ( 41 ) with a second external thread ( 42 ) and which has a second central part ( 44 ) connected to the second casing part ( 41 ) with a second seat surface ( 46 , 47 , 50) which is rotationally symmetrical about the longitudinal axis ( 17 ) and which sits sealingly on the first seat surface ( 28 , 30 , 33 ) and at least one second through - flow hole (48) which opens on the one hand into the second seat surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ) and on the other hand into an outer side facing away from it within the second external thread ( 42 ), which can be set into overlapping and non-overlapping positions with respect to the first through-flow hole ( 48 ) by rotating the upper closure ring ( 40 ) with respect to the lower closure ring ( 20 ). 31 ) can be brought, - locking elements ( 34 , 54 ) which lock the lower locking ring ( 20 ) and the upper locking ring ( 40 ) together in a rotatable and releasable manner relative to one another, - a teat ( 60 ) and - a screw ring ( 70 ) with a second internal thread ( 71 ) which is screwed onto the second external thread ( 42 ) of the upper closure ring ( 40 ) and detachably fastens a lower edge region of the teat ( 60 ) to the upper closure ring ( 40 ). 2. Bottle according to claim 1, wherein the lower closure ring ( 20 ) has a first annular flange ( 23 ) projecting outwardly from the circumference of the first jacket part ( 21 ). 3. Bottle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first middle part ( 24 ) has a second annular flange ( 25 ) which projects inwardly from the inner circumference of the first jacket part ( 21 ) and is screwed in a sealing manner against the edge ( 16 ) of the bottle opening ( 15 ). 4. Bottle according to claim 3, wherein a first annular sealing element ( 26 ) is arranged between the second annular flange ( 25 ) and the edge ( 16 ) of the bottle opening ( 25 ). 5. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 4, in which the lower closure ring ( 20 ) has outer surfaces which are rotationally symmetrical to the longitudinal axis ( 17 ) and the upper closure ring ( 40 ) has inner surfaces which are rotationally symmetrical to the longitudinal axis ( 17 ) and which are guided against one another. 6. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 5, in which the first seat surface ( 28 , 30 , 33 ) is formed on a first conical section ( 28 ) tapering towards the interior of the bottle with the first flow hole ( 31 ) and the second seat surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ) is formed on a second conical section ( 47 ) tapering towards the interior of the bottle with the second flow hole ( 48 ). 7. Bottle according to claim 6, wherein the first seating surface ( 28 , 30 , 33 ) and the second seating surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ) are formed on both sides of the first and second cone sections ( 28 , 47 ) on cylinder sections ( 30 , 33 ; 46 , 50 ), between which second and third annular sealing elements ( 30 , 35 ) are arranged. 8. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 7, in which the lower edge of the second jacket part ( 41 ) is connected to an annular bead ( 43 ) which overlaps the outside of the first jacket part ( 21 ). 9. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 8, in which the teat ( 60 ) is pressed with its lower edge region ( 66 ) in a sealing manner against the second middle part ( 44 ). 10. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 9, in which the drinking teat ( 60 ) is pressed against the upper closure ring ( 40 ) in a sealing manner by means of a teat flange ( 66 ) projecting outwards from the lower edge and/or a sealing bead ( 67 ). 11. Bottle according to claim 10, wherein the screw ring ( 70 ) has an inwardly projecting fourth ring flange ( 72 ) above the second internal thread ( 71 ) for pressing the teat flange ( 66 ) against the upper side of the upper closure ring ( 40 ). 12. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 11, in which at least one knob ( 32 ) is arranged on the first and/or the second seat surface ( 28 , 29 , 33 ; 46 , 47 , 50 ), which knob can be elastically snapped into the second flow hole ( 48 ) and/or the first flow hole ( 31 ) and/or into at least one recess ( 49 ) in the second seat surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ) and/or in the first seat surface ( 28 , 29 , 33 ). 13. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 11, in which the first seat surface ( 28 , 29 , 33 ) has a plurality of first flow holes ( 31 ) and/or knobs ( 32 ) and/or depressions spaced apart from one another in the circumferential direction at a first distance from the longitudinal axis ( 17 ), and in which the second seat surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ) has a plurality of second flow holes ( 48 ) and/or knobs and/or depressions ( 49 ) spaced apart from one another at a second distance from the longitudinal axis ( 17 ). 14. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the locking elements ( 34 , 54 ) are snap elements connected to the lower edges of the first and second seating surfaces ( 28 , 29 , 33 ; 46 , 47 , 50 ). 15. Bottle according to claim 14, wherein the lower closure ring ( 20 ) has a locking projection ( 34 ) projecting inwardly from the lower edge of the first seating surface ( 28 , 29 , 33 ) and the upper closure ring ( 40 ) has snap tongues ( 53 ) projecting from the lower edge of the second seating surface ( 46 , 47 , 50 ). 16. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 15, in which the lower closure ring ( 20 ) and/or the upper closure ring ( 40 ) is a component made of partially hard and partially soft material, the soft regions being sealing elements. 17. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 16, wherein the lower closure ring ( 20 ) and/or the upper closure ring ( 40 ) has/have facets ( 36 , 54 ) on the jacket. 18. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the screw ring ( 70 ) has knobs ( 73 , 74 ) on the jacket. 19. Bottle according to claim 18, wherein the screw ring ( 70 ) is partly made of a hard and partly of a soft plastic, wherein it is made of a soft plastic in the region of the knobs ( 73 , 74 ). 20. Bottle according to one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the lower closure ring ( 20 ) and/or the upper closure ring ( 40 ) and/or the screw ring ( 70 ) is a two-component injection-molded part. 21. Bottle according to one of claims 1 to 20, which has a slip-on cup ( 80 ) which can be snapped and/or clamped onto the screw ring ( 70 ) and/or the upper closure ring ( 40 ) and/or the lower closure ring ( 20 ). 22. Bottle according to claim 21, in which the cup ( 80 ) has a circumferential bead ( 81 ) on the inside at the lower edge, which can be snapped over knobs ( 73 ) formed on the jacket of the screw ring ( 70 ) and/or the upper closure ring ( 40 ) and/or the lower closure ring ( 20 ) or into a groove formed there.