FR2777168A1 - Baby comforter - Google Patents

Abstract

The baby comforter comprises main piece (1) on which is mounted a secondary piece (2). The main piece is in the shape of a dolphin made from a padding material enclosed in a fabric cover. This forms a gripping part for the baby and a part for exercising his/her fingers (7). The secondary piece is in the shape of a dummy (3).

Description

VAI7-2BDOC

DAuphin suct 272777168

  COMFORT AND AWAKENING DEVICE FOR BABIES

  The present invention relates to the design and production of devices such as those which can be called familiar objects for babies, by grouping under this notion all kinds of accessory articles which it is useful to make available to babies. to meet their physiological and / or emotional needs. In general, it is a question of providing them with means of playful occupation and ensuring both their physical comfort and their sensory awakening. In this context therefore fall, for example, lollipops (also sometimes called pacifiers), stuffed animals, fabric objects specially designed in their

  shapes, their colors, their textures.

  Already from these examples of known articles, it can be noted that such objects are generally intended for a particular function, and that in particular, the suction objects are made to allow the baby to suck outside of nutritious feeds, while they cannot play the role of sensory arousal objects at the same time. In addition, none is specially designed to play the role of transitional object and, as a "comforter" in a more emotional role, a baby will rather adopt a piece of cloth, a

  handkerchief, scarf or lingerie from her mother.

  Compared to such known products, the invention essentially aims to combine different functions into a single device, and in this way, to provide the baby with better comfort, in particular by facilitating the practice of the sucking reflex, while putting at permanently in his hand, an object of playful and sensory exercise always available between his waking periods and his sleeping periods. It turned out that such an object is particularly useful from the age of a newborn to allow the baby to practice sucking (more than he

  is necessary for food), but also and progress-

VA17-2B.DOC

  Daupjlce 2777168 sively, to educate its different sensations, allow it in particular to exercise its manual grasping capacity, awaken its sense of touch, then possibly sight, smell, and even taste and / or hearing. At the same time, such a tool secures the child both physiologically and emotionally, and thus provides him with comfort that will prevent many crying

  painful for parents and those around them.

  To achieve the objectives it has thus set, the present invention provides a comfort and awakening tool for babies, useful for their physiological and emotional education, which is essentially characterized in that it integrates into the same object. familiar with an attractive shape, such as that of an animal, not only at least one main piece of manual exercise, preferably at least for the practice of gripping by the palm of the hand, with in this case advantageously an additional part of exercise of the fingers for the practice of gripping and touching by the fingertips and / or a fixing part on an external material by one or more hooking elements, but also at least one secondary part which has a teat for the sucking practice and that

  removably mounts on said main part.

  According to the invention, it is therefore possible, among other advantages, to separate the two parts in order to wash or clean them differently or so that the baby only keeps the teat when it is transported out of his

  cradle leaving the main room there.

  A form of pet that lends itself parti-

  The implementation of the invention is particularly well suited to that of dolphins, it being understood that there are other marine mammals which are similar to dolphins from the point of view of the invention. The invention therefore provides for constituting the exercise part of the grip by the palm of the hand by a main part forming the body.

VA17-2KDOC

  DauphasUoen DAupuAn.o 2777168 of the dolphin, which is advantageously made of a flexible material, but overall not very deformable in its general frustoconical shape, to provide the hooking elements at the level of the side fins of the dolphin, and to mount the teat of practice of suction at the long end

  tudinal of the body of the dolphin on the side of the head.

  To constitute or wear attachment members, the fins of a dolphin shape have the advantage of being flexible, provided, of course, that they are made of a non-rigid material. This flexibility also has the advantage of making such fins useful as tactile elements, for the practice of gripping and touching with the fingertips. It is the same for

  dolphin tail fins.

  Other forms of animals are also possible while remaining within the scope of the invention. From this point of view and by way of example, a form of giraffe or other terrestrial animal easily makes it possible to add other elements of manual exercise by the legs of the animal, while the possible tail of the can keep

  the same function as a dolphin's fin tail.

  It should be noted, however, that the invention takes advantage of other peculiarities of the shape of a dolphin, as it would do from the shape of another marine mammal or similar shapes. This is the case with the side fins, insofar as these fins provide two symmetrical elements in which it is convenient to hide two fastening members respectively. When the device is fixed by them on an external material such as a sheet, it is all the better stabilized. In addition, the shape of a dolphin body is simple and generally straight from head to tail, which, in addition to the advantage of a frustoconical form of palm grasping, offers the advantage of allowing easy

VA7.2.DOC

  Dauphua a'uoa DAu ^ hI ^^ t 2777168 ascending in the extension of the body, at the level of the

  head, any suitable device for receiving the teat.

  The latter is advantageously that of a simple commercial pacifier whose teat, made of artificial rubber or other elastomer, is integral with a rigid base commonly constituted by a plate of sufficient extent shaped to come to be pressed against the baby's mouth when he heads the lollipop. Commonly, the same pacifier also includes a rigid ring which is pivotally mounted on said plate on the side opposite the teat.

and in the axis of the latter.

  In the context of the invention this ring is advantageously used for mounting the pacifier from the inside of what would be the mouth of the dolphin. The head of a dolphin being relatively large in the extension of the body, it provides sufficient space to receive a removable mounting assembly making the ring of the pacifier cooperate with an appropriate associated member which is hidden and protected inside. the animal form however that the pacifier of

  the pacifier remains accessible outside.

  According to another characteristic of the invention, the means for mounting the pacifier are preferably designed so that the teat remains orientable relative to the longitudinal axis of the body of the animal shape. For this purpose, a mounting device of the type of a ball joint system will advantageously be used. A function of this type can be performed in a particularly simple manner by a spherical ball which is fixed in the body of the dolphin and which has a lumen or slot for the introduction of the lollipop ring. We can then firstly rotate the entire pacifier in orientation around its axis, and secondly rotate the teat to tilt it. In this way, the mother of the baby, or any other person to whom he is entrusted, can easily fix the dolphin,

VA17-2BDOC

  Dauplm suoet DAu suSet 2777168 for example on the bed sheet of his crib, in a position such that the pacifier is within immediate reach of the baby's mouth as soon as he wakes up and in which he is also led to reach without difficulty body and tail of the dolphin to handle them. And in practice, at ages when the baby does not yet know how to grasp such objects, he will be able to identify the presence of the pacifier by the smell

which it impregnates with use.

  According to a preferred and non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the animal body, such as that of a dolphin, has a flexible outer wall, constituted by a cover of velvety textile material, enclosing a stuffing material up to to the hollow ball mentioned above, the slit of which opens opposite the dolphin mouth formed by the cover. It is also possible to provide a rigid crown fixed in the cover in order to form a cavity with a wall complementary to that of the ball, the two spherical surfaces thus being able to

  slide in rotation one over the other.

  In such an embodiment of the invention, it can advantageously be directly in the ball forming a ball that the ring or other basic form of the pacifier is formed.

pacifier holder.

  Indeed, and according to another characteristic of

  the invention, this mounting is preferably carried out in intro

  duisant the rigid base of the teat inside the hollow patella by a slot or lumen formed in its flexible wall so that this assembly requires a force that the baby is unable to exert once the pacifier thus mounted presents its base perpendicular to the wall

  split on the internal side of this wall.

  To improve security from this point of view, it may be useful for the insertion slot of the base of the pacifier to have two symmetrical branches forming between i

VAI7-2B.DOC

  Dolphin soetm ATUpn5tit 2777168 they an open angle extending on either side of a central orifice. Such arrangements facilitate both assembly by an adult who can slightly deform the wall by opening the slit, also facilitate extraction by the same route, while improving safety for the baby, since this kind of deformation is necessary to disassemble the pacifier in order to pass through the slot

  the support ring which is rigid in a plane compared to

  ratively to the open angle formed by the two branches of

the insertion slot.

  Among the various characteristics of the invention as they will be more fully described and illustrated below in their embodiments advantageously applied industrially, mention may also be made in particular of those which consist in defining the external shape of the object by an envelope continues by forming a padding material at the level of the body of the dolphin used for the practice of gripping by the palm of the hand or by the whole hand, also integrating the removable device for mounting the pacifier, and open at this level by a slit with flexible outline in the vicinity of a slit for introducing the teat support allowing its locking by the adult in the axis of the body of the dolphin but leaving free the orientation of the teat according to a spherical sector of closed angle predetermined, and this, if necessary, without requiring more effort than that of the baby

is capable.

  The invention will now be more fully described in the context of preferred characteristics and their advantages, with reference to the figures of the appended drawings which illustrate them and in which: - Figure 1 shows the complete object in its external appearance; - Figure 2 illustrates the fins with fixing member;

VAI17-2B.DOC

  Dolphin sumtt AThUitr 2777168 - Figures 3 and 5 show in section the means for mounting the pacifier on the dolphin for two different relative positions; - and Figure 4 is a schematic end view of the dolphin illustrating the insertion slot for mounting and

locking the pacifier.

  According to the invention, as it is advantageously embodied in the embodiment described and shown here, the sensory device in question is in the general form of a marine mammal, and more exactly in that of a dolphin more or less stylized. At the same time as it thus represents a familiar animal, pleasant to look at, handle, smell, like a "teddy bear" or other stuffed animal, it constitutes in some way

  so a pacifier holder, or pacifier holder.

  By its dimensions, by the nature and the material of the various elements which compose it and by their mode of assembly, it is made to be put within the reach of a baby almost from the first days of the newborn baby. At first, we will focus on fixing it on a set of the cradle, presenting the teat in a position directly accessible to the mouth of the baby who is not moving yet. The baby will thus always have a means of comfort allowing him to meet his physiological needs.

  suction, for non-nutritious feeds.

  Thereafter, and gradually as and when his sensory awakening, we will ensure that the baby can easily reach the very body of the dolphin, and that he is thus tempted to take it, touch it, manipulate, wiggle its fins, in this way exercising its tactile faculties and its gripping capacities, both by the palm of the hand and by thumb grip on the other fingers. Eyesight education will not be forgotten, provided that the external appearance of the device of the invention shows bright and attractive colors, no more than

VA17-2BDOC

  Dolphin suc.'e Daupiluet 2777168 smell, which we know is generally very developed

in babies.

  It is therefore understandable that very quickly, the device of the invention will come to play the role of what is known as a blanket in the world of childcare, that is to say an object that can be said of comfort

  affective, to the extent o, in child psychiatry and psycho-

  logie, we attribute a transitional substitute value to the absent mother. Another advantage of the invention, which is far from being negligible, resides in the disappearance of a phenomenon of habituation which we deplore in children who keep the habit of keeping a pacifier for too long, because as soon as this pacifier is attached to a heavier object and giving it other reasons for occupation, it will abandon it more easily. As can be seen from the figures, the device of the invention essentially comprises two parts which are integral with one another but separable, namely a main part 1, constituting the familiar object in the shape of a dolphin, and a part 2, which can be said to be secondary here, although it is it which comprises the teat 3, insofar as it is a lollipop of the type of those commonly found in commerce As can be to understand it from FIG. 1, it is at the level of the main part 1, the body 5 of the dolphin which constitutes for the baby a palmar grip part, in accordance with the invention. It is made of a soft padding material enclosed in a cover envelope

velvety fabric.

  At the end of this body 5, the same cover forms a fin tail 7 that the baby will tend to handle with the fingers, therefore taking them by forming the clamp with the thumb. On the longitudinally opposite side of the body 5, there is the head 8, beyond a dorsal fin 11 and

VAI-IB.DOC

  AuJ] 2777168 two side fins, all formed by the cover

  fabric but no more stuffing.

  In Figure 1, we can see only one of the side fins 6. In each there is integrated a hooking member, which is here constituted by a clamp 9, formed of two articulated jaws, making it possible to fix the dolphin

  on a D sheet, or other bed linen.

  Figure 2 shows how this clip 9 is sewn into a fold 92 of the cover 91, which wraps it so that the baby cannot be injured with it. For the same purpose, the pocket formed by the two layers of fabric has its opening facing the body of the dolphin 5. The clamp operates through this opening, when the adult spreads his two jaws 93 and 94 and then lets them return. one towards the other by spring effect to tighten the sheet D. As the two jaws open on the side of the opening of the pocket, so as it towards the body 5 of the dolphin, its operation is easy, the pressure necessary

  exercising in the vicinity of the free end of the fin.

  We can also note from Figure 1 that in the example considered, provision was made at 12 to materialize the eyes of the dolphin, as is known to do by inlaying in the fabric of the cover. One can also add any sound emission means in itself conventional. One can think here, in particular, of a ventral whistle, produced in pneumatic communication with a chamber with an elastically deformable wall replacing all or part of the padding material enclosed in the cover at the body of the

dolphin 5.

  Referring now to Figures 3 and 5, we see that in the pacifier 2 constituting the removable secondary part, the nipple 3 is mounted fixed in a base 31 which is located in the central part of a large plate 32 of ergonomic shape. In the base 31, of oblong shape (wider in the front view of FIG. 3 than in the profile section

VA17-2B.DOC

  DAuuniset 2777168 of Figure 4), the teat is held by the head 33 of a hinge pin 22 in which pivots a ring 21. This ring, which is commonly used to hold or suspend the teat presented to the baby, serves also, in the present case, to constitute the nipple support making it possible to mount the pacifier in the main part 1 by cooperation

  with additional organs described below.

  These complementary members are fixed in the main room at the head of the dolphin, where the cover 12 has an opening corresponding to the mouth of the dolphin. It essentially comprises a ball 41 which is hollow and spherical in shape, having a diameter

  sufficient to receive the ring 21 in a diametrical plane.

  This ball is made of a material which makes its wall elastically deformable. It has a slot 42 by

  which can be inserted into or removed from the ring 21.

  In doing so, the ball is flattened at the level of the slot 42 as it appears in FIG. 3, taking into account the space

  reduced between the ring 21 and the plate 32.

  To facilitate these operations, the slot 42 is advanced

  markedly shaped with two symmetrical branches forming between them an open angle, of the order of 170 degrees for example, extending on either side of a wider central hole, suitable for letting the base of the joint pass of the ring. This shape is shown in Figure 4, including its deformation according to which the two branches 46 and 47 are found in a straight line through the hole 48

for the passage of the ring 21.

  The system which allows the two parts 1 and 2 to be mounted removably also makes it possible to lock them together. It suffices to rotate the pacifier 2 around the axis of its base 31 so that the ring 21 is found, in the spherical ball 41, in a position where its plane is perpendicular to the slot 42 (FIG. 5) . In this regard, Figure 4 shows the ring 21 in

VA7-2B.DOC

  Dauplun suctea Daupbsote 2777168 its two perpendicular positions, before and after locking, behind the slot 42. The latter is represented there by considering as an example the case where it is produced rather in the form of a light of considerable width. In all cases, it widens by spreading its edges in correspondence with the thickness of the ring 21 during the passage of the latter, thanks to the deformation capacity of the spherical shape of the

ball 41.

  FIGS. 3 and 5 show that the assembly thus locked is also tiltable relative to the longitudinal axis of the dolphin, by action on the plate 32 carrying the teat 3. This plate remains outside the main part 1, but it carries with it the pivot of the ring 21, therefore also the ball 41 itself. This inclination is carried out at will, by the adult, over a maximum closed angle, corresponding to the limits of the opening of the cover 12 for the passage of the base 31

lollipop.

  FIGS. 3 and 5 also illustrate a particular embodiment of the device according to the invention, according to which the rotation of the mounting ball 41, relative to the longitudinal axis of the dolphin, inside the main part 1, is facilitated by the fact that this ball is rotatable in a crown 43, of complementary but annular spherical shape. Such a crown can be made of rigid material and include holes or eyelets making it possible to fix it by sewing to the cover of the main part 1. The padding material 13 is now shown the ball 41 against the opening of the cover 12, while the crown 43 is retained by a

  bead 15 formed by the cover around this opening.

  Despite the various practical advantages which have been pointed out, it should be understood that the invention is not in

VA7-2B DOC

  Dauplu artmetr aupJIe 2777168 nothing limited to the particular embodiment which comes

to be described as an example.

  This applies in particular to the removable mounting means of the secondary part 2 in the main part 1. Thus for example, while retaining the same teat 3 fixed at the center of a base making it integral with the same plate 32, the ring support can be replaced by a screw extending said base so as to allow locking by screwing into a solid part of a member

  receiver equivalent to ball 41.

  However, insofar as it is only a blocking vis-à-vis the gestures of a baby, the mounting method which has been described as an example is sufficient to exercise the same function. Indeed, a baby is unable to deform the ball described to extract the ring from the pacifier once the edges of the slot 42 have tightened, especially when it has two branches not in line in the natural state. As a result, the teat is not only tiltable by the adult relative to the longitudinal axis of the dolphin involving its palmar grip part, but also but also lockable in any orientation in rotation around this axis, which is strong. useful for correctly presenting the entire pacifier available to a newborn regardless of its position

Sleeping.

  VAj7.-2BDOC Dauplun moett, ATll 2777168

Claims (10)

  1. Comfort and awakening device for baby, characterized in that it comprises, in the same familiar object of attractive shape, such as that of an animal, a main part (1) of manual exercise having at least one part (5) of palmar grip by the baby, and a secondary part (2) which has a teat (3) for the practice of suction and which is mounted in a removable manner on said main part (1).   2. Device according to claim 1, charac-   characterized in that said main part (1) further comprises at least one part (7, 6, 11) for exercising the fingers for the practice of gripping and touching by the fingers of the baby.   3. Device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said main part (1) further comprises at least one part (6) for fixing to an external material (D) by one or more members attachment (9).   4. Device according to any one of the res-   dications 1 to 3, characterized in that said main part (1) has the shape of a dolphin, or other marine mammal, the head (8) of which contains means (4) for mounting said removable secondary part (2)   allowing locking by an adult. VA17-2BDOC ATDaUpuoA 2777168   5. Device according to claim 4, charac-   terized in that said removable mounting means (4) comprise a hollow ball (41) of elastically deformable material which has a slot (42) for the passage of a ring (21) pivoting relative to a base (31) in a removable pacifier constituting said part secondary (2).   6. Device according to claim 5, charac-   terized in that said slot (42) has two symmetrical branches (46, 47) extending on either side of a   central hole (48) and forming between them an open angle.   7. Device according to claim 3, charac-   terized in that said hooking members are protected in a fold (92) of an envelope cover (12-91) of said main body (1), in particular at the level of two symmetrical lateral fins (6) of a form of dolphin   according to any one of claims 4 to 6.   8. Device according to claim 7, charac-   terized in that each of said attachment members is constituted by two articulated jaws (93 and 94) opening towards an opening of a pocket formed by said cover and its fold (92) in the direction of said palm grip part ( 5)   9. Device according to any one of the res-   dications 1 to 8, characterized in that said secondary part (2), in its removable mounting on said main part (1), is lockable by an adult   in any orientation around a long axis   tudinal of said main body in its grip part palmar (5). VAI17-2B.DOC DaupiNasuoette27 16 AT '2777168   10. Device according to any one of the res-   dications 1 to 9, characterized in that said secondary part (2), in its removable mounting on said main part (1), is tiltable with respect to a longitudinal axis of said main body in its part of palmar grip (5).