GB2412114A

GB2412114A - Vented teat

Info

Publication number: GB2412114A
Application number: GB0406124A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ilan Zadik Samson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-03-19
Filing date: 2004-03-19
Publication date: 2005-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 2024-03-19
Also published as: GB0406124D0; GB2412114B

Abstract

A teat 10 for a feeding bottle has a one-way valve 16 located remotely from the nipple 12 of the teat to allow air to enter the feeding bottle to replace liquid sucked out of the bottle through the nipple while preventing liquid from leaking from the bottle. The one-way valve 16 comprises an inwardly-oriented depression having opposed flexible side walls 16a and 16b meeting along an elongate slit ridge. At least one of the side walls 16a, 16b has a thickness less than 0.4 mm to make it supple.

Description

VENTED TEAT

The present invention relates to a teat for a feeding bottle.

Babies can suckle from their mother's breast continuously without the need to vent. For this reason, when young babies move on to sucking from a feeding bottle teat they are not yet aware of the need to vent. If the baby does lo not stop sucking to allow air to enter the feeding bottle, the pressure in the bottle drops and the resulting counter suction makes it more difficult for the baby to suck liquid out of the bottle. Apart from frustrating the baby's efforts to drink, this has two more serious effects. First, with the need to apply an increasing suction force, the baby's lips become unable to make an effective seal around the teat and the baby ends up swallowing air with the liquid and the trapped gas gives the baby colic. Second, the dome of the teat collapses inwards, making it difficult for the baby's lips to maintain a grip on the nipple.

Numerous attempts have been made to vent feeding bottle teats. Teats are made from a resilient material such as rubber or a silicone and previous attempts usually involved making a small slit or hole somewhere in the teat at a located remote from the nipple. It is important with any venting opening that it should not allow liquid to leak out of the feeding bottle and a trade-off then exists in the between the ease of opening for venting and leak-prevention.

The usual practice is to prevent leakage by making the slits/holes very small, and in thick walls. Specifically, the leak-prevention is made to rely on the strength of the walls to maintain the slit/holes in a closed position in the absence of suction.

In some prior attempts, a slit has been formed at the apex of an inwardlyoriented depression so that the weight . c 8. 8, 8 8 e 8 8 - 2 of any liquid within the bottle will, while attempting to escape through the valve, act in a direction to push the envelope or side walls of the depression inwards so as to urge the lips of the slit into a tighter closed state.

However, these prior art attempts have not proved

entirely successful for three reasons. First, due to the thickness of the valve material, the pressure was only partly effective in closing the slit. Second, on account of lo the small size of the inward depression, the outward liquid pressure did not have sufficient area over which to build up into an effective closing force. Third, the length of the slit was too small to afford sufficient compliance with the closing force.

The resulting familiar problem was that when leak prevention was implemented in the above manner, the wall thickness and slit/hole sizes also prevented effective venting.

The present invention seeks therefore to provide a teat in which prevention of leaks through the venting valve does not rely on the strength of the walls and the smallness of the slit to maintain the opening closed in the absence of suction.

According to the present invention, there is provided a teat for a feeding bottle having a one-way valve located remotely from the nipple of the teat to allow air to enter the feeding bottle to replace liquid sucked out of the bottle through the nipple while preventing liquid from leaking from the bottle, wherein the one-way valve comprises an inwardly- oriented depression having opposed flexible side walls meeting along an elongate slit ridge and wherein at least one of the opposed side walls of the depression has a thickness not exceeding 0.4 mm. 1,

: :: c - 3 Preferably, the thickness of at least one of the side walls of the depression should not exceed 0.3 mm.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the depth of the depression is in excess of 4 mm and the slit has a length exceeding 3 mm.

By forming the one-way valve in the preferred embodiment of the invention with at least one large area lo (3 mm x 4 mm) thin-section (less than 0.4 mm) side wall and providing a long (3 mm) slit along the ridge of the depression, a force is generated by the weight of the liquid within the bottle attempting to escape through the valve, which collapses the side walls towards one another and maintains the slit in the ridge closed. The greater the water pressure, the greater the force applied to maintain the valve closed. Thus, the valve does not rely on the resilience of its own walls to remain shut, nor on the smallness of the slit to minimize leaks, but on the pressure of the liquid trying to escape.

When the pressure of the liquid is below the ambient atmospheric pressure (as the infant is sucking on the teat) the thinness of the side walls allows them to separate readily to open the slit and allow air to enter the bottle, this being further assisted by the slit being long. In this way, a build up of negative pressure within the bottle is avoided. As a result, while still preventing leakage through the valve, liquid can be sucked out of the bottle easily and continuously.

The difference between the present invention and the prior art is not merely a matter of size or dimensions but the invention relies on a different principle for its operation. This can best be appreciated from noting that, in the prior art, the sealing properties could only be enhanced be reducing the venting ability and vice versa and a e e - 4 compromise needed to be reached between sealing and venting.

By contrast, in the present invention, there is no need for any such compromise as the venting can be improved while enhancing the sealing, thereby allowing both functions to be optimised.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the depression has a tentlike configuration with two flat generally rectangular or trapezoidal side walls meeting lo along the slit ridge and two generally triangular end walls.

The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a partial section through a vented teat of the invention, Figure 2 is a plan view from above of a detail of the teat of Figure 1 showing the venting valve, Figure 3 is a section taken along the line III-III in Figure 2, and Figure 4 is a section taken along the line IV-IV in Figure 2.

The teat 10 in the drawings has a generally conventional nipple 12 and only the parts of the teat that are concerned with the venting valve are shown in the drawings. As is common, a flange 14 surrounds the base of the teat 10. The flange 14 acts as a sealing ring and, in use, it is sandwiched between the top of the feeding bottle and an annular ring that is screwed on to the mouth of the bottle. The bottle and the annular ring are not shown in the drawings because they too are conventional.

The flexible material of which the teat and the venting valve are made may also be conventional being typically a silicone or elastomer that can withstand being chewed and being sterilised without being damaged or perforated.

ce:e. .. :: . . . . . - 5 - The one-way venting valve, which is generally designated 16 in the drawings, has a tent like structure formed by two rectangular or trapezoidal side walls 16a and 16b and two triangular end walls 16c. The ridge along which the side walls 16a and 16b meet is formed with a slit which opens to let air enter the feeding bottle when the pressure in the bottle is below atmospheric. However, when liquid is pressing on the side walls 16a and 16b, they are urged lo towards one another to close the slit and prevent the liquid from escaping.

In the present invention, the thickness of one or both of the side walls is less than 0.4 mm, preferably less than 0.3 mm. This small thickness makes the side wall(s) supple, allowing it to deform readily to open and close the valve.

The responsiveness of the valve to pressure differences is enhanced by increasing the area of the side walls, this being achieved in the preferred embodiment of the invention by increasing the depth of the depression to 4 mm or more and increasing the length of the slit to 3 mm or more.

The side walls 16a and 16b need not have a uniform thickness along their entire height but they may taper towards the ridge, as shown in Figure 4. In this case, the thickness of the side walls could start with more than 0.3 or even more than 0.4 at the bottom, and near the slit may be even less than even 0.3 mm.

It is clear that such a construction will allow the slit to open, to vent the bottle, under very low suction.

However, the leak-prevention in the absence of suction (it being only in the absence of suction that leaks can occur) is now afforded not by the strength of the side walls but because their thinness and large size allow them to respond to the pressure acted on them by the liquid that tries to escape, so as to cave in and pinch the slit closed. In ee ce . :e. :: . . . . . . . - 6 detail, three things happen that enhance the sealing efficiency. First, the large size of the side walls translates the pressure of the liquid into a larger force.

Second, the thinness of the side walls makes it more responsive to being pushed closed. Third, the size of the walls make them more bendable under a given force.

The described valve can be located anywhere on the teat as long as it is not too close to the nipple. The preferred lo location is near the inside radius of the annular flange 14 at the base of the teat. e tI

Claims

e:' . :: . . . - 7 CLAIMS

1. A teat for a feeding bottle having a one-way valve located remotely from the nipple of the teat to allow air to enter the feeding bottle to replace liquid sucked out of the bottle through the nipple while preventing liquid from leaking from the bottle, wherein the one-way valve comprises an inwardly-oriented depression having opposed flexible side walls meeting along an elongate slit ridge and wherein at lo least one of the opposed side walls of the depression adjacent has a thickness not exceeding 0.4 mm.

2. A teat as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one of the side walls one or both side walls of the depression has a thickness not exceeding 0. 3 mm.

3. A teat as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the side walls of the depression are tapered in thickness, having a minimum thickness not exceeding 0.4 mm adjacent the ridge of the depression.

4. A teat as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the depression has a depth of at least 4 mm.

5. A teat as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein ridge of the depression is formed with a single slit of which the length is in excess of 3 mm.

6. A teat as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the depression has a tent-like configuration with two flat generally rectangular or trapezoidal side walls meeting along the slit ridge and two generally triangular end walls.

7. A teat constructed substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.