IE48182B1

IE48182B1 - Feeding bottle teat

Info

Publication number: IE48182B1
Application number: IE542/79A
Authority: IE
Original assignee: Oreal
Priority date: 1978-02-27
Filing date: 1979-08-08
Publication date: 1984-10-17
Also published as: NL7901140A; BE874442A; CA1089417A; NL183981B; GB2015350B; GR64437B; DE2907482A1; FR2417978B1; DK77579A; IT7967420A0; IT1119656B; DK155498B; ATA148679A; DK155498C; IE790542L; BR7901102A; AT368003B; ES241578U; DE2907482C2; CH631070A5

Abstract

A baby's feeding bottle teat has the delivery opening in the form of a slit 3 in a non-convex (e.g. planar or concave) surface at the end of the teat. This allows a delivery rate which, in the minimum flow position, is practically independent of the baby's sucking effort but which in the full flow position is subject to a clearly defined increase for increasing suction effort. Markings, 5a, 5b, 5c are provided on the teat to allow regulation of the flow rate by judgement of the orientation of the slit 3 with respect to the lips.

Description

Teats, intended to be fitted on a bottle for infant feeding, are already known which have a variable and adjusting delivery. Such teats comprise, as delivery opening for the food contained in the bottle, for example, milk or gruel, a narrow slit whose position is regulated in relation to the infant's lips by means of setting marks which are arranged either on the teat itself, or on its fixing collar or yet again on the bottle. The adjustment of the slit position ensures a variation in the teat delivery by a greater or lesser opening of the slit at each sucking movement of the infant’s lips. The slit is generally arranged on the rounded protuberance forming the nipple of the teat; the feeding slit is thus cut on the substantially spherical convex end wall of the end of the teat.

Variable delivery teats of this kind most frequently comprise three positions of use; a position of minimum delivery (usually indicated by mark 1) in which the slit hardly opens because the infant's lips are then parallel to the feeding slit; a position of maximum delivery (indica ted most frequently by mark 3) in which the infant's lips are perpendicular to the slit whose two edges may move apart under the effect of the sucking movement and give a maximum passage cross section; and, between these two extreme positions, an intermediate position (marked by mark 2) in which the feeding slit may have a medium opening Thus, each marked position of the slit corresponds to a - 3 different delivery of the liquid or food inside the bottle. Because of this, if the feeding is considered to be too rapid, the teat may be brought to a position of a smaller delivery by a simple rotation of the bottle. Nevertheless, the Applicant has noted that even in the minimum delivery position, the delivered output is not always small since, it may increase very rapidly depending on the extent of the suction pressure exerted by the infant. It follows that a teat with a slit of the conventional type does not allow the speed of feeding to be reduced as much as may sometimes be required. One may certainly consider reducing the length of the feeding slit, but with this type of teat, one then encounters serious difficulties either (a) when the infant is to be given a thicker food such as gruel for example, because of the risk of clogging or obstruction of the slit of small dimensions, or (b) when the infant exerts too little suction even in the position of maximum delivery.

The present invention aims at making a variable delivery teat with a slit, in which teat the delivery rate should, at least in the position of minimum delivery, be substantially constant or subject to only small variations responsive to the extent of suction.

According tothe invention, there is provided a teat with a variable and adjustable delivery, for use on a baby’s feeding bottle, the teat having a nipple subjected to the baby's suction movement; at the end of said nipple, a concave external surface; and in said concave surface an outflow opening consisting of at least one slit arranged at the bottom of the concavity, the position of the slit in relation to the baby's lips being indicated by at least one mark. Comparative trials, which will be described below in detail, show that especially in the minimum delivery posi tion the delivery rate remains stable in the case of a teat in accordance with the invention, whereas in the case of a teat with a conventional type of slit it increases rapidly when the suction pressure is increased.

In a preferred embodiment, the concave surface is centred on an axis which is substantially identical with that of the teat; the slit is symmetrical in relation to the axis of the teat; if the concave surface is cut by an axial plane passing through the centre line of the feeding slit and if the angle, formed in that axial plane between on the one hand the tangent to the surface at one of the ends of the slit and on the other hand the axis of the teat is designated a, then the following relation is obtained: 45°'^^α<:-Γ90Ο; the chord subtended by the arc of intersection of the curved concave surface with the said axial plane has a length at least twice as large as the distance between the centre of the chord and the centre of the said arc of intersection; the curved concave surface is preferably a spherical cap whose arc of intersection with the axial plane corresponds to an angle of less than 180° at the centre of curvature of the concave surface; the teat is provided with three setting marks set in relation to the slit; holes having a substantially circular cross section are cut at the two ends of the slit; the slit has a length of from approximately 2 mm to 6 mm and the said end holes have a diameter of from approximately 0.10 mm to 1 mm.

To obtain a stable delivery irrespective of the extent of suction exerted by the infant, at least in the position intended to give minimum delivery (when the infant's lips are parallel to the slit), the slit is disposed within a concavity, even if the latter has a relatively large radius of curvature. The maximum cross section of this concave surface, measured in a plane perpendicular to the teat axis, can vary by only a small extent between two limits: in fact, the higher limit is constituted by the nipple diameter and the lower limit is formed by the length of the slit. On the other hand, the depth of the concavity may be greater or smaller. A small depth is nevertheless preferred, on the one hand because of the obvious reason of ease of cleaning and on the other hand because of the relatively unsatisfactory results obtained with a teat with sizable concave depths in the positions other than that of minimum delivery as regards the stability of the feeding delivery in relation to the suction pressure.

In order that the present invention may more readily be understood, one embodiment represented on the accompanying drawings will now be described belcw by way of purely illustrative and non-restrictive example. In the drawings : Figure 1 represents, partly in an axial cross section, a teat according to the invention; Figure 2 shows on an enlarged scale, an axial section of the end of the teat in which the feeding slit is arranged; Figure 3 is a top plan view of the teat of Figure 1 and Figure 4 shows the delivery variation curves in relation to the suction pressure for on the one hand a teat according to the invention and on the other hand a teat with a conventional type of slit. 818 2 - 6 Referring to the accompanying drawings it will be seen that the teat 1 in accordance with the invention made of pliant rubber comprises, in the conventional manner, a nipple 2 which b subjected to the infant's sucking movements.

On the free end of nipple 2, there is arranged a rectilinear slit 3 extending in an axial plane of teat 1. At each of the ends of slit 3 is a circular hole 4a, 4b whose diameter is approximately 0.5 mm. The centres of the two end holes are 3 mm apart.

On the lower edge of the body of the teat, three indicator marks 5a, 5b and 5c are arranged in the conventional manner. Mark 5a is arranged in the plane which perpendicularly bisects slit 3. Mark 5c, is in that axial plane of the teat which contains slit 3. Mark 5b is arranged in a third axial plane of the teat which plane forms an angle of 45° with the axial plane containing slit 3.

If, in the known way, mark 5a is presented under the nose of the baby who is going to use the teat the baby's lips are parallel to slit 3. The slit can open only slightly so that a minimum delivery rate will be obtained. If, on the other hand, mark 5£ is placed beneath the baby's nose by rotation of the bottle around its axis, the baby's lips are then perpendicular to slit 3 which may be opened to a maximum extent so that the maximum delivery rate is obtained from the teat. Similarly, if the teat is positioned by using mark 5b, the slit 3 will be capable of opening to a medium extent and the feeding delivery rate for the baby will therefore be a medium between the preceding maximum and minimum delivery rates.

To allow, in the minimum delivery rate position, a delivery rate which does not vary, or varies only a little -48182 in relation to the suction, the feeding slit 3 is accommodated within a concavity 6 arranged on the free end of the nipple 2 of the teat. The axis of symmetry 7 of the concavity 6 is substantially identical with that of the teat.

In this embodiment concavity 6 is a spherical cap whose radius is 3.6 mm and whose rim 8 has a diameter of 5 mm.

If the spherical cap is cut by a plane passing through axis 7, the circular intersecting arc corresponds to an angle of approximately 90° subtended at the centre Of curvature of the non-convex surface 6.

Of course, it is not indispensable for the concavity (wherein slit 3 is arranged) to be spherical. Other curved concave surfaces may also be provided, for example ovoidal surfaces or ellipsoidal surfaces. It is preferable, in the case of these curved concave surfaces, for the angle a. represented on Figure 2 to be at least 45°. When the curved concave surface is cut by an axial plane passing through the centre line of slit 3, the angle a. is the angle formed in that plane between the axis 7 and the tangent 9 applied at one of the ends of the slit. When angle «, approaches 90°, this signifies that the curved concave surface has a very large radius of curvature. With a value of angle a_ less than 45°, the feeding delivery rate varies only a little or practically not at all in relation to the suction pressure in the minimum delivery position of the teat but, on the other hand, gives an unsatisfactory regulation of delivery in the other two positions.

It is also preferable for the length of the chord 10 subtended by the intersecting arc of the curved concave surface with an axial plane (see Figure 2) to be at least twice as large as the distance 11 measured between the centre of 182 - 8 chord 10 and the centre of the aforementioned intersecting arc. In the case of a spherical curved surface, this limit is attained by a hemi-spherical cap (whose depth 11 is equal to the cap radius).

Teat 1 described above has been submitted to comparative tests with a teat which was similar in all respects but which does not comprise any concavity. These two teats have been studied in position 1 of the minimum delivery when the baby's lips are disposed parallel to the slit, and in the maximum delivery position 3 when the baby's lips are disposed perpendicular to the slit. By means of appropriate apparatus, measurements were made of the variation in the delivery of water in relation to the suction pressure. Curves of the variation in delivery in relation to the suction pressure have been plotted on Figure 4. The suction pressure expressed in mm of water has been plotted as abscissa and the delivery of water expressed in cm per minute has been plotted as ordinate. Curves A^ and A3 are those obtained with the teat 1 in accordance with the invention when it is placed into position 1 or position 3, respectively, and curves and B3 are those obtained by placing a conventional slit teat (without concavity) into positions 1 and 3 respectively.

From these curves, it has been found that: (i) in position 1 of minimum delivery, when the suction pressure increases there is a clear cut increase of delivery rate with the prior art teat and the delivery rate remains clearly more stable for teat 1 according to the invention. (ii) in position 3 corresponding to maximum delivery, the delivery rate increases with the suction pressure for the prior art slit teat whereas with the teat 1 according to the invention, it also increases but then becomes stable at higher pressure values.

Thus in position 1, the delivery output by the teat according to the invention is practically independent of the suction pressure and, in position 3, an improvement is obtained as compared with the prior art teat because for higher suction pressure values the delivery is stabilised for the teat of the present invention whereas with the teat of the prior art slit teat it continues to increase.

It shall be duly understood that the embodiment described above is in no way restrictive and may give rise to any desirable modification without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.

Claims

1. CLAIMS :1. A teat with a variable and adjustable delivery, for use on a baby's feeding bottle, the teat having a nipple subjected to the baby's suction movement; at the end of

2. 5 said nipple, a concave external surface; and in said concave surface an outflow opening consisting of at least one slit arranged at the bottom of the concavity, the position of the slit in relation to the baby's lips being indicated by at least one mark. 10 2. A teat according to claim 1, wherein a plane passing through the axis of the teat and the centre line of the feed ing slit the angle formed between the teat axis and the tangent to the surface at one of the ends of the slit is at least 45°. 15 3. A teat according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the chord subtended by the arc of intersection of the concave surface with an axial plane has a length which is at least twice as long as the distance between the centre of the chord and the centre of the said arc of intersection. 20 4. A teat according to claim 3, wherein said concave surface is a spherical cap whose arc of intersection with an axial plane corresponds to an angle of less than 180° at the centre of curvature of the concave surface. 5. A teat according to any one of the preceding claims, 25 wherein said concave surface is centred on an axis which is substantially identical with that of the teat.

3. 6. A teat according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the teat is provided with three marks orientated in relation to the slit. - 11

4. 7. A teat according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein holes are cut out at the two ends of the slit, these holes having a substantially circular cross section.

5. 8. A teat according to claim 7, wherein the slit has a 5 length of from approximately 2 mm to 6 mm, and the end holes have a diameter of approximately 0.10 mm to 1 mm.

6. 9. A variable delivery teat for a baby's feeding bottle, such teat being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying

7. 10 drawings.