US1401958A - Noncollapsible nipple - Google Patents

Description

v D. B. BROADWATER.

NQN-COLLAPSIBLE NIPPLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25,1920.

1,401,958. Patented Jan- 3, .1922.

UNITED ST Fifiii.

DAVID B. BROADWATEBI, OF MILLVILLE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-TWENTIETH TO WARNER K. PIERCE, OF BRIDGEION, NEW JERSEY.

NONCOLLAPSIBLE NIPPLE.

Application filed May 25, 1920.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DAVID B. BROAD- warrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Millville, county of Cumberland, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Noncollapsible Nipples, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to nipples of the type used in connection with nursing bottles for infants. Heretofore, in the use of well known types of nipples, considerable trouble in the feeding of infants arose from the fact that the sucking of theinfant tends to create a vacuum in the nursing bottle, which results in contraction of the nipple with consequent shutting off of the flow of milk. The vacuum may draw the nipple partially into the neck of the bottle or cause its walls to stick together. In any event, the flow of milk is stopped and the infant is irritated and becomes fretful. The only method of remedying the condition is to remove the bottle from the infant and manipulate the nipple until air enters its interior and satisfies the vacuum.

The object of my invention is to provide means, applicable to any well known type of nipple, which will tend to prevent the creation of a vacuum within the bottle and consequent contraction of the nipple and shut ting off of the flow of milk, and which will maintain a free air passage through the interior of the nipple, despite any tendency of vacuum to close it, so that if a vacuum is created the nipple cannot 'be entirely contracted and. the vacuum will be immediately satisfied.

I will now describe my invention, in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which I have illustrated a preferred embodiment thereof and in which Fig. l is a plan view of the device embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the device embodying my invention.

Fig. 3 is a side view of a nipple, with the device embodying my invention, indicated by dotted lines, in position.

Fig. 4c is an end view of the device embodying my invention.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J an. 3, 1922.

Serial No. 384,021.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the device embodying my invention.

The device is formed from a piece of spring steel, or. other suitable material, bent upon itself to form a pair of legs or shanks a, a. The ends of the shanks are curved outwardly and inwardly to form the spoonshaped members I), which when taken together form a head. That part of the legs adjacent the spoon-shaped members is contracted as at c and the legs slitted from near the juncture, through the spoon shaped members, to the ends as at d.

The device as described and shown in perspective in Figure 5 is inserted into the interior of a nipple e, the head formed by the spoon-shaped members being within the head f of the'nipple, while the legs or shanks extend outward to a point beyond the contract ed neck 9 of the nipple.

It will be noted that the spoon-shaped members 6 and the legs a tend to spread apart and bear against the inner wall of the nipple, maintaining the device in place and keeping the walls of the nipple apart.

If now the nipple is applied to a nursing bottle in the usual manner and presented to an infant, when the infant bites on the nipple the spoon-shaped members will be con tracted and regardless of the direction of pressure will assume a somewhat flattened form. Due to the spoon-shaped ends of the legs a and to the slits cl, the ends cannot be pressed together so closely as to cut oflI' the flow of milk, and a passage for milk through the nipple will be constantly kept open. If a vacuum tends to form, the device will resist the tendency of the nipple to contract and upon release by the infant will expand the nipple, cause an inflow of air, and effect the breaking of the vacuum.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a flexible and elastic nipple, of a spring extending longitudinally within the nipple comprising opposing members connected together at the end thereof nearest the open end'of the nipple and separated at the end thereof with in the orificed head of the nipple.

. 2. The combination with a flexible and elastic nipple, of a spring comprising a ii -Ml the free ends of which extend into the nip ple head, each of said legs being slitted longitudinally from its free end. I

5. The combination with a flexible and elastic nipple, of an inserted spring strip bent upon itself to form two opposed legs, each leg being shaped to form a spoonshaped head the convex side of which is opposite one inner wall of the nipple head, each leg being split longitudinally through its head and a portion of its shank.

In testimony of which invention, I have hereunto set my hand, at Millville, N. l, on this 21st day of May, 1920.

DAVID B. BROADWATER.

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