US3054184A

US3054184A - Medicine spoon

Info

Publication number: US3054184A
Application number: US65474A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerald E Wyner; Richard T Lee
Original assignee: JEAN RUTH PRODUCTS Inc
Current assignee: JEAN RUTH PRODUCTS Inc; JEAN-RUTH PRODUCTS Inc
Priority date: 1960-10-27
Filing date: 1960-10-27
Publication date: 1962-09-18
Anticipated expiration: 1979-09-18

Description

P 18, 1952 G. E. WYNER ETAL 3,054,184

MEDICINE SPOON Filed Oct. 27, 1960 INVENTORS Gerald E. Wyner BY Mi ATTORNEY United States Patent M 3,054,184 MEDICINE SPOON Gerald E. Wyner and Richard T. Lee, Dallas, Tern; said Lee assiguor to Jean-Ruth Products, Inc., Dallas, Tex.,

a corporation of Texas Filed Oct. 27, 1960, Ser. No. 65,474 2 Claims. (Cl. 30326) This invention is concerned with a spoon, and is particularly concerned with a spoon for measuring and dispensing liquid medicine.

Physicians have customarily prescribed a dosage of liquid medicine in teaspoonfuls or tablespoonfuls, and it has been the practice to measure and give such dosages to patients with ordinary teaspoons and tablespoons, which may be found in the home.

Common teaspoons and tablespoons includes a bowl with a rounded bottom, with a handle extending angularly upwardly from the bowl, so that when the spoon is set on a flat surface the bowl is tilted at an angle, and has a tendency to rock from side to side on the rounded bottom. Therefore, it is impossible to measure a teaspoonful or tablespoonful of medicine in such spoons as they are lying on a table or other flat surface, because the medicine would not only run out at the rear side and would not fill the spoon, but the 'bowl would have a tendency to turn over.

Thus it has been necessary to hold the spoon in the hand by the handle and pour the medicine therein from a bottle, and then carry the spoon with the medicine therein to the mouth of the patient. In such practice the medicine often runs over the side of the spoon, spilling same, and unless the spoon is kept perfectly level as it is moved to the mouth of the patient, it is spilled over the side onto the floor, the bed clothing, the clothing of the person giving the medicine, or on the patient. It is often the case that so much of the medicine is spilled that an adequate dosage is not given to the patient.

Furthermore many children resist taking medicine, and the medicine is spilled from the spoon while the dispenser of the medicine is attempting to subdue the child or persuade him to take the medicine.

Also, when the spoon is placed in the mouth of the child, there is a tendency to block the fluid from passing into the mouth by placing the upper lip downwardly uponthe spoon, and in many instances when exhaling the breath the medicine is blown out of the spoon.

In using such ordinary spoons for giving medicine, it is difficult, if not impossible, to adequately measure a teaspoonful or tablespoonful of fluid without running some of the medicine over the side of the spoon.

The present invention is intended to solve the foregoing problems and others, in that it provides a medicine spoon which may be set on a flat surface so that the bowl thereof is level and there is no tendency for the spoon to turn over when medicine is poured thereinto. Thereby the medicine may be poured into the spoon as it sets on a flat surface without the danger of running it over or turning the spoon over to spill the medicine. The spoon also provides a top or cover therefor which provides several novel functions.

The cover prevents the medicine from spilling over the side of the spoon, it provides a funnel like recess therein having a passage therethrough for confining and directing the medicine into the spoon, it provides a guard to prevent the patient from pressing his upper lip into the spoon to prevent the dispensing of the medicine therefrom; and the funnel passage and the dispensing passage through the cover plate provides a visual means of measuring and indicating when the spoon is full, in that when the liquid reaches the level of the funnel passage, a spoonful of medicine has been poured into the spoon.

Thus this invention provides a medicine spoon which is maintained in a level condition when set on a flat surface, and does not have a tendency to turn over, so that liquid medicine may be poured thereinto without holding the spoon. There is further provided a medicine spoon in which a visual indication is given when the spoon is full, and in which medicine is prevented from spilling over the side of the spoon while it is being carried to the patient. A funnel is provided as a part thereof for filling the spoon without wastage of medicine and there is provided a positive means of preventing the patient from pressing his upper lip into the spoon to prevent the medicine from entering the mouth.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a medicine spoon for dispensing liquid medicine, which may be filled without holding it in the hand, and which, when set on a flat surface, is level and does not have a tendency to turn over.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a medicine spoon having a cover thereover, having a dispensing opening adjacent the outer end of the spoon, and a filling opening spaced therefrom, and having a recess in the cover adjacent the second named passage to, in effect, act as a funnel to direct the flow of the medicine into the bowl of the spoon.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a medicine spoon having a guard or cover thereover which prevents the medicine from being spilled over the side of the spoon even though the spoon is slightly tilted while being carried to the patient.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a medicine spoon having a cover or guard over the top thereof which prevents the patient from pressing his lip into the 'bowl of the spoon to prevent the spoon from being dispensed into his mouth, and also prevents the patient from displacing the medicine in the spoon with his tongue, or blowing it from the bowl of the spoon with his breath.

type hereinbefore indicated, which permits the removal of the top or cover for the cleaning and sterilization of the bowl of the spoon and the top.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the detailed specification herein-. after following, and by referring to the hereto. v

A suitable embodiment of the invention is shown attached drawing wherein:

. FIGURE I is a top plan view of the medicine spoon;

FIGURE I I is a side elevational view thereof; FIGURE DH is a side elevational view, with the bowl portion of a spoon being sectioned along the line IIIIII of FIG. I; and

. FIGURE IV is an end sectional view taken on. th

line IVIV of FIG. III.

Numeral references are employed to designate the vari-' ous parts shown in'the drawings, and like numerals designate like parts throughout the various figures of the drawing.

The numeral 1 indicates the bowl of the medicine spoon having a cup-like cavity 2 therein, and terminated at its outer end by a pointed end 3.

A cover 4 is provided over the bowl 1, which cover may be made an integral part of the bowl 1, or it may be made in separate pieces and joined with the bowl 1 as an integral part thereof by welding or otherwise, but preferably the cover 4 is a separate part from the bowl and is detachably secured thereto by means of pins 5 secured to the opposite edges thereof, and extending downwardly to enter the sockets 6 formed in the upper rim of the bowl 1. Preferably the pins 5' are a tight in the Patented Sept. 18, 1962 drawings annexed:

pressed fit into the sockets 6, whereby the cover 4 will be retained on the bowl 1, and a substantial upward force will be required to be applied to the cover 4 in order to separate it from the bowl 1.

It is preferable that the cover 4 be made separable from the bowl 1 so that it may be removed periodically for scrubbing, cleaning and sterilizing the inner side of the bowl 1 and the underside of the cover plate 4. Ordinarily it will be a simple matter to clean the inner side of the bowl 1 and the underside of the plate 4, by simply running hot water therethrough but inasmuch as some medicines are rather sticky and thick in consistency, it may be desirable and required that the cover plate 4 be removed for cleaning the inside of the spoon.

The cover plate 4 includes a curved, cut-out portion 7 at the outer end thereof, which provides an opening or passage 8 between the cover plate 4 and the outer end 3 of the bowl 1. ;T he passage 8 provides a dispensing passage for pouring the liquid medicine from the bowl into the mouth of the patient.

A cup-like recess 9 is provided in the upper surface of the cover plate 4 which recess 9 slopes downwardly to a passage 10 provided therethrough.

When liquid is poured into the recess 9, it runs down the sloping surface thereof through the passage 10 into the cavity 2 of the bowl 1. It will be noted that the passage 10 is on the same level with the upper edge of the bowl 1 so that when the level of the tfluid reaches the passage 10 and the passage 8, it is known by visual means that the cavity 2 is full and that a teaspoonful or a tablespoonful of medicine has been measured into the spoon, as the case may be.

The bottom surface of the bowl 1 is flat as indicated at 11, and the outer end 14 of the handle 13 is straight and coplanar with the flat bottom 11 of bowl 1. By providing the flat bottom 11 and the coplanar surface 14 on the end of the handle 13, it will be seen that the spoon may be set on a fiat surface, and the straight,

fiat surfaces

11 and 14, cause the cavity 2 of the bowl 1 to be disposed on a level plane, and such flat surfaces prevent any tendency of the bowl to tilt or turn over. The gusset or extension -12 extending from the bottom of the bowl 1 has a flat surface on the bottom thereof which is a continuation of the flat surfaces 11, and provides further stability for the spoon to keep it from turning over.

By reason of the cooperation between the

flat surfaces

11 and 14 and the gusset 12, it will be seen that the spoon can be set on a flat surface and filled without the necessity of holding it in the hand. It will further be seen that the danger of turning over the spoon while it is being filled is reduced to a minimum.

Preferably a pair of recesses or finger engaging notches 15 are provided on each side of the gusset 12 whereby the spoon may be grasped between the fingers and firmly held for carrying from the place where the spoon is filled to the patient.

By reason of the provision of the cover 4 on the spoon, there is not only provided a funnel-like recess 9 for filling the spoon and a gauge for determining by visual inspection when the spoon is filled, but it provides a protective cover to keep the medicine from being sloshed over the side of the spoon as it is being carried from one place to another, even though the spoon might not be maintained perfectly level in carrying same. The cover 4 also provides a guard to prevent the patient from obstructing the flow of the liquid through the passage 8 by his lips, and prevents him from blowing the medicine out of the spoon by rapid exhalation of his breath.

The operation and function of the medicine spoon is as follows:

The medicine spoon may be set upon a table or other flat surface and the medicine poured into the cavity 9 from whence it flows through the opening or passage 10 into the cavity 2 of the bowl 1 until it is filled up to the passages 10 and 8. The spoon may then be picked up by the handle or by the fingers placed in the recesses 15 and transported to the patient, without the danger of spilling. The end 3 is then placed in the mouth of the patient and the spoon is tilted up, pouring medicine out through the passage 8 into the mouth of the patient.

It will thus be seen that we have provided an improvement in a medicine spoon, which provides a means for filling the spoon without danger of wastage of medicine, which prevents the medicine from spilling over the side of the spoon while filling or while being transported from one place to another, which provides a positive means of preventing the patient from obstructing the flow of the medicine into his month by his upper lip, and prevents him from blowing the medicine out of the spoon by rapid exhalation of his breath. At the same time it provides such a medicine spoon which is made with a separable cover, so that it may be easily removed for cleaning and sterilization.

It will be understood that other and further embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a spoon, a bowl; a cover disposed over the bowl having a substantially cup-like downwardly and inwardly sloping recessed area on the upper surface thereof; the outer end of the cover being terminated short of the outer end of the bowl to provide a passage between the end of the cover and the outer end of the bowl; a passage through the cover at the lowermost point of the recessed area, and a handle attached to the bowl.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 wherein finger grasping recesses are provided in opposite sides of the bowl adjacent the handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 90,906 Baker Oct. 24, 1933 620,792 Middleton Mar. 7, 1899 837,506 Raney Dec. 4, 1906 847,942 Hohein Mar. 19, 1907 1,027,976 Beamer May 28, 1912 2,099,430 Quea Nov. 16, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,763 Great Britain 1902