PCT PATENT APPLICATION FOR
INFLATABLE NURSING PILLOW
Applicants: Veijo Tuoriniemi residing in Summit New Jersey and Cornelia Tuoriniemi residing in Summit New Jersey
FIELD OF INVENTION
Disclosed invention relates to nursing pillows supporting infant when nursing, expecially to nursing pillows having an inflatable front pillow made out of polymeric material and having a back support attached to it with a webbing strap and locking means. Present invention discloses particulary a nursing pillow having a strap attached to the front part with removable locking means wherein the strap overlaps the distal ends of the front pillow and keeps the front pillow from tilting down.
Inflatable bladder of the front pillow is made of hygienic, easily cleanable polymeric material, which is covered, on all sides with a protective and comfortable washable fabric. The invention relates also to reversible nursing pillows that can be used on both sides in order e.g. to extend the using time before washes.
The invention relates also to nursing pillows having an inflatable, size-adjustable back support.
BACKROUND OF THE INVENTION References Cited U.S. patent Documents
1,343,357 Jun., 1920 Eggers
D318,969 Feb 27, 1991 Byrn D6/601 and references cited
D124296 Dec, 1940 Thompson D6/601.
D230804 Mar., 1974 Liejewski D6/601.
D286965 Dec, 1986 Eisler D6/596.
D293990 Feb., 1988 Brooksby D6/601.
D303897 Oct., 1989 Phillips D6/597.
D308788 Jun., 1990 Boehm D6/601.
3327330 Jun., 1967 McCullouεh 5/436.
5,154,649 Sep. 10, 1991 Pender 5/655 and references cited
2,446,396 Aug., 1948 Waranch 5/490
3,298,044 Jan., 1967 Saltness et al. 5/441.
3,644,949 Feb., 1972 Diamond 5/441.
3,788,699 Jan., 1974 Starr 5/436'.
4,305,520 JuL, 1983 Koch 5/436.
4,731,890 Mar., 1988 Roberts 5/436.
5,029,351 JuI., 1991 Weber 5/431
Foreign Patent Document
8911264 Nov., 1989 WO
6,233,767Bl May 22, 2001 Horowitz and references cited: See patent.
OBJECTS AND ADVANTAGES -Will be disclosed later
DRAWING FIGURES Figure 1 Prior Art: Nursing Pillow -US Patent 5,581 ,833
Figure 2 Prior Art: Nursing Pillow -US Patent 5,790,999
Figure 3 Prior Art: Top view of Inflatable Nursing pillow -US Patent 6,671 ,908
Figure 4 Prior Art: Side view of Inflatable Nursing pillow -US Patent 6,671 ,908
Figure 5 Prior Art: Nursing Pillow by Mollavauva.fi Figure 6 Prior Art: "E-Z to Nurse" Twins Nursing Pillow
Figure 7 Prior Art: Back Support by McKenzie
Figure 8 Prior Art: Air- Adjustable Back Support
Figure 9 Prior Art: Air- Adjustable Back Support
Figure 10 Prior Art: Back Support Figure 11 Top View of an Inflated Front Pillow
Figure 12 Top View of a Structural model of a Front Pillow
Figure 13 Side Elevational View of an Inflated Front Pillow
Figure 14
Figure 15 Top View of Inflatable Back Support showing Formation of Air
Chambers by sealing two PVC sheets.
Figure 16 End View of Inflatable Back Support Showing Edges to be Joined. Figure 17 End View of the Inflated Back Support Showing Webbing Secured
Between Airchambers by Pressure arid Friction.
V. Figure 18 Perspective View of Back Support protected with Fabric Cover
Figure 19 Upper Perspective View of a Front Pillow with Protective Cover and Back
Support. Figure 20 Side Elevational View of D-ring coming out form outlet in the Fabric
Cover. Figure 21 Structure Utilising Round and Rectangular Shaped Supportative Internal
Membrane Walls
Figure 22 Structure Utilising Diagonally Tapering Supportative Internal Membrane Walls
Figure 23 Structure Utilising Longitudinal Supportative Internal
Membrane Walls Following the Crescent Shape of the Pillow. Figure 24 Disposable Protective Sheet
Figure 25 Shows a Top View of Nursing Pillow with Overlapping Straps Figure 26 Shows the Strap Component of the Nursing Pillow
Figure 27 Shows the Nursing Pillow Tightened around Torso Straps Passing over the distal ends od the Nursing Pillow
Figure 28 Shows The Nursing Pillow around Torso of a Nursing mother Figure 29 Shows the Air-Adjustable Back support Figure 30 Shows a Thinn, Multichamber Version of the Adjustable Back support
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION -Will be disclosed later
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
This invention relates to a provisional patent application Inflatable Nursing Pillow, application number 60/610,247, filed 09/16/2004, and provisional patent application 60/636,739, filed 12/17/2004, both attached as reference and claiming priority from those application.
Figure 11
Nursing Pillow has an inflatable front pillow 10, which can be placed on the around of the torso of a nursing woman and is wide and long enough to hold a breast-feeding child. The shape of the front pillow 10 is preferably crescent. The side 12, which is facing the nursing mother, is concave so that the pillow comfortably follows the contour of her waist up to the corners 13a and 13b of the crescent.
Figure 12 The nursing pillow 10 is made of approximatelly 0.20mm PVC sheet material. The outer core of the front pillow 10 is formed out of three parts: first surface 14, second surface 16 and a surrounding sidepart 18. The shorter edges of a rectangular sidepart 18 are thermally joined 19 together. The upper edge 20 of the sidepart 18 is thermally sealed the edge of the first surface 14 and the lower edge of the sidepart 18 is sealed to the edge of the second surface 16. The parts are forming an envelope, which can be inflated and deflated from an airvalve 24.
In order to keep the first surface 14 and second surface 16 in substantially equal distance from eachother and stiffening the structure sideways the front pillow 10 has membrane walls 26a-26n connecting first surface 14 and second surface 24. The membrane walls 26 are preferably bowed as shown in figure 4 to support the structure both on x- and y-axies. The membrane walls 26 and sidepart 18 form also compartments 28a-28n muffling the sound from travelling inside of the pillow between the compartments. Airvents 29 are provided to the membrane walls 26 to able the air to flow between the compartments 28.
Figure 13
D-rings 30a and 30b providing an attaching means for the strap 45 and the back support 32 (Fig 15) are provided on both side of the front pillow near the corners 13a and 13b.
The D-rings are held in place by a PVC straps 3 Ia and 3 Ib which are thermally welded to the sidepart 18.
Figure 15 Back Support 32 is made out of two rectangular approximatelly 0.20mm thick PVC sheet material parts 34a and 34b, which are heatsealed together from all four edges to form an airtight envelope. The material is preferably same material than used for the front pillow 10. Uninflatable areas 38a-38c, which determine the upper and lower side of the finished back support, are left in the middle and in the ends. The ultimate thickness of the backsupport is dependent on the width of airchambers 40. The wider the chambers are, the thicker the support will be, and vice versa. If one is changing the width of the airchambers 40, the height of the uninflatable areas 38 has to be adjusted respectively. Airchambers 40a-40h are created when heatsealing parts 34a and 34b together by welding parts also along joints 42a-42f. In order to make the backsupport more uniformly thick and support the structure, joints 42 can be supported by membrane walls which can also called I-beams. Airconduits 43 are left open for the airflow between the airchambers 40a-40h. The back support 32 is inflated and deflated through the airvalve 44. Alternativelly two separatelly inflatable parts having can be created by closing the airconduits passing the uninflatable area 38a and providing both envelopes with airvalves. Two separate envelopes increases the adjustability of the thickness of the back support, since only one pladder can be inflated and employed.
In figure 15, after heatsealing the parts 34a and 34b along edges and lines 44 leaving uninflatable areas 38 the back support is folded double along folds A-D.
In figure 16 showing the end of the back support, the uninflatable area 38c and uninflatable area 38b are partially overlapped.
In figure 17 the areas ares heatsealed together along seam 41.
Figure 18
The purpose of the back support 32 is to support mothers back against a chair or other surface or as an independent support for a mother in a nursing position and provide
greater comfort for her.
An adjustable nylon webbing 45 is used to connect the front pillow 10 and the back support 32. Adjustable tri-glides 46a and 46b are laced through both ends of the webbing and tighten around user in comfortable position. The remaining free ends of the webbing 45 are looped around snaphooks 48a and 48b and then laced around the middle-bar of the tri-glide 46, turned double over itself and secured by sewing. Alternativelly a tension lock can be used to adjust the length of the strap 45. In order to save in production costs, only one snaphook be used in one end of the strap, the second end of the strap being directly looped around the D-ring. Back support has a protective and comfortable pillowcase-like cover, which has openings 52a and 52b in the middle of opposite sides.
The uninflated envelope 32 is rolled, stuck inside of a cover 50 from the outlet 52 and unrolled. The webbing 45 with hardware is pulled through the cover openings 52 and envelope 32 inside of the cover.
The back support 32 is inflated through the airvalve(s) located at the cover opening, and secured inside of the cover 50. The back support is held in the middle of the webbing 45 by a friction between pressurized air chambers. Openings 52a and 52b keep the webbing in the middle of the backsupport. Figure 19
Front Pillow 10 is covered with a protective, decorative and comfortable cover 54. The fabric cover has been sewn together from four parts: a first nursing surface part (top), a second nursing surface part (bottom), the back part covering the concave part on the back of the pillow, which is against the user, up to the D-ring outlets 58 and the front part covering the area in front of the D-rings.
The back part 12 is sewn to the top-and bottom parts from its longitudinal edges. The front part is covering the vertical side area in front of the D-ring outlets 58. The front part is sewn permanently to the top part and openable to the bottom part by a zipper 56. The inflated front pillow 10 is placed inside of the cover, D-rings 30a and 30b on both sides of the pillow are left out from outlets 58a and 58b. The front part is pulled down and the cover is closed by a zipper 56. Back support is connected by snaping the hook 48a of the webbing 45 to the D-ring 30a.
OPERATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
User places the nursing pillow 10 in front of her torso , one end of the webbing being attached to the front pillow, routes the webbing with the back support 32 behind her back and attaches snaphook 48b to the D-ring 30b. Then she takes her child on her arms and sits in a comfortable nursing position, places the back support to a desired position either to support her lower back, lumbar region or higher to support her middle back against the back of the chair, other surface or simply as support by itself.
Half round D-rings 30 with snaphooks 48 sliding along the rim provide a flexible joint to adjust the back support 32 up or down to any desired position against back within at least 45-60 degrees. When the pillow is in a comfortable position, webbing 45 is adjusted around the waist by tightening or loosening the tri-glides 46. The Nursing Pillow is ready to be used.
Fabric Cover
Fabric cover provides cleanlines and comfort for both mother and baby. Attaching the D- ring 30, or any other locking means, e.g camlock buckle, side release buckle or front release buckle, directly to the side of the inflatable front pillow instead of fixing it to the cover has a very important novel advantage; the removable fabric cover 50 can be made simplier without locking means and with less sewing seams. The cover 50 only needs two simple outlets for the D-rings. Without locking means and less sewing operations the faerie cover 50 can be produced up to 50% cheaper than with e.g. a camlock buckle attached to both side of it. Therefore consumer can be offered more covers at lower expense to use while washing the soiled ones.
Disposable covers
Since the protective cover does not need buckles or any other attachment means, economical disposable paper, woven or non-woven materials can be used to make the cover 50 to protect the front pillow and to be discarded after every use. In disposable cover the zipper can be replaced with an economical pressure sensitive adhesive strip. Before use the adhesive can be covered with a removable tear-off liner. (Not shown)
Figure 24, Disposable sheet,
Since the PVC material of the front pillow 10 provides an exellent attachment surface for pressure sensitive adhesive, a full two-sided pillow cover with zipper or adhesive atachment means can be replaced with an economical protective sheet 60. Material of the sheet can be e.g. soft nonwoven fabrics which are used to make baby wipers.
The cover is cut to shape and layer of low tack pressure sensitive adhesive 62 is attached to the bottom surface of the sheet, covering the bottom at least partially. The pressure sensitive adhesive is covered with tear-off liner(s) 64.
Tear-off liners 64 are removed before the use and sheet is attached to the nursing surface of the front pillow 10. After nursing the protective sheet 60 can be pulled off from the surface and discarded.
Identical surfaces
It is very common to get spills on a nursing pillow. Since the first nursing surface and the second nursing surface are identical in shape, pillow is even in thickness and the pillow has identical D-rings or other attaching means on both side of the pillow, the pillow can be turned around. A clean surface can be taken to use immediatelly by turning the pillow.
It is also important that the material of the front pillow is nonpermeable PVC that can be washed and dried easily and fast and the cover 50 can easily be replaced.
Figures 21, 22 23, Membrane walls
First purpose of the membrane walls is to shape the front pillow. By using rectangular mambrane walls 29a in figure 21 the pillow can be made substantially flat.
Membrane walls keep the first surface and the second surface at a substantially equal distance from each other. Surface areas between the membrane walls tend to expand thicker than height of the membrane wall because of the air pressure inside of the pillow.
In general, the more supportative membrane walls the pillow has, the more flat and even the surface will be.
The membrane walls can be half round as seen in drawings, or they can be round cylinder membrane walls (29b) between the surfaces or rectangular shape or combination of x- and y-axies placed rectangular membrane walls (not shown).
As in figure 21, by connecting vertical short, side of rectangular membrane wall 29, also
to the side part 18, the side part 18 can be held substantially vertical instead of having it expand convex in shape by the air pressure as seen in figure 23.
By using a tappering membrane walls 29c in figure 22 or 29d in figure 23, the thickness of the front pilow can be made variable. The pillow can e.g. be made to tapper towards nursing mother.
Preferred shape for the nursing pillow is flat, not tappering nor roundish like in some prior art cases which do not have membrane walls. It is easier to keep shild safe on top of a box than on top of a ball. If the mother needs a slanted surface facing inwards towards herself she can shift her weight back and adjust legs / feet upwards to achieve this effect.
Second purpose of the membrane walls is to provide structural support for the pillow to x- and y direction even if the pillow is slightly uninflated (Figure 12). If an unsupported pillow gets even slightly uninflated the pillow might roll under an infant and cause an accident. Membrane walls prevent the pillow from rolling or collapsing.
Third purpose of the membrane walls is to prevent noise from traveling inside of the pillow. In a nursing position an infant has his/her ear against the pillow. If the pillow were scratched from any part, without muffling membrane walls the sound would reach the infant's ear un-muffled and disturb the child. By dividing the Nursing pillow onto compartments by membrane walls, the sound will get quieter after every compartment.
Figures 15-18, Size Adjustable Back Support,
User can adjust the size of the back support -32 by regulating the air inside of it. The sheet material 34 expands if bigger support and higher pressure is needed. The PVC material can also be replaced with more or less elastic materials e.g. rubber or latex. If the cover 50 were made out of elastic knit or yarn it would follow the expansion and suspension of the back support.
The webbing 44 stays in its place by pressure from the airchambers 40 and friction. If the back support 32 is used with a lower pressure, friction might not be enough to keep back support attached to the webbing 44. In these occassions, the webbing 44 may be knotted to increase the friction between the airchambers and the webbing.
Figures 15-18 show a structure of a one- valve construction of the back support where both sides of the Back support can be inflated from the same valve. This structure provides even airpressure and well-balanced backsupport - as much mass on both sides of the webbing. However, if e.g. some of the seams start leaking the inflatable part has to be replaced.
In two-valve construction (not shown) chambers 40a-40b are airtightly separated from the chambers 40e-40h and they would have an additional valve of thir own. The advantage is that even if either of the inflatable areas gets flat the back support can be used with the remaining chambers.
Figure 25 shows an upper view of the nursing pillow 10 and the back support 32. The inflatable bladders are covered with a protective and decorative fabric. The back support 32 is attached to the moonshape front pillow with an adjustable strap 45. The strap 45 is routed through the chambers of the back pillow so that strap 45 is in the middle position as shown in Fig. 17. The Back support 32 stays in its position relative to the strap 45 by friction from the pressurized airchambers. In order to increase friction, the part of the strap that goes through the back support can be knotted. The moonshape front pillow 10 has two D-rings 30a and 30b attached directly to the side of the bladder as shown in Figure 13 or attached to the side of the fabric cover as shown in figure 25 and figure 27. In Figure 26 The right end of the strap 45 is flexibly laced around the D-ring 30a and adjustably secured to the strap 45 by a tri-glide buckle 46. The , left end of the strap has a snap-hook 48 flexibly attached to the D-ring 30b. Additionally the left end of the strap 45 has an adjustable tension lock 36 which can used to tighten the pillow around users waist by pulling from the tightening end 37 of the strap. The strap 45 can be loosened by lifting the end 39 of the tension lock.
In Figure 27 the moonshape front pillow 10 and the strap 45 are connected to eachother so that when the Nursing Pillow is tightened around user's torso, the strap 45 is passing over the distal ends 13a and 13b of the front pillow 10. The friction between the strap 45 and the back support 32 and friction between the back support 32 and user's back keeps the strap 45 in its position relative to the user's back. If weight of a child is placed on top of the front pillow 10 and the front of the moonshape
pillows is pushed down at force Fl causing the opposite distal ends 13a and 13b go upward at force F2, Line L1-L2 immediatelly in front of user's torso being the fulcrum point, the overpassing strap 45 keeps the distal ends down, preventing the front of the pillow tilting beyond acceptable levels. The vertical sidewalls of the bladder 10 and vertical membrane walls inside of the bladder keep the pillows distal ends from bending.
The side portions of the moonshape front pillow 10 have width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user. Side portions have distal ends 13a and 13b. It is important to have the distal ends 13 a and 13b constructed substantially long, so that they can well reach backwards under the strap 45. When wearing around torso, the both ends 13a and 13b of the side portions should extend at least partially behind user's elbow when user's arms are in downward pointing, relaxed position. Preferably, the edns 13a and 13 b should reach the line L3-L4 which is drawn in front of the backsupport 32 which is the same than line drawn immediatelly behind user's torso. The D-rings 30a and 30b has to be attached to the side of the front pillow 10, far enough in front, so that the strap 45 would securely pass over the distal ends 13a and 13b. However it is preferred that the D-rings would be located behind the fulcrum line L1-L2 in front of the torso, but not further than line L3-L4 behind the torso. It is also understood that the abov e described supportative construction can be used with the strap only, without the inflatable back support. In this case the strap is tightedned against user's back and is kept in its place relative to the back by a friction. The ends of the strap overpass the distal ends 13a and 13b of the front pillow and keep front of the pillow from tilting down when a weight is placed on top of it.
The advantage of inflatable architecture is that vertical membrane walls 26 (Figure 12) inside of the bladder can be constructed all the way to reach the ends 13a and 13b preventing the corners of the moonshape pillow from bending when force F2 presses them against the strap 45.
Figure 28 shows current invention around the torso of a nursing mother. Mother is in a slightly forward leaning sitting position. Baby is resting on the top of the front pillow 10
behing her arm. Mother is holding baby against her breast.
The back support 32 is supporting mother's back against the back of the chair.
Figure 29 shows the back support 34 of Figure 15, 16 and 17 constructed out of a transparent PVC material. Instead of inflating all the chambers from one valve, back support 34 has two airvalves. Airvalve 44a is for the front facing four airchambers and airvalve 44b is used to inflate and uninflate the four back facing airchambers. Two airchambers give user better adjustbility of the size of the support. If only a thin support is needed, the pillow can be used merely with one bladder inflated.
Figure 30 shows a thin model of the backsuport having eight airchambers on both side. The narrower the airchamber sausages are made, the thinners the backsupport 34 can be constructed.
CONCLUSION, RAMIFICATIONS AND SCOPE
Nursing pillow 10 is preferably shaped crescent, but it can also be U-shape. The front pillow 10 and back support 32 are made but not restricted to PVC material which is commonly know from beachtoys. PVC material, the thickness of which can vary, can be covered with different embeded, sandwiched, glued, printed or other way joined layer to make the material stronger, easy cleaned, decorative, softer, warmer, or any other way more practical or decorative.
One advantage of the inflatable nursing pillow is the ability to adjust the firmness of the nursing pillow to comfort. Another advantage of the inflatable nursing pillow is that it may be deflated and stored, making it easy to transport for travel.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
10 inflatable front pillow, inflatable bladder
12 concave back side of the front pillow
13 a- 13b cornerws of the crescent shaped front pillow 14 first nursing surface ϊ 6 second nursing surface
18 Rectangular sidepart of the nursing pillow
19 thermal j oint j oining short surfaces of the sidepart 18
20 upper edge of the sidepart 18 24 airvalve
26a-26n membrane walls
28a-28n compartments or airpockets or airchambers
30a-30b D-rings
31 a-31 b Straps j oinin D-rings to the side of the front pillow 32 back support
34a-34b PVC sheet material
36 Tension Lock Buckle, adjustable
37 End of the Strap 38a-38c uninflatable area 39 Loosening end of the strap
40a-40h airchambers or airpockets
41 heatsealed seam
42a-42f joints
43 airconduits 44 airvalve
45 webbing, e.g. woven nylon 50mm
46a-46b adjustable tri-glides, e.g. 50mm
48a-48b snaphooks
50 Protective cover of the back support 52a-52b outlets in protective cover for the webbing
54 protective, decorative and comforting cover of the front pillow
56 zipper of the front pillow allowing opening of the front part of the cover
outlets for D-rings and straps sheet of economical disposable protective material. low tack pressure sensitive adhesive layer protective tear-off strip covering adhesive