WO2014057232A2

WO2014057232A2 - Infant breathing aid

Info

Publication number: WO2014057232A2
Application number: PCT/GB2013/000310
Authority: WO
Inventors: Robert Ritchie
Original assignee: Robert Ritchie
Priority date: 2012-07-18
Filing date: 2013-07-17
Publication date: 2014-04-17
Also published as: WO2014057232A3; GB201300076D0; GB201212746D0; GB2504107A

Abstract

A device for emitting soothing vapours, for aiding breathing, and intended to be fitted behind the teat retaining ring (4) of a curved teat infant's feeding container (2, 4, 6, D), comprising an annular member (10) having flexible projections (12) extending inwardly of its inner periphery and arranged for engaging under the shoulder (8) formed by the lower edge of the retaining ring, so as to serve as the means of retaining said device on the feeding container. The device includes a container (14) having an array of apertures (16) within a container wall, and containing a substance which emits soothing vapours, so that soothing vapours are emitted close to the infant's nose during feeding.

Description

INFANT BREATHING AID

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a device for use as an infant breathing aid in conjunction with an infant feeding container, for administering soothing vapours to an infant

Background Art

An infant breathing aid, or decongestant device, is disclosed in Patent GB-B-2465794, comprising a ring which is fitted over the teat of an infant feeding container and which is held in place by projections extending inwardly of the inner periphery of the ring and gripping the flexible material of the teat. The ring mounts a container containing a decongestant substance, which emits soothing vapours through apertures in a container wall.

Many current designs of infant feeding containers are not suitable for such securing of a breathing aid, since they do not have a standard teat device with straight walls, but have curved teats and curved teat retaining rings, known commonly as breast shaped or nature/nuture teats, and therefore the device of GB-B-2465794 can not be safely and correctly secured and positioned. A typical such design is shown in Figure 1 , where a teat T is secured to a container body B by means of a retaining ring R, which is screwed onto the body B. The teat T of flexible material, and the ring R, of rigid plastic, together form a shallow convex dome shape D.

Summary of the Invention

It is an object of the invention to provide a device for providing soothing vapours to an infant, and which may easily be fitted to a wide variety of infant feeding containers that do not have a straight, or standard, wide neck teat.

It is realised that a rigid retaining ring for holding a teat device in place may have a shoulder or annular lowe' edge remote from the teat device, where the retaining ring is secured to the infant feeding container. This shoulder, commonly forming one boundary edge of an annular gap between the ring and the body of the container, provides a convenient location as a retention position for fitting an infant breathing aid in accordance with the invention.

The invention provides a device for emitting soothing vapours, and intended to be fitted to an infant feeding container, the container including a teat and a retaining ring releasably fixed to a container body in order to secure the teat, and said device comprising a generally annular member arranged for engaging behind a shoulder of the retaining ring in a retention position, so as retain said device on the feeding container, the generally annular member being flexible in whole or in part in order to allow deformation of the annular member to permit, or assist in, the retention of the device, and the device including container means for containing a substance which generates soothing vapour, the container means having one or more apertures within a container wall for permitting soothing vapour to be emitted.

Thus embodiments of the invention incorporate flexibility into the annular member, so as to permit deformatior of the annular member, and to enable or assist in fitting the annular member, lodged in position behind the lower annular edge of the retaining ring, forming part of a convex domed shape defined by the teat and retaining ring. The annular member may be of a material and/or thickness such as to permit deformation both in the plane and out of the plane of the annular member, so as to assist in manipulation of the annular member over the teat device and retaining ring, into a retention position behind a lower shoulder of the retaining ring, and into a gap between the shoulder and container body.

In the case where the generally annular member is a C-shaped member, the free ends may be deformed out of the plane of the member so as to permit manipulation of the C-shaped member into the retention position. The annular member may have one or more undulations or wave-shape formations out of the plane of the annular member which assist in manipulation of the annular member to its retention position, and which may be compressed in the retention position, to make a more secure fitting, as will be explained below. Embodiments of the invention may incorporate flexible legs/barbs/lugs, which can secure the annular member to the feeding container by flexing and securing themselves under the retaining ring. Thus the annular member may include one or more inwardly extending projections. The body of the annular member may be essentially rigid, and the projections may be formed so as to be resiliently deformable to permit lodging of the projections behind the lower edge shoulder of the retaining ring. The material and/or the thickness of the projections may be such as to permit such deformation; alternatively a projection may be curved or angled out of the plane of the annular member so as to permit the free end of the projection to be movable towards and away from the annular member to permit retention behind the retaining ring. As preferred, the body of the annular member may have some flexibility, to permit deformation in the attachment process.

The projections may be any suitable inwardly extending formation, for example teeth, barbs, lugs or pips, tongues, fingers, flaps, knurls. They may have any shape, for example rectangular or arcuate. In principle, just a single projection may suffice, with the diametrically opposite inner wall of the annular member providing a reaction surface to permit the projection to grip the teat device.

The device of the invention may be formed as a disposable item, so that when the soothing vapours are exhausted, it may be disposed of, and replaced with a new device; this is a preferred arrangement. Alternatively the container means may be designed such that the soothing vapour material may be replenished as and when necessary. Brief Description of the Drawings

Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic view of a known design of infant feeding container with a breast shaped teat device;

Figure 2 is schematic view of the top of an infant's feeding bottle with a breast shaped teat device extending from the bottle, and a device for emitting soothing vapours in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention attached under the teat retaining ring;

Figure 3 is an enlarged detail view of the device's flexible legs of Figure

2, and indicating how the legs may flex;

Figure 4 shows an alternative to the flexible legs of Figure 3, showing how the legs may flex due to thickness or material selection;

Figure 5 is a sectional perspective view of the first embodiment showing the flexible leg design of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the device for emitting soothing vapours in accordance with the first embodiment, including an annular ring member with flexible legs for securing to a feeding device under the teat retaining ring;

Figure 7 is a plan view of a second embodiment of the device of the invention in plan view, the annular member being formed as a C shaped member;

Figure 8 is a side view of this second embodiment, with dotted lines inidicating flexing of the device during securing in a retention position;

Figure 9 is a plan view of a modification of this second embodiment in plan view, the annular member being formed as a C shaped member with undulations out of the plane of the member;

Figure 10 is a side view of this modification of the second embodiment, and arrows indicating flexing of the annular member during securing in a retention position; and Figure 11 is a side view of the embodiment of Figures 9 and 10 secured in a retention position on an infant's feeding container.

Description of the Embodiments

The present invention, at least in a preferred embodiment, is a safe, clean vapour emitting device that attaches to an infant feeding bottle at a safe yet effective distance from the infant, and aids feeding by easing breathing. The soothing vapours which allow the infant to breathe easier are aimed directly at the nose. There is no staining of clothes, no possible contact with skin, eyes or mouth, no odour other than at feeding time, no discomfort. The device can be used out of doors or away from home. It delivers the vapours in the way that the manufacturers of vapour rubs and oils recommend, but crucially at the time and place needed. The size, construction and use of the device also are such as to prevent the risk of an infant swallowing the device. Babys' feeding containers are of different sizes and types, but the device of the invention will fit on most types of feeding containers. It can be easily fitted or removed at any time during use of the feeding device and does not require disassembly of the feeding device.

As shown in Figures 2 to 6, an infant's or baby's bottle has a container body member 2 for retaining a quantity of liquid or fluid food. The open end of the body has a screw track for receiving an annular rigid retaining ring 4 for a teat device 6, through which the baby can imbibe the food. With the retaining ring 4 screwed onto the top of the body 2, the teat device 6 extends through the ring. The outer surface of ring 4 and teat device 6 form a shallow convex dome shape D, that is breast shaped. The lower edge of the retaining ring is formed as an annular shoulder 8, and a gap 9 is formed between shoulder 8 and the container body member 2.

As shown particularly in Figure 6, the device of the embodiment includes an annular member 10 having inwardly extending projections 12, and a container 14 mounted on the annular member and containing a substance which generates soothing vapour. Container 14 occupies about one third of the periphery of the annular member (in a modification, the annular member may be canted upwards in the region of the container), and the remaining two thirds of the periphery has (five in this example) regularly spaced projections. The container has an array of apertures 16 within a container wall for permitting soothing vapour to be emitted. The annular member 10 is formed of plastic with a degree of flexibility.

As shown in Figures 2 to 6, the ring has inwardly extending flexible projections 12, comprising inverted V shaped formations, extending inwardly and out of the plane of the annular member. The annular member and projections are dimensioned such that the projections can engage in a retention position behind shoulder 8 and thereby secure the device to the feeding container, when the device is pushed down on top of the bottle. As shown in Figure 2, the projections engage in a retaining position behind shoulder 8 of the teat retaining ring, and within gap 9. The body of the annular member 10 has a degree of flexibility which permits deformation of the annular member to facilitate the fixing process. The legs 12, being of a V shape, have flexibility to permit their free edges to move resiliency and to inwardly deform and then return, and as such secure the device to the feeding bottle. Further the resilience of the material permits the legs to return to their original shape when the ring is removed. There is thus formed an effective means of retaining the ring on a curved teat and curved ring device and bottle. Since these curved teat bottle devices may be of different sizes, the ring of the invention will fit onto a wide variety of curved infant feeding containers, without modification of teat, container or ring by using the extremes of the flexible movement of the legs 12.

In a modification, as shown in Figure 4, an inverted V shape projection is replaced by a tab 12' extending in the plane of the annular member. The tab is relatively rigid on account of its dimensions, but the flexibility of the material of the annular member permit rotation of the tab 12' out of the plane of the annular member to allow securing of the device in the retention position.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in Figures 7 and 8, wherein a generally annular member 70, mounting a container 72, is of a C shape, with free ends 74 close to one another. No inwardly extending projections are provided, but the flexibility of the material of the C-shape member permit the free ends 74 to be flexed in opposite directions as shown in Figure 8 during the securing process to allow the member 70 to be located in a retention position, behind a shoulder of a retaining ring of an infant feeding container.

A modification of this second embodiment of the invention as shown in Figures 9 and 10 includes an undulation or 'wave' form 76 in each leg of the C- shape, and extending out of the plane of the C-shaped member. The wave form would again flex and when under compression apply a load to the surfaces of the bottle. As indicated in Figure 11 , with the device of Figures 9 and 10 fitted in gap 9 behind retaining ring 4, waveforms 76 compress and are firmly held against shoulder 8, in order to fully secure the device. Thus the device may be fitted in to varying size gaps. Not all gap widths of feeding containers are the same, so the thinner the gap, the more the waveform would compress.

In another aspect of the invention, infant breathing aid devices may utilise the screw on teat retaining ring to trap and in effect clamp the invention where the profile of the bottle did not facilitate any of the previous embodiments. The wave feature could also be used in this aspect again to take up the variable gaps that are present.

Advantages of the invention are as follows: can be fitted to curved teat and curved ring feeding bottles.

delivers soothing vapours to baby while feeding

eases breathing while feeding

safe

· natural

can not be tasted

aims vapours directly at nose

ensures correct dosage

easy to use

· protects skin from oils

no staining clothes

no tainting hands and fingers

no lingering smell

portable

Claims

CLAIMS.

1. A device for emitting soothing vapours, and intended to be fitted to an infant feeding container, which includes a teat and a retaining ring releasably fixed to a container body in order to secure the teat, said device including a generally annular member arranged for engaging behind a shoulder of the retaining ring in a retention position, so as to retain said device on the feeding container, the generally annular member being flexible in whole or in part in order to allow deformation of the annular member to permit, or assist in, the retention of the device, and the device including container means mounted on the annular member for containing a substance which generates soothing vapour, the container means having one or more apertures within a container wall for permitting soothing vapour to be emitted.

2. A device according to claim 1 , wherein the generally annular member is a complete ring or a C-shaped member.

3. A device according to claim 2, wherein said generally annular member comprises a C-shaped member, and the material of the C- shaped member has sufficiently flexibility to permit the C-shaped member to be clipped onto the feeding container, in said retention position.

4. A device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the generally annular member is formed with one or more undulations in a direction out of the plane of the annular member, in order to provide flexibility in said direction, for assisting in a secure fixing of the device to the feeding container.

5. A device according to claim 2, wherein the annular member is a complete ring and includes one or more projections extending inwardly of its inner periphery and arranged for engaging between the retaining ring and the container body, said projections being formed with flexibility and/or the material of the annular member being sufficiently flexible, so as to permit flexing of the projections and for the device to be clipped in said retention position.

6. A device according to claim 5, wherein the or each projection is curved or angled out of the plane of the annular member in order to provide flexibility of the projection within the plane of the annular member.

7. A device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein said container occupies a sector of the annular member, and said projections are spaced about the remainder of the annular member.

8. An infant feeding container, which includes a teat and a retaining ring releasably fixed to a container body in order to secure the teat, and further including a device according to any preceding claim, which is retained on the feeding device in a retention position behind a shoulder of the retaining ring.