GB2163855A - Clinical thermometer in form of a dummy teat - Google Patents

Abstract

A thermometer, particularly for babies, is in a form analogous to a dummy teat. The thermometer includes a nipple or teat 12 which has an electronic sensor 40 at or near its tip and a housing 14 for electronic circuitry and a visual (e.g. L.C.D.) output display. The teat and housing are joined in a water-tight manner. The thermometer is non-circular shaped, e.g. it has a pair of diametrically opposed, radially outwardly projecting, integral wings 60, so that it can be placed in the mouth in a defined orientation with the sensor positioned on the underside of the teat so that the baby's tongue will contact the sensor each time the thermometer is used. A half-ring 16 or loop is hinged to the housing with the axis of hinging displaced about 45 DEG clockwise to the upright when in use. When not in use, the teat is immersed in sterilising liquid, e.g. alcohol, in a container 18. A switch 42 is provided for activating the electronic circuitry and display. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in and relating to thermometers This invention relates to thermometers and is particularly concerned with a thermometer for taking the temperature of a baby.

It is usually considered too dangerous to put a normal clinical thermometer into the mouth of a baby in case the delicate glass bulb is broken. Accordingly, babies' temperatures are usually taken by inserting the thermometer into the anus of the baby or by placing the bulb under the baby's armpit. The former technique is unpleasant and the latter technique not always accurate.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a simple form of thermometer which is readily usable to give a reading of a baby's temperature.

According to the invention there is provided a thermometer comprising a nipple or teat similar to a baby's dummy or feeding bottle which has an electronic temperature sensor at or near its tip, and a housing for electronic circuitry and a visual output display, the teat projecting forwardly from the housing in a water-tight fashion, the temperature of the baby sensed by the electronic temperature sensor being converted to a visual reading displayed on the output display.

By making the thermometer in a form which resembles a baby's dummy, the baby will quite naturally suck on the teat and the sensor will therefore be brought into close contact with the inside of the baby's mouth and so it is possible to obtain a reading of the baby's temperature. Also the teat and sensor can be of material which it is not dangerous to put in a baby's mouth.

It is preferred that the visual output display be a simple digital display, such as a liquid crystal display, and the electronics required to convert an electrical input from the sensor to give a visual output reading can be largely conventional. Additionally it is desirable that the electronics maintain the display of the maximum sensed temperature for sufficient time after the thermometer is removed from the baby's mouth for the temperature to be read and noted.

In order to enhance the accuracy of the thermometer and to ensure consistency between readings, it is desirable that arrangements be made to see that the temperature sensor is placed in a reproducible position in the baby's mouth. Ideally this means that the temperature sensor should be in contact with the baby's tongue. This can be achieved according to a preferred embodiment of the invention by shaping the teat so that physically it can always be placed in the mouth in a defined orientation in relation to the baby's lips and by positioning the sensor not at the tip of the teat but on the underside of the teat. In this way one can ensure that almost without exception the sensor will then rest on the baby's tongue and so give a reproducible temperature measurement each time the thermometer is used and it can be calibrated to show blood temperature accurately.

To ensure that the teat is placed in the baby's mouth so that the temperature sensor will always be on the underside of the end of the teat it is preferred that the teat be provided with a pair of diametrically opposed, radially outwardly projecting, integral wings. These provide the user with a visual reference plane to show the orientation for the teat to be inserted into the baby's mouth and in addition tend to self-align the teat within the baby's mouth with the baby's lips when the baby closes its mouth and automatically starts to suck on the teat.

As with a baby's dummy we find that it is desirable to provide some form of loop or the like for the mother to grasp to remove the thermometer from a baby's mouth if the baby is sucking hard on the teat. This avoids the possibility of the mother's fingers and finger nails scratching the baby's face and lips. We prefer to provide a half-ring or loop whose ends are hinged to the housing so that the ring can be hinged outwardly to extend out from the end of the housing when the thermometer is in use and shaped flat with the end of the housing when the thermometer is not in use. We have also found that to reduce the chance of the baby being hurt by that half-ring or loop its axis of hinging should be displaced from the vertical, preferably by about 45Q to the vertical, i.e. the direction from the baby's nose to its chin when the thermometer is in use.In particular for a mother who is righthanded, it seems to be best if the displacement of the half-ring or loop when extended is clockwise from the vertical in the sense of looking at the baby's face.

To keep the teat clean and sterile it is preferred that, when not in use, it be covered by a tightly fitting cap and that the cap be designed to contain sterilising and/or cleaning liquid such as alcohol. In this connection the cap desirably has a flat lower end so that it can stand upright on a flat surface with the teat hanging down into the sterilising liquid to keep it clean and sterile ready for use.

Because the thermometer according to the invention contains electronic parts which are likely to be destroyed by high temperatures, it should not be boiled like many feeding bottles are. Instead overall cleaning should be effected by a sterilising and cleaning liquid like alcohol and so the housing and teat should be waterproof.

To avoid wastage of battery, the housing can be provided with a manually depressable switch for temporarily activating the electronic reading so that the display is only operative for a period of time when the thermometer is in the baby's mouth.

Although the thermometer has been described in relation to babies it is usable by people of all ages.

It will however be particularly useful for babies, young children and mentally handicapped people of all ages.

An example of a baby's thermometer according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the baby's thermometer; Figure 2 is an underneath view; Figure 3 is a view from the rear; Figure 4 is a half section, half elevation taken from the underneath of a teat forming part of the baby's thermometer; and Figure 5 is an enlarged, half-section, half-elevation taken from the side of the teat.

The baby's thermometer 10 shown in the drawings includes a teat 12 which projects forwardly from a housing 14. Hinged to the latter is a metal half ring 16 by means of which the thermometer can be grasped and held by the user. As best shown in Figure 2, the half-ring 16 can be hinged to extend outwardly from the housing 14 to allow the mother to grasp the thermometer 10. The ends 16a of the ring 16 are joined to the housing along an axis 17 inclined at 45 to the upright. For simplest use by a right-handed mother it will be noted that the axis 17 is displaced in a clockwise sense by 45" relative the upright as seen from the end of the thermometer as in Figure 3.

Integrally formed with the housing 14 is a partannular ledge 14a against which the half-ring 16 rests when in the flat position shown in Figure 1.

This prevents the half-ring being hinged beyond the flat position. At the ends of the ledge 14a are upstanding projections 14b to prevent the half-ring 16 from being hinged beyond the outward position shown in Figure 2. Also a small recess 14c is provided in the ledge 14a to assist in hinging the halfring 16 up from its flat position.

Tightly fitting against the front of the housing and covering the teat 12 is a transparent cap 18.

The latter has a flat lower end 19 on which the thermometer can stand when not in use. The cap is designed to contain cleaning and sterilising liquid 20 and is provided with upper and lower level markings 22 and 24. The lower level marking 24 designates the level to which liquid 20 should be added or topped up when the teat is removed and then if correctly added the liquid 20 will not exceed the upper level marking 22 when the teat is inserted. This ensures that the liquid is not spilled when the teat is inserted but equally that there is sufficient liquid to give required cleaning and sterilisation.

The housing 14 includes a front portion 30 having a central circular opening through which the teat 12 projects and a rear portion 32 which is joined to the front by a number of screws 34. At the centre of the rear portion is provided a liquid crystal digital display 36 which provides an output reading of temperature in, for example, degrees Centigrade or degrees Farenheit. The front portion 30 has a pair of upstanding lugs 38 and the periphery of the cap 18 frictionally engages over those lugs to hold the cap in place.

The housing 14 contains the electronics for determining the temperature of a sensor 40 and for providing an output reading on the liquid crystal display 36. These electronics can be largely conventional and are not shown or described in detail.

Desirably the electronics ensure that the display shows the highest temperature reached during any particular use so that this figure can be read from the display after the thermometer has been removed from the baby's mouth.

Because the thermometer is designed to measure body temperature its measuring range should be between 32 and 42"C with an accuracy of the order of +0.2 C, or 98.6 and 107.6"F for a thermometer designating Fahrenheit measurements, with an optimum accuracy range (+0.1 C) between about 35 and 38 C.

Additionally a manually depressable switch 42 is provided in the rear part to activate the electronics for a pre-set period when a reading is required. To ensure water tightness that switch is constructed in a manner analogous to the conventional time-adjusting switches in electronic watches.

The teat 12 has a solid outer end 50. In that solid outer end 50 is provided a small inclined bore 52 and the electronic temperature sensor 40 and its associated wires 54 are passed through this bore so that the sensor is positioned approximately flush with the outer surface of the teat. The sensor is thus not positioned at the outermost tip of the teat but is positioned underneath the solid end 50 near the outer end of the teat. The reason for this is to ensure that when the teat is in a baby's mouth, the sensor will touch the baby's tongue since the teat will rest on the baby's tongue. To keep the interior of the thermometer 10 waterproof, the bore 52 has been filled with a cold setting silicone rubber 56 after the sensor and wires have been inserted into and through the bore.

To assist in aligning the thermometer 10 so that the sensor 40 is positioned on the underside of the teat in a reproducible position each time the thermometer is used, the teat has a pair of integral, radially outwardly projecting and diametrically opposed, flanges or wings 60. Therefore, when the teat 12 is inserted into the baby's mouth, the user can first of all ensure that the sensor 40 is inserted so that it is on the underside of the teat and in addition the baby will naturally tend to align the teat so that the wings 60 extend in the transverse direction of his lips. In other words the sensor will be aligned at about the lowest point near the end of the tip and so will reproducibly come in contact with the surface of the baby's tongue. The temperature measured by the sensor 40 will in this way be reproducible and repeatable between different readings.

To ensure that the electronic components contained in the housing 14 are kept dry the teat has an outwardly directed flange 62 at its inner end and in turn this flange has spaced circular ridges 64. These are arranged to be clamped between the front and rear portions 30 and 32 of the housing and so provide a water-tight seal analogous to an O ring seal between the two parts of the housing and also between the teat and the parts of the housing.

The temperature sensor 40 can be entirely conventional and operate together with the electronics in a conventional fashion and so will not be further described.

In use a baby's temperature is measured by first of all removing the teat and housing from the cap 18. The electronics are activated by pressing the switch 42 and then the teat 12 is placed in the baby's mouth with the sensor 40 downwardly. The baby will naturally suck on the teat and bring the sensor 40 into contact with his tongue which quickly reaches a temperature corresponding, although not necessarily equalling, the baby's blood temperature. The display 36 gives a reading of the calculated baby's temperature, the electronics being calibrated to give an accurate reading of the estimated baby's temperature based on the temperature sensed by the sensor. Having read the temperature the user can then remove the thermometer from the baby's mouth and replace the teat in the cap 18 so that the liquid 20 in the cap re-sterilises the teat 12 and generally keeps the teat clean and ready for re-use at a future time.

Claims (12)

1. A thermometer comprising a nipple or teat similar to a baby's dummy or feeding bottle which has an electronic temperature sensor at or near its tip, and a housing for electronic circuitry and a visual output display, the teat projecting forwardly from the housing in a water-tight fashion, the temperature of the baby sensed by the electronic temperature sensor being converted to a visual reading displayed on the output display.

2. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 1 in which means are provided to ensure that the temperature sensor is placed in a reproducible position in the baby's mouth.

3. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 2 in which the said means ensure that the sensor is in contact with the baby's tongue.

4. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3 in which the teat is non-circular shaped so that physically it can always be placed in the mouth in a defined orientation in relation to the baby's lips and the sensor is positioned on the underside of the teat.

5. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 4 in which the teat has a pair of diametrically opposed, radially outwardly projecting integral wings.

6. A thermometer as claimed in any preceding claim in which to keep the teat clean and sterile it is covered, when not in use, by a tightly fitting cap and that the cap be designed to contain sterilising liquid.

7. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 6 in which the cap has a flat lower end so that it can stand upright on a flat surface with the teat hanging down into the sterilising liquid to keep it clean and sterile ready for use.

8. A thermometer as claimed in any preceding claim in which to avoid wastage of battery, the housing is provided with a manually depressable switch for activating the electronic reading so that the display need only be operative for a period of time when the thermometer is in the baby's mouth.

9. A thermometer as claimed in any preceding claim in which a half-ring or loop is hinged to the housing so that it can hinge outwardly to extend out from the end of the housing when in use and be hinged flat when not in use.

10. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 9 in which the axis of hinging of the half-ring or loop is displaced from the upright, i.e. the direction from the baby's nose to the chin when the thermometer is in use, by about 45 .

11. A thermometer as claimed in Claim 10 in which the displacement when the loop or ring is extended is clockwise from the upright in the sense of looking at the baby's face.

12. A thermometer substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.