MXPA00009208A - Feed bottles for babies - Google Patents

Abstract

A feed and drink bottle is made of plastics material preferably by an aseptic process. In its basic form the bottle (2) has a mouth (4) intended to be sealed with a closure (10) put in place after the feed has been put in the bottle through its mouth. The bottle is rendered unfit for re-use as a baby's bottle, thus making it disposable either by preventing the closure from being able to be removed from the body of the bottle once it has reached its fully engaged position, or by preventing it from being replaced in a fluid tight position once it has been removed. The closure (10) has a teat (24) secured to it in an irremovable manner, as by the teat being clamped between the closure and a retainer member (18) held in place in the closure, or by the teat's being bonded to the closure. When the closure and teat are formed as a single unit, the unit may be used more than once on a body (2) of aseptic plastics material, thus putting back on the user the responsibility of ensuring that the body is sterile or aseptic before such re-use.

Description

Feeding Bottles for Babies DESCRIPTION This invention relates to bottles for feeding and watering babies and in particular to such bottles which are made of plastic materials by an aseptic injection molding process.

Bottles for feeding babies generally comprise a container for milk or another liquid nutrient (food); a rubber nipple (natural or synthetic) for the mouth of the container; and an atomisable cover so that it fits in the mouth to hold the nipple in place. To ensure that the baby's food is not contaminated, it is usual to sterilize the bottle before use, such as cleaning the bottle with sterilizing liquid or using a steam sterilizer. The same need applies to the nipple and lid, to ensure sterilization. However, sterilization, and even cleaning the baby bottle may go unnoticed or be carried out improperly, causing the food to become contaminated.

According to one aspect of the present invention, disposable, preferably aseptic, bottles are provided with the intention of being used once more. This is achieved by ensuring that the bottle cap can not be removed once it has been secured in place. One such method is known from EP-A-0819417, which shows a wide bottle body having a lid fixed by pressure, the lid screwing the periphery of a wide rim on a nipple between itself and the mouth of the body. After it has been fixed, the lid can not be removed because a curved rim on the lid denies the user access to the closing rail.

This known bottle suffers from serious disadvantages. One is that the bottle can not be manufactured by known techniques, due to the reentry angles in both the body and the flange. Even though this difficulty can be solved, another disadvantage is that the complicated construction of the bottle can make it extremely expensive for its manufacture, consequently being aggressive against the users who will have to pay a very high price for a single bottle. Another disadvantage arises from the fact that the lid has to be pushed into place by the user. It is inevitable that an anxious mother can sometimes push only part of the lid ring over the shoulder securing the body on the shoulder securing the body, leaving the rest of the cap decanted at a slight angle, which may prevent the fluid passes. The mother can then be deceived into thinking that the noise indicates that the lid is completely in position, when in reality it is only partly in place. This "theoretical" invention is also potentially dangerous for the baby, because a baby can pull the end of the nipple so hard that its rim stops being fixed between the lid and the body, allowing the baby to pull the nipple out of the bottle turning the nipple into a potentially lethal object that can drown the baby by staying in his trachea. In addition, it may be possible with this bottle for the baby to deform the bottle immediately below the lid in such a way that the seal for the fluid between the body and the lid breaks, causing spills of liquid from the bottle which may be dangerous to feed an infant.

The present invention overcomes said disadvantages by providing a threaded connection between the lid and the body, consequently ensuring that the lid remains parallel to the plane of the mouth of the body when being screwed in its closed position. In addition, the body is in the form of a simple jar with a spout that allows it to be made in high volumes by means of injection machines under aseptic conditions. The nipple is fixed to the lid by means of a retaining disc so that it can not be removed. The body does not come into contact with the nipple, consequently allowing the nipple flange to be considerably smaller in area than the mouth of the body, consequently saving on the use of the relatively expensive material from which the nipple is made.

According to another aspect of the invention, the nipple is fixed to the lid in a manner in which it does not depend on the use of a retainer disc, in such a way that the two become an integral unit. While such a unit can be attached to the body of the bottle so that it can not be removed, it is within the substance and scope of this invention so that single-side fixing is omitted, allowing the capping unit to be used more than once in the body containing liquid food.

According to another aspect, the invention provides a feeding bottle in which the body is formed with an integral teat, while in the access to the interior of the body is provided at an open end and away from the teat. It is intended that the end of the opening be closed after filling, in any removable form or so that it can not be removed, depending on the nature of the coupling between the end of the body and the movable cover, between a remote position giving access to the open end and a closed position providing a hook with the body that prevents the passage of liquid.

According to another aspect, the invention provides a feeding bottle in which most of the components are made of plastic materials for an aseptic process, the bottle including a body to contain a quantity of milk or other liquid, the body having a nipple of plastic materials permanently affixed to it, or integrated with it, and an open end at a remote location of the nipple, it being intended that the end be sealed in a manner that prevents the passage of liquid by means of a cap, the hitch between the lid and the body being in such a way that the hook has to be broken to allow the lid to be removed from the body, the fracture ensuring that the lid can not be fixed back to the body preventing the passage of liquid.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a feeding bottle which is as claimed in the respective claims.

The present invention will now be described by way of examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a schematic view of one of the embodiments of the invention, of which the component parts in Fig. 1 (a) - (e) are shown in section; Figures IA and IB show a variation of Figure 1; Figure 2 is a side view of the bottle shown in Figure 1 when assembled, with volume graduations applied to the side of its body; Figure 3 is a section of the line III-III of Fig. 2, showing a modality of irreversible engagement between the body and the lid; Figure 4 is a sectional view of the upper part of another feeding bottle of this invention; Figure 5 is a view, similar to Fig. 4, of another embodiment of the invention; Figure 6 is another view, similar to Fig. 4, of another embodiment, wherein a retainer disc has been included; Figure 7 shows a variation of Figure 6; Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6, showing the presence of an additional edge in the lid; Figure 9 is a view similar to that of Figure 6, showing different methods of providing closure with another form of latch that can not be removed; Figure 10 is a view similar to Figure 8 showing another form of engagement between the lid and the closure; Figure 11 is a sectional view of another combined lid and nipple mode; Figure 12 is a diagrammed isometric view of a modified nipple for use with the embodiment of Figure 11; Figure 13 is a diagrammed view, part in section, of another way of combining lid and nipple; Figure 14 is a side view, part in section, of another embodiment of the invention, having a cap that can be sealed at the end of the body at a point distant from the nipple; Y Figure 15 is a view, similar to Figure 13 of an alternative form of such mode.

In the following description of the drawings, the components that are similar in different figures, will keep their original references.

The bottle shown in Figures 1 and 2 basically comprises a body 2 acting as a container for the liquid food. At its upper end (as shown), the wide mouth 4 of the body is formed by thread 6 and projecting a circular column of serrated channels 8. In order to cooperate with the thread 6 is a cover 10 having an internal surface formed by complementary threads 12 and having an extended edge 14 with a series of serrated gears 16, which will be described in greater detail later. With the intention of being secured between the lid and the body is a retaining disc 18 having a hollow protrusion 20 projecting from it. A nipple 22 for the bottle has a rim 24, the diameter of the annular rim being significantly smaller than the internal diameter of the mouth 4. The diameter of the opening in the nipple is an elastic binder in the projection 20. Designed to be fixed by pressure on a shoulder 25 of the lid 10 is a nipple cover 26. In Figures A and B the retaining disc 18 is provided with a vent hole 19 in a shoulder of the disc. The ventilation hole allows pressure equalization on either side of the nipple, e.g. Inside and outside. The orifice vents into the bottle and an infant suckling on the nipple can keep the seal around the nipple. An infant feeding does not have to remove its lips / mouth from the nipple to equalize the air pressure to gain more fluid flow. Consequently, the bottle becomes anti - colic. While the infant breathes through nostrils during feeding facilitates equalization because the infant has less risk of swallowing in the wrong way.

Figure 3 shows the two annular series of gear gears in the body 2 and in the cover 10. As can be seen, both series of teeth 8 and 16 have the shape of serrated gears, each tooth having a radial face and an oblique face. The angle of obliquity is determined by the nature of the material from which both the lid and the body are made. As can be seen in Figure 1, the lid 10 has at its center an opening which is a tight closure in the other part of the nipple adjacent to the rim 24.

To arrive at the assembled bottle shown in Figure 2, the nipple 20 is first pushed into place in the lid 10. From now on the disc 18 is positioned inside the lid 10, with the protrusion being scorched by the internal surfaces of the flange. 24 and the adjacent surface of the nipple. After the body 2 has been loaded with the necessary volume of food, the lid is then screwed into the body. During this movement, the teeth 16 in the cover do not touch the thread 6. Towards the end of the screwing action, the teeth in the cover 16 and the body 8 come into contact with each other; and their oblique faces slide together, such movement being allowed by the elastic nature of the materials from which the lid and body are made. This "double-serrated" construction ensures that, while the lid can move relative to the body in the screw-in direction for attachment, it is impossible for the lid to be unscrewed from the body, such that, once assembled (what happens after that the food has been placed in the bottle), the lid can not be removed from the body. This guarantees that the bottle can not be reused as a feeding bottle, so that it is a "single use" (or disposable) bottle.

It is a feature of this invention that all the components of the bottle are made of plastic materials which can be made inside the components of the bottle by an aseptic process, in such a way that the products do not need to be sterilized later, but that they can be be packed as they were manufactured. With all the interior surfaces of the bottle, and both on the inside and outside surfaces of the nipple, being aseptic, the user does not need to do more than ensure that the food is sterile before placing it inside the bottle and close it by means of the lid .

Among the materials that can be used for the body, the retaining disc and the lid are polypropylene and polyethylene. A suitable material for the nipple itself, and one of which is more expensive than the others, is a thermoplastic elastomer, such as that sold under the KRATON trademark. Not all nipple materials lend themselves to be made by an aseptic process, in which case the nipples have to be pre-sterilized before being placed on the lid. After manufacturing and assembling (in those versions that comprise separate components, not necessarily from the same plastic materials) the bottle, if not made aseptically, can be sterilized by irradiating it with ultraviolet or infrared radiation, with X-rays, plastic materials , and those that inherently are of cheap construction, particularly when they are made in large numbers.

Claims (19)

Having described the invention as above, I consider the content in the following as new and claim as my own. CLAIMS

1. A single use bottle of which the major components are made of plastic materials, the bottle including: a body to contain a quantity of milk or other liquid, the body having a mouth whose intention is to be sealed in a manner that prevents the passing the liquid by means of a screw cap, the cap and the body having mutually cooperative formations on their internal and external surfaces respectively to cause the cap to not be removed from the body after the cap has reached a limit position in the body, wherein an adjustment is formed with the body that prevents the passage of the liquid, and wherein the nipple has a rim of smaller diameter than the internal diameter of the mouth of the body which is fixed to the cap by a retaining member of the body. so that the nipple can not be removed from the lid.

2. A bottle as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mutually cooperative formations comprise a set of toothed gears in the cover with the intention of cooperating with a connecting projection included in the body.

3. A bottle as claimed in claim 2, wherein the connection projection is provided by one of a set of gear gears in the body.

4. A bottle as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3 made by an aseptic process.

5. A bottle as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the retainer member is adapted to have its periphery clamped between the lid and the body rim when the lid is in an irremovable position.

6. A bottle as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the retaining member has a central cylindrical cavity which projects towards the interior of the nipple.

7. A bottle as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the retaining member has a vent hole in a region that traps the lip of the nipple against the cap.

8. A bottle as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the body is made of polypropylene, and has been formed by an injection molding operation.

9. A bottle as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the lid, or lid and retainer, is or are made of high density polyethylene in an injection molding operation.

10. A bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, including a nipple shield having an opening which is pushed to remain in a part forming a shoulder of the cap.

11. A bottle as claimed in claim 10, wherein the shield has in its opening a series of inward projections whose intention is to set a complementary recess in the cover.

12. A bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the body is made of transparent or translucent material, and including at least a series of graduation marks allowing the volume of liquid in the body to be determined by visual inspection.

13. A bottle as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the retainer member has an outer diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the body mouth, and wherein the member is held in place by the cap by virtue of the elasticity of the material of the nipple.

14. A bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the nipple is made of a thermoplastic elastomer.

15. A combined lid and nipple unit for use with a feeding bottle, wherein the lid and nipple are made of different plastic materials by an aseptic two-stage process, in one stage of which a component is formed, and in the other stage of which the other component is formed in such a way that it is agglutinated in a single component.

16. A unit as claimed in claim 15, wherein the lid is formed with a series of toothed gears whose intention is to allow closure only when being screwed to the body of a feeder bottle once the teeth of the lid have come into contact with a complementary set of gear teeth included in the body.

17. A feeder bottle of which most of the components are made of plastic materials by an aseptic process, the bottle including a body to maintain a quantity of bed or other liquid, the body having a nipple of plastic material permanently secured to it, or integral with it, and an open end at a location far from the nipple, the opening having the intention of being sealed so as to prevent the passage of the liquid by means of a lid, the coupling between the lid and the body being of such that the coupling has to be broken to allow the lid to be removed from the body, the fracture ensuring that the lid can not again be resistant to the passage of the liquid with the body.

18. A feeder bottle of which most of the components are made of plastic materials, the bottle including a body to contain a quantity of milk or other liquid, the body having a mouth with the intention of being sealed so as to prevent the passing liquid by means of a screw cap, and wherein a nipple having a flange of smaller diameter than the internal diameter of the mouth of the body is imprisoned in the cap by a retainer member in such a way as to cause the nipple to be Remove from the lid.

19. A bottle as claimed in claim 18, wherein the nipple is made of a thermoplastic elastomer.