United States Patent 3825014
Abstract:
A one piece, injection molded pacifier made of a flexible plastic material comprising a lip guard and a hollow imperforate nipple which is of reduced diameter in a locality towards the lip guard and gradually increases in diameter to a substantially semispherical portion which forms the end of the nipple, the interior wall of the nipple being formed with a plurality of inwardly directed elongate ribs which extend from a locality adjacent to the portion of the nipple which is of reduced diameter to a locality which is adjacent to the substantially semispherical end portion. In a preferred embodiment each of the ribs gradually increases in height from its end which is adjacent to the portion of the nipple which is of reduced diameter as it extends towards its other end, the inner end of each rib is substantially flat and pairs of the ribs are positioned opposite to each other.
Application Number:
05/282542
Publication Date:
07/23/1974
Assignee:
The Reddy Company, Inc. (Montpelier, VT)
International Classes:
A61J17/00; A61J17/00; (IPC1-7): A61J17/00
Field of Search:
128/360,359,252
Primary Examiner:
Gaudet, Richard A.
Assistant Examiner:
Recla, Henry J.
Claims:
I claim
1. A one-piece, injection molded pacifier made of a flexible plastic material comprising:
2. A pacifier according to claim 1 wherein each of said ribs gradually increases in height from its end which is adjacent to said portion of the nipple which is of reduced diameter as it extends towards its other end.
3. A pacifier according to claim 1 wherein said plastic material comprises polyvinyl chloride.
4. A pacifier according to claim 3 wherein said polyvinyl chloride has a durometer of about 60.
5. A pacifier according to claim 1 wherein said plastic material comprises ethyl vinyl acetate.
Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to pacifiers for use by infants.
Prior art pacifiers which are currently on the market are made of two or more pieces, which comprise a flexible, hollow, imperforate nipple, a rubber or plastic core or insert for the nipple and a lip quard. In one embodiment a handle is integral with the nipple.
Another embodiment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,915, issued to J.A. Mullin Feb. 27, 1962, wherein the nipple 22 is vulcanized or welded to a lip guard 30 which is formed by a screw threaded collar adapted to be joined to the neck of an infant's nursing bottle. The bottle serves as a handle for the infant to grasp while using the pacifier. The insert or core 6 is positioned within the nipple and is held there by a disc-like retaining flange 8.
Compared to the one piece pacifier of this invention, these prior art pacifiers are expensive to manufacture and assemble and they are not as safe in use due to the possibility of the pieces being pulled apart with the resultant hazard that the infant may be injured or choked to death.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 1,731,302 issued to J. W. Erringer Oct. 15, 1929 discloses a two piece teething device in which the relatively flat walls 6 of the neck are provided with a plurality of short inwardly directed teeth 13 positioned opposite spaces 14 formed between the teeth, the teeth and spaces intermeshing with each other and preventing the neck from completely collapsing when the neck is gummed by the infant. In that teether the inner ends of pairs of ribs are not positioned opposite each other and, as shown in FIG. 4, their flat ends do not contact each other under severe gumming or sucking by the infant to prevent collapsing of the nipple by the combined heights of two ribs. Furthermore Erringer's ribs are very short and are not elongate as shown in FIG. 2. The Erringer teething device could not be injection molded in one piece. Although this patent was granted in 1929, to the best of my knowledge the teething device disclosed therein has not been sold commercially, at least during the past few years.
One object of this invention is to provide a novel one piece infection molded pacifier.
Another object is to provide such a pacifier which is safe in use by an infant.
Yet another object is to provide such a pacifier which is economical to manufacture.
A still further object is to provide such a pacifier which is durable in use and in which the nipple is provided with structural stiffness so that it will maintain its shape while allowing desirable resilient resistance to gumming and sucking on the nipple by the infant.
Another object is to provide such a onepiece, injection molded pacifier in which the nipple is made of a soft, flexible plastic material having at least six spaced, elongate ribs projecting radially inwardly from the inner surface of its side wall towards the longitudinal axis of the nipple, the inner ends of the ribs being substantially flat and the inner ends of pairs of ribs being positioned opposite each other so that under severe gumming or sucking by the infant the flat inner ends of ribs contact each other and prevent collapsing of the nipple by substantially the combined heights of the contacting ribs and the intervening walls of the nipple continue to allow resilient resistance to gumming and sucking by the infant.
A still further object is to provide such a one-piece, injection molded pacifier which comprises a generally circular, substantially flat lip guard having a substantially centrally disposed orifice and a hollow nipple projecting outwardly from and substantially normal to one surface of the lip guard, and a one-piece handle integral with the lip guard projecting outwardly from and substantially normal to the opposite surface thereof with its base positioned between the orifice and the periphery of the lip guard to provide a one-piece handle which does not require assembly by the mother, does not project laterally of the periphery of the lip guard, will not come apart in use, can be grasped securely by the infant while he is sucking the nipple and can be used as a teether when the infant is not sucking the nipple.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from the following description.
In general the one piece pacifier of this invention is injection molded and comprises a handle, a lip guard integral with the handle and a hollow nipple integral with the lip guard. The nipple comprises an imperforate, substantially semi-spherical outer end and a side wall which is substantially circular in lateral cross section extending from the substantially semi-spherical outer end to the lip guard. The side wall is provided with a portion of reduced diameter adjacent to the lip guard and it is of progressively increasing diameter as it extends from this portion to its junction with the substantially semi-spherical end. The inner surface of the side wall of the nipple is provided with a plurality of spaced, elongate, ribs projecting radially inwardly therefrom towards the longitudinal axis of the nipple, and the longitudinal centerline of each rib is located in a plane which coincides with the longitudinal axis of the nipple. Each rib extends from a locality adjacent to the portion of reduced diameter to a locality adjacent to the substantially semi-spherical outer end.
In a preferred embodiment each of the ribs gradually incrases in height from its end which is adjacent to the portion of the nipple which is of reduced diameter as it extends towards its other end.
In another preferred embodiment the inner end of each of the ribs is substantially flat and pairs of the ribs are positioned opposite to each other whereby the substantially flat ends of a pair of ribs contact each other under severe gumming or sucking by the infant and prevent collapsing of the nipple by the combined heights of the ribs but the intervening walls of the nipple continue to allow resilient resistance to gumming and sucking by the infant.
The pacifier may be made of any suitable flexible plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride with a durometer of about 60 or ethyl vinyl acetate. Other suitable materials will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.
Such a pacifier is safe in use by the infant, economical to manuacture, durable in use, its nipple is provided with structural stiffness so that it will maintain its shape yet it allows desirable resilient resistance to gumming and sucking on the nipple by the infant and the substantially flat ends of a pair of ribs contact each other under severe gumming or sucking by the infant and prevent collapsing of the nipple by the combined heights of the ribs but the intervening walls of the nipple continue to allow resilient resistance to gumming and sucking by the infant.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a pacifier embodying the invention;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross section taken on the lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross section taken on the lines 3--3 of FIG. 1; and
FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken on the lines 4--4 of FIG. 3.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The one piece pacifier of this invention is injection molded from a plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride having a durometer of about 60, ethylene vinyl acetate, or similar plastics to provide a flexible nipple which has resilient resistance to gumming and sucking on the nipple by the infant.
The pacifier comprises a handle 10, a lip guard 11 and a hollow nipple 12.
The nipple gradually increases in diameter from the locality 13 near the lip guard 11 to the imperforate substantially semispherical portion 14 which forms the end of the nipple as shown best in FIG. 4.
A plurality of inwardly directed elongate ribs 15 (six are shown in the drawings) are formed on the interior of the wall of the nipple and they extend radially inwardly towards the longitudinal axis of the nipple from adjacent to the locality 13 of reduced diameter to a locality which is adjacent to the substantially semicircular tip portion 14. The longitudinal centerline of each rib is located in a plane which coincides with the longitudinal axis of the nipple.
Each rib gradually increases in height from the end which is adjacent to the portion 13 of the nipple as it extends towards its other end as shown in FIG. 4.
Each rib has an end portion 16 which is substantially flat as shown in FIG. 2.
Pairs of ribs are positioned opposite each other as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
The invention is not limited to the use of six elongate ribs, any suitable number of ribs may be used.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 the lip guard 11 is substantially flat, generally circular and has a substantially centrally disposed orifice 17. The one-piece handle 10 is integral with the lip guard, it projects outwardly from and substantially normal to one surface of the lip guard and its base 18 is positioned between the orifice 17 and the periphery of the lip guard. The nipple is hollow, projects outwardly from and is substantially normal to the opposite surface of the lip guard with its interior communicating with the orifice and through the orifice with the atmosphere as shown in FIG. 4.
The one piece pacifier of this invention is safe and durable in use by the infant, economical to manufacture, and the elongate ribs provide structural stiffness so that the nipple will maintain its shape yet allow desirable resilient resistance to gumming and sucking on the nipple by the infant. The provision of square ends for the ribs and locating pairs opposite each other prevents collapsing of the nipple by the combined heights of the ribs the flat ends of which contact each other under severe gumming or sucking by the infant but the intervening walls of the nipple continue to allow resilient resistance to gumming and sucking by the infant.
While one desirable embodiment of the invention has been shown in the drawings, it is to be understood that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that various changes in shape, proportion and arrangement of parts as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.