Teat

Abstract

A teat including at least a shaft and a nipple, wherein structured surface areas are provided at least in a partial region thereof, and the structured surface areas are formed by at least one rough surface zone having a surface roughness of 100 m at the most, or 50 m at the most.

Claims

1. A teat comprising: a nipple adapted to be received within a baby's mouth; shaft; and a lip abutment region interconnecting the shaft and the nipple; the nipple comprising a concave outer surface extending around a circumference of the nipple; the lip abutment region comprising a convex outer surface extending around a circumference of the lip abutment region; structured surface areas configured to be contacted by the baby's mouth, said structured surface areas formed by at least one textured surface; the at least one textured surface extending continuously within and above the concave outer surface on a first side of the nipple and upwardly and over an upper side of the nipple, and down into a second opposite side of the concave outer surface of the nipple; at least a portion of an outer surface of the teat having a smooth surface, the smooth surface being other than a textured surface; and wherein a horizontal cross section of the teat passes through both the structured surface areas and the smooth surface.

2. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the smooth surface is a non-textured surface and has a stickiness.

3. A teat according to claim 2, wherein: the non-textured surface is a transparent or translucent surface.

4. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one textured surface extends within the outer convex surface of the lip abutment region.

5. A teat according to claim 4, wherein: the outer convex surface of the lip abutment region does not include any outwardly projecting nodules.

6. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the teat is an injection-molded teat.

7. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the teat is made of an elastomer and the smooth surface has a stickiness.

8. A teat according to claim 7, wherein: the elastomer is latex.

9. A teat according to claim 7, wherein: the elastomer is silicone.

10. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one textured surface extends within the lip abutment region.

11. A teat according to claim 10, wherein: the shaft has a certain wall thickness, the lip abutment region has a certain wall thickness, and the nipple has a certain wall thickness; and the wall thickness of the shaft exceeds the wall thickness of the lip abutment region and the wall thickness of the nipple.

12. A teat according to claim 11, wherein: the wall thickness of the shaft ranges from 2.00 mm to 2.5 mm; and the wall thickness of the nipple and of the lip abutment region ranges from 1.20 mm to 1.50 mm.

13. A teat according to claim 11, wherein: the lip abutment region comprises at least one thinner zone having a wall thickness slighter than the wall thickness of a remaining lip abutment region.

14. A teat according to claim 13, wherein: the at least one thinner zone extends into the portion of the concave outer surface of the nipple; and the at least one textured surface and the at least one thinner zone are arranged so as to at least partially overlap.

15. A teat according to claim 14, wherein: the at least one thinner zone is reinforced by at least one stiffening rib inside the teat.

16. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one textured surface comprises a surface formed by having been molded from a mold having been surface-roughened by spark erosion or chemical etching.

17. A teat according to claim 1, wherein: the at least one textured surface has a surface roughness within a range of 10 m to 50 m.

18. A teat according to claim 1, further comprising: at least one stiffening projection in the form of a rib provided on an inner side of the teat configured to reinforce the at least one textured surface at least in an area of the nipple.

19. A teat according to claim 18, wherein: on an outer surface of none of the at least one textured surface is there a projection having an elevation as great as an elevation of a stiffening projection of the rib.

20. A teat comprising: a nipple having a circumferentially extending concave outer surface; a lip abutment region below the nipple; a shaft below the lip abutment region; the lip abutment region extending continuously into the shaft; at least one rough surface zone having a roughness depth of 10 m to 50 m; at least one smooth surface zone having a stickiness; the at least one rough surface zone having a greater roughness depth than a roughness depth of the at least one smooth surface zone; the at least one rough surface zone having a soft, skin-like appearance and feel and a lesser stickiness than the stickiness of the at least one smooth surface zone; the teat being transparent or translucent in the at least one smooth surface zone; the at least one rough surface zone extending above the lip abutment region and continuously within a length of the nipple within and above the concave outer surface on a first side of the nipple and upwardly and over an upper side of the nipple, and down into a second opposite side of the concave outer surface of the nipple to configure the at least one rough surface zone to be positioned to be contacted by a baby's tongue during a feeding or sucking position of the nipple received in a baby's mouth; and wherein a horizontal cross section of the teat passes through both the structured surface areas and the smooth surface.

21. A teat according to claim 20, wherein: the teat is made of a material selected from the group consisting of a rubber or silicone that provides the at least one smooth surface zone with the stickiness; and the roughness depth of the at least one rough surface zone provides the teat, in the at least one textured zone, with a greater softness and the lesser stickiness than in the at least one smooth surface zone.

22. A teat according to claim 20, wherein: the lip abutment region comprises an outer convex surface; and the at least one textured surface extends within the outer convex surface of the lip abutment region and at least within the outer concave surface of a lower region of the nipple.

23. A teat according to claim 20, wherein: a combination of at least a lower extent of the nipple and at least an upper extent of the lip abutment region, but not the shaft, constitute at least one baby-tongue-and-palate-stripping portion of the teat; and said at least one rough surface zone consists of said at least one baby-mouth-and-palate-stripping portion of the teat.

24. A teat according to claim 23, wherein: said at least one baby-tongue-and-palate-stripping portion of the teat comprises at least two baby-tongue-and-palate-stripping portions of the teat arranged diametrically opposite each other.

25. A teat according to claim 23, wherein: said at least one baby-tongue-and-palate-stripping portion of the teat is substantially triangular.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) In the following description, the invention is explained in more detail by way of preferred exemplary embodiments illustrated in the drawings to which, however, the invention shall not be restricted. In detail, in the drawings,

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a feeding bottle teat according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a view of the feeding bottle teat according to FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic longitudinal section through the feeding bottle teat according to FIGS. 1 and 2;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of another feeding bottle teat according to the invention;

(6) FIG. 5 shows a schematic section through the feeding bottle teat according to FIG. 4, illustrating an inclined arrangement of stiffening ribs in the interior of the feeding bottle teat;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a perspective view of a feeding bottle teat having a zone of reduced wall thickness;

(8) FIG. 7 shows a section according to line of FIG. 6;

(9) FIG. 8 shows a section according to line of FIG. 6;

(10) FIG. 9 shows a view of a pacifier teat with a rough surface zone in the region of the nipple;

(11) FIG. 10 shows a side view of the pacifier teat according to FIG. 9;

(12) FIG. 11 shows a rear view of the pacifier teat according to FIG. 9; and

(13) FIG. 12 shows a side view of a further pacifier teat with a rough surface zone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(14) In FIGS. 1 to 3, a teat 1 in the form of a feeding bottle teat presently considered as most preferred embodiment is shown which in a per se conventional manner comprises a nipple 2, a consecutive lip abutment region 3 which merges continuously into a shaft 4 and, finally, a teat flange 5 for clamping the teat 1 on a bottle neck of a feeding bottle with the help of a screw cap, as is well known per se and not illustrated. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the teat 1 includes an outer surface extending downwardly within the nipple 2 through an outer concave region, and through an outer convex region. In the region of the shaft 4 and the flange 5, the teat 1 has a rotation-symmetrical design, i.e., its cross-section is circular, yet the nipple 2 has an oval cross-section so that it can be comfortably taken into the infant's mouth in two positions only, i.e., with the longer axis in transverse direction. In the lip-abutment region 3, the cross-sectional shape continuously merges from the oval shape of the nipple 2 into the circular shape of the shaft 4.

(15) On the two wide sides of the teat 1, i.e., at the two sides that extend in parallel to the longer axis of the oval cross-section of nipple 2, diametrically opposite structured (textured) surface areas 6 in the form of rough surface zones 7 are provided. Seen in elevational view, as in FIG. 3, these rough surface zones 7 are approximately triangular, and they are provided such that their wider base region 8 is in the lip abutment region 3 and their narrower tip region 9 extends upwardly as far as to half of the nipple 2 and within at least the aforementioned concave region of the nipple.

(16) At the inner side of teat 1, in the region of the rough surface zones 7, i.e., the opposing surface textured areas 6, stiffening ribs 10 are located which, according to a central plane 11 of teat 1, extend from bottom to top and enhance the strength of the teat 1 in the region of the rough surface zones 7. This is advantageous because on account of the surface roughness in zones 7, the softness of the teat 1 increases so thatalso when using an appropriately soft material for teat 1the teat 1 could unintentionally become extremely depressed in this lip abutment region 3 when the teat 1 is used. That is, these textured surface zones 7, that is, the so-called baby-tongue-and-palate-stripping portions of the teat are soft zones that simulate the corresponding areas of a mother's breast.

(17) Preferably, the surface roughness of the textured zones is approximately 100 m at the most or, in particular 50 m at the most, and tests have shown that optimum roughness depths range between 10 m and 40 m, preferably between 15 m and 30 m. Such values for the roughness depths result in an optimum imitation of a mother's breast.

(18) When producing the teat 1, these surface roughnesses are obtained, e.g., during injection molding, in that the mold used during the production, in particular an injection mold, is surface-roughened by spark erosion or by chemical etching at the respective areas where the zones 7 are produced.

(19) By the triangular shape of the zones 7 with the triangle tip pointing towards the tip of the teat, where a feeding opening 12 is provided in a conventional manner, it is ensured that, during drinking, also the infant's tongue will come into contact with the roughened zone 7, which is similar to a mother's breast, and is stimulated thereby.

(20) As mentioned above, the area in question of the teat is stiffened by the stiffening ribs 10 so that it cannot collapse during drinking and thereby cannot block the continued flow of the drinking liquid, in particular milk.

(21) For hygiene purposes, not the entire surface of the teat is roughened, much rather, as illustrated, preferably two diametrically oppositely located rough surface zones 7 are provided, and at least in the regions 13 between these rough surface zones 7, preferably in the entire remaining region of the teat 1 outside of the rough surface zones 7, the teat 1 is designed to be transparent, having a smooth surface, so that soilings, the formation of lumps and the like will immediately be visible from the outside.

(22) Accordingly, a thermoplastic elastomer or a latex or silicone material is preferably used as the material for the teat 1, which is translucent or transparent and which is also suitable for a production by injection molding.

(23) In FIGS. 4 and 5, a somewhat modified teat 1 in the form of a feeding bottle teat is illustrated, which also comprises a nipple 2, a lip abutment region 3, a shaft 4 and a teat flange 5, wherein again the teat 1 is provided with rough surface zones 7 on two diametrically opposite sides, the flatter sides or broadsides of the teat 1 in relation to the longer axis of the nipple 2 which, again, is oval in cross-section. In the remaining region 13, the teat again is designed to be transparent or translucent and smooth. However, in contrast to the exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 3, in the embodiment according to FIGS. 4 and 5 the aforementioned structured surface areas (such as areas 6, 6 of FIGS. 1-3) are formed by one continuous rough surface (that is, textured surface) region or zone 7-7 that extends over the upper side of the nipple 2. Thus, it can be said that the textured surface 7-7 that make up the structured surfaces areas 6, 6 extend within and above the concave outer surface of the nipple 2, as well as within the convex outer surface at the upper extent of the nipple. Furthermore, FIG. 5 shows that 22 reinforcing ribs 10 are obliquely arranged on the inner side of the teat 1 so as to again avoid an undesired collapsing or pressing together of the teat 1 in this critical region of the transition from nipple 2 to shaft 4.

(24) Also, the teat 1 according to FIGS. 4 and 5 may be produced from the materials previously mentioned in connection with the teat 1 according to FIGS. 1 to 3 and in a comparable injection molding process, using a mold with zones corresponding to the zones 7, roughened by spark erosion or by chemical etching, and the surface roughness in zones 7 again is 100 m at the most, in particular 50 m at the most, 10 m to 40 m, and preferably between 15 m and 30 m.

(25) From the illustrations of FIGS. 1, 2, as well as FIG. 5, it is further visible that a per se conventional venting opening 14 may be provided in the region of the teat flange 5 so as to allow for a pressure equalization in the bottle interior during drinking by letting in air.

(26) Furthermore, the teat 1 may be reinforced in the region of the drinking opening 12 by thickened portions 15 on the outer side as well as on the inner side so as to ensure an increased strength on the front side of nipple 2, which is advantageous for drinking.

(27) In FIGS. 6 to 8, an alternative exemplary embodiment of a bottle teat 1 is illustrated, in which the shaft 4 of the bottle teat 1 has a greater wall thickness than the following lip abutment region 3 as well as an adjacent nipple 2. This results in a resilience force of the shaft 4 acting in the direction of arrow 16 (cf. FIG. 8), which shaft carries the lip abutment region 3 as well as the nipple 2 of lower wall strength, said resilience allowing for a so-called stripping by the child, which is a good imitation of sucking at mother's breast.

(28) To further facilitate this stripping by the child and to simulate sucking at a mother's breast, two zones 17 are provided in the lip abutment region 3 which zonesas is particularly visible in FIG. 8have a further thinned wall thickness as compared to the remaining lip abutment region.

(29) Just as the previously described teat 1 of uniform wall thickness, teat 1 is rotation-symmetrically designed in the region of its shaft 3, i.e., its cross-section is circular, and the nipple 2 is oval in cross-section so that it can be comfortably correctly taken into the mouth by an infant in two positions only, i.e., with the longer axis in transverse direction. In the lip abutment region 3, the cross-sectional shape merges from the oval shape of the nipple 2 into the circular shape of shaft 4, whereby the shape of the nipple 2 corresponds to the natural shape of the mammilla as closely as possible, while a baby sucks or strips at the mammilla.

(30) Here, the two zones 17 of reduced wall thickness are arranged to be diametrically oppositely located at the two broadsides of the teat 1, i.e. at those sides which extend in parallel to the longer axis of the oval cross-section of the nipple 2, and they are designed to be approximately triangular in elevational view so that they will extend with their broad basis region in the lip abutment region 3 and with their narrower tip region as far as into the nipple 2.

(31) On the inner side of each zone 17, four stiffening ribs 10 are provided so as to enhance the strength of teat 1, in particular in the zones 17 of reduced wall thickness, so that there will be no unintentionally strong pressing in of the teat 1 in the lip abutment region 3 even when soft materials are used for teat 1. Thus, a collapsing of the teat 1 by which the continuous flow of drinking liquid, in particular milk, would be blocked, is reliably prevented by the stiffening ribs 10.

(32) Moreover, the surface of teat 1 has an increased surface roughness on the lip abutment region 3 as well as on the nipple 2 as compared to the remaining teat 9 so that the nature of a mother's breast can better be simulated.

(33) In the teat 1 shown in FIGS. 6 to 8, a zone 7 which is surrounded by the contour line 7 is provided with the increased surface roughness previously described in detail of approximately 100 m at the most or, in particular 50 m at the most.

(34) In FIGS. 9 to 11, a pacifier teat 1 is shown as a further exemplary embodiment, in which the shaft 4 as well as the nipple 2 are designed to be oval in cross-section, with the nipple 2, however, having a larger cross-section than shaft 4 for a good accommodation in the oral cavity. At the end side, a flange 18 of larger cross-section follows shaft 4 for fastening the pacifier teat 1 in a pacifier shield (not illustrated).

(35) For as close an imitation as possible of sucking on a mother's breast, also the pacifier nipple 1 has a rough surface zone 7 provided in the region of nipple 2, which will be contacted by the baby's tongue in the functional position of the pacifier teat 1 received in the baby's mouth. In the pacifier teat 1, the rough surface zone 7 mainly extends on the diametrically oppositely located broadsides of nipple 2.

(36) Furthermore, to imitate the natural breast of a mother, raised areas are provided on the broadsides of nipple 2 in the rough surface zone 7. In the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 9 to 11, round nodules 19 are provided as raised areas on one broadside of nipple 2, on the other broadside fishbone-type arranged ribs 20 are provided. What is essential here, too, is mainly that a rough surface, skin like zone 7, is provided to simulate the surface quality of the natural breast of a mother.

(37) In FIG. 12, finally, a pacifier teat 1a is shown in a side view similar to FIG. 10, with a nipple 2 without raised areas, which in turn merges into a flange 18 via a shaft 4, and which has a rough surface zone 7 on both broadsides as well as on its tip; on the two narrow sides as well as on shaft 4, smooth, transparent regions 13 are provided.