CLOSURE AND FEEDING BOTTLE INCORPORATING IT

Abstract

Closures are provided consisting of a lid or cap member and a container member. These are inter-engageable with one another. The lid or cap member has a skirt and the container member has an upstanding rim, each of which is of generally polygonal shape. Located on each of the facing walls on each side of the polygonal shape are inter-engageable projections. The inter-engaging surfaces of the projections run substantially in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the polygonal shape and are of relatively small angular extent about that axis. The material of one or both of the skirt and container portion is resiliently elastic. The closure may be assembled with an axial push, and removed by twisting.

Claims

1. A closure consisting of a lid or cap member and a container member inter-engageable with one another to provide closure of the container, wherein the lid or cap member has a skirt and the container member has an upstanding rim, each of which is of generally polygonal shape, with three to six sides, and wherein located on each of the facing walls on each side of the polygonal shape are inter-engageable projections, where the inter-engaging surfaces of the projections run substantially in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the polygonal shape and are of relatively small angular extent about that axis, and wherein the material of one or both of the skirt and container portion is resiliently elastic.

2. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the general shape of the closure components is square.

3. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the location of the inter-engaging portions is offset from the centre of each side of the polygonal shape.

4. A closure according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to the inter-engaging formations, the skirt and container portion exterior have camming surfaces which can engage with one another when the lid or cap member is placed on the container member and which tend, as the inter-engageable projections are brought into engagement, to urge the lid or cap member to rotate relatively to the container member to achieve a maximum area of inter-engagement between those projections.

5. A closure according to claim 4, wherein the camming surfaces take the form of a bead on the exterior of the container portion and a recess with a sloping side on the interior wall of the skirt of a lid or cap member, both offset from the centre of each side of the polygonal shape.

6. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the peripheral extent of the inter-engaging portions of the inter-engaging projections is less than 8, most preferably 5.

7. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the two inter-engaging members on each of the sides may have angled or chamfered sections to assist quick application of the lid or cap when pushing in an axial direction.

8. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the interior of the cap or lid includes a seal member adapted, when the cap or lid is applied, to seal the container opening.

9. A closure according to claim 1, wherein the exterior of the skirt has a pair of relief textured areas, at or near two opposed corners of the polygonal shape.

10. A feeding bottle for infants incorporating a closure according to claim 1, wherein the lid or cap member incorporate a teat and a subsidiary cap member to cover the teat when the bottle is not being used for feeding.

11. A feeding bottle for infants according to claim 10, wherein the container portions of the bottle are in the form of stackable open-topped containers.

12. A feeding bottle for infants according to claim 10, wherein the wall of the container portion has two sections between which is a transition section between a narrower lower section and a wide upper section, the transition section matching the shape and size of the upper rim of the container section.

13. A feeding bottle for infants according to claim 1, consisting of a container portion and two lids or caps, both of which will fit on the container portion, one of which is configured to hold a teat while the other constitutes a plain lid cap or cover enabling the container portion to be used as a storage container.

Description

[0021] The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings which show a baby feeding bottle constructed in accordance with the invention.

[0022] In the drawings:

[0023] FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a feeding bottle incorporating a closure according to the invention;

[0024] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the feeding bottle of FIG. 1 without the protective cap upside down;

[0025] FIG. 3 shows perspective views of the closure member from above and below;

[0026] FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are respectively perspective top and side views of the container portion of the feeding bottle shown in FIG. 1;

[0027] FIG. 7 shows how two such portions may be stacked;

[0028] FIG. 8 is a vertical section through the assembled bottle;

[0029] FIG. 9 is a section through the assembled bottle at the level of the closure;

[0030] FIG. 10 is a section similar to FIG. 9 but showing the relative position of the components when it is desired to remove the lid portion from the bottle portion;

[0031] FIG. 11 is a section through the lid portion of the bottle;

[0032] FIG. 12 is a detailed view of the inter-engaging parts of the closure from one side;

[0033] FIG. 13 is a horizontal sectional view showing the detail of certain of the features of the top of the bottle and the interior of the skirt forming part of the closure; and

[0034] FIG. 14 is a partial axial section showing the detail of the engagement between bottle and closure including the teat compressed between them.

[0035] Referring to the drawings, the baby feeding bottle consists of a cup-like container 1, a teat 2, a snap-fit closure ring 3 and a teat protector cover 4.

[0036] The teat protector 4 is a press-fit on to the exterior part of closure ring 3. The closure ring has a peripheral groove 6 in it shaped and dimensioned to receive in a snug fit a rim 7 formed on the teat 2.

[0037] The teat 2 is of generally known construction with an offset nipple 8 and an air inlet valve 9.

[0038] Moulded into the upper rim of the container 1 are four wedge-shaped cam members 12 and four latching members 13.

[0039] Moulded on the inside of closure ring 3 are corresponding recesses 15 and 14 respectively into which cam member 12 and latching member 13 may fit. As can be seen, each recess 14 has a short land in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the closure ring.

[0040] FIGS. 9 and 10 show the relative positions of the container section 1 and the closure ring 3 in normal use (FIG. 9) and when the closure ring is twisted in order to open the container so that its components may then be washed and sterilised for re-use. The resilience of the rim of the teat 2, which is normally made of relatively compressible flexible rubbery material, such as a silicone rubber, enables the parts to twist relative to one another and at the same time, as shown in FIG. 10, the inter-engaging portions of latching member 13 and recess 14 are moved relative to one another. The relative movement has both circumferential components and radial components, the latter being due to the flexing of the ring by the application of pressure to two opposite corners, the pressure points being indicated by the two arrows A in FIG. 10. There is a gentle dent in each corner to guide the user.

[0041] As soon as the respective horizontal inter-engaging portions of latching member 13 and the corresponding recess 14 have moved sufficiently far, the closure ring 3 detaches from the bottle base 1.

[0042] The dimensions of the components are designed so that the angular rotation of the closure ring 3 relative to the bottle base 1 is about 6.

[0043] It should be noted that the closure may be easily and securely effected simply by pushing the closure ring 3 axially towards the container section 1. The generally rectangular shape means that the user automatically aligns the two and, because of the chamfered entry points to the recesses in closure ring 3, final positioning of the ring 3 on the container portion 1 is achieved by interaction between the latch member 13 and cam member 12 on the one hand and the recesses 14 and 15 respectively on the other.

[0044] It is the flexing of the closure ring wall perpendicular to its plane caused by cam member 12 being driven into the face of the wall when the closure is undone and the offset (from the centre of the closure and container) of the force that results from the elastic wall trying to revert to its original shape that creates the restoring/closing torque. There is an additional cam wedging action which occurs when the two parts are close to being in final alignment. This flexing of the wall allows a more gentle, controllable restoring torque over the full 5-8 travel than a conventional final wedging bump-indent action that aligns the two parts at the end of their travel; a little wedging bump-indent action is, however, needed because the wall flex torque tends to zero as the two parts come into alignment. The degree to which the relative strength of these forces interact will depend on the particular contouring of the cam members, latching members and recesses, which can be achieved by careful design and accurate moulding of the top of the container section and the skirt of the closure ring.

[0045] Designing a baby feeding bottle as shown inn accompanying drawings gives rise to a number of advantages compared with many existing feeding bottles. First, because it is closed using a snap assembly, it is easy to do with one hand, for example by a parent holding a thirsty, and possibly fractious, baby. Secondly, the generally rectangular shape means that it is extremely easy to grip the bottle when twisting the closure ring off it. The forces involved for opening the bottle are rather different, as explained herein, from those which arise when the part are snap-fitted together, which gives rise to the advantage that the bottle will not come apart when dropped or thrown on to the floor full of milk by a recalcitrant infant. Although the parts are assembled with an axial push, they have to be separated with a relative twistimpact forces such as arise if the full bottle is dropped do not tend to create a relative twist between the two parts.

[0046] A further advantage is that the container for the milk may be configured to have a wide mouth with no undercuts; this materially increases the ease and effect of cleaning the bottle components after use.

[0047] Although the bottle illustrated is shown with a teat 2, this can be replaced as the child becomes older with a feeding spout of known form.

[0048] Although the teat 2 and closure ring 3 are shown as separate components in the specific embodiment illustrated, with the zig-zag section of the teat as shown most clearly in FIG. 8 being shaped to ensure that there is a good fit and a good seal, it is possible to conceive of a combined teat and closure ring where one is moulded on to the other.

[0049] The bottle may be provided with a second closure ring which, instead of having an aperture for a teat, simply constitutes a plain cover which forms a lid enabling the bottle portion to be used for storing liquids or solids. When not used for storage, the tapered shape of the bottle enables a plurality of such bottle containers to be stacked as shown in FIG. 7. As can be seen in the Figures, the exterior of the container portion has an upper section of size slightly larger than its lower section, with a transition about half-way up the container portion. The container portion is dimensioned so that the lower part of one fits easily, i.e. without jamming, into the upper part of a like container portion, with the transition in the wall of the upper container portion resting on the upper rim of the lower container portion.