Bottles and jars – Nursing bottles and nipples – With cover
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-08
2004-05-25
Mai, Tri M. (Department: 3727)
Bottles and jars
Nursing bottles and nipples
With cover
C215S011100, C215S390000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06739465
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to oral feeding bottles and more particularly to a novel sterilisable oral feeding bottle and a method of sterilisation therefor.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are a wide variety of infant oral feeding bottles on the market. In general, their components comprise a feed container, which is usually transparent and made of glass or plastics material, the container having at its open end a neck to which is releasably connected a feed dispensing means, usually a teat, formed of rubber or plastics material. The feed container is usually provided with a screw thread about its neck, and a threaded retaining collar is used to connect the feed dispensing means to the container.
Other components which can form part of a conventional infant oral feeding bottle include a sealing disc, which is used to cover the open end of the feed container when the feeding bottle is not in use, and a dormal cap which is a press fit on the retaining collar and is shaped in order to accommodate and protect the feed dispensing means when it is connected in its operative position.
After each feed it is important that the infant oral feeding bottle component parts should be sterilised, and a wide variety of sterilisers and sterilisation methods have been proposed. The term “sterilisation” for this purpose is used to indicate a certain standard which is generally accepted as being capable of killing the harmful bacteria that might be dangerous to young babies if such bacteria were to come into contact with the feed. This standard is more correctly called “disinfection”. Most of the products and methods which have been proposed, however, are called respectively “sterilisers” and “sterilisation” and this is the term which will henceforth be used in this document.
It is generally accepted that moist heat, steam or water at 80° C. for one minute on the surface of the components of the feeding bottle is sufficient to kill harmful bacteria and to sterilise the bottle components for use.
One method of sterilisation which is commonly used is to use a chemical bath into which the components are totally submerged for at least 30 minutes. This has the disadvantage that it takes a long time, and the recommended time period has to be restarted if further components are added to those already submerged. In addition, all traces of the chemical have to be removed as the chemical is harmful to ingest. For this reason, it is recommended that the bottle components are rinsed in recently boiled water after sterilisation, which can itself give rise to possible to re-infection.
Electrical sterilisers are also commercially available, and typically these can comprise an enclosed container capable of receiving six feeding bottles in disassembled state. A predetermined quantity of water, usually 30 ml or 40 ml is placed on a heater dish and boiled dry. The steam created sterilises the surfaces of all the feeding bottle components. The process takes from five to ten minutes, and is thus quicker than the chemical method, and probably more reliable, but does require a relatively expensive electrical device. The device is considerably more expensive than an electrical kettle, for example.
A further method which has been proposed is to place all of the feeding bottle components into a vessel together with a quantity of water, and to boil the water by placing the container in a microwave oven for a specific period sufficient to create steam within the vessel. The process takes approximately 10 minutes as the bottle components and the vessel itself also absorb heat, thus delaying the rise in temperature of the water.
Other sterilisation methods use a carrier for the feeding bottle components which is placed in a container over a pan of water so that the steam rises into the container as the pan of water is brought to the boil, eventually sterilising all the components. This is a fairly lengthy procedure. Alternatively, all the feeding bottle components are placed in a pan of boiling water and the water kept boiling for some time. If, in this latter method, some of the components are made of plastics that float or contain air bubbles that allow them to float, it cannot be established exactly how long they must stay in the boiling water in order to sterilise them.
As will be seen from the above, all of the known sterilisation methods use either expensive equipment, or potentially harmful chemicals, or take a considerable time to sterilise the components of a feeding bottle.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention, instead of placing water in a separate vessel, and then loading the feeding bottle components into this vessel, closing it and boiling the water either by an electrical heated dish or by a microwave oven, the sterilising fluid is introduced into the feed container to be sterilised, or into a novel cap which is releasably connectable to the open end of the feed container.
In a first aspect, the invention provides an oral feeding bottle, comprising a feed container having an open end and a feed dispensing means releasably connectable therewith, and a cap, adapted to fit over the open end of the feed container and to be releasably connected to the feed container, the cap being provided with means for stowing the feed dispensing means when the feed dispensing means is released from the container, whereby, when the cap is connected to the container, sterilisation of the feed dispensing means and the feed container can be carried out with a sterilising medium.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for sterilising an oral feeding bottle, the bottle comprising a feed container having an open end and a feed dispensing means releasably connectable therewith, wherein a sterilising chamber is formed from the feed container and a cap releasably engagable therewith, the chamber so formed enclosing the feed dispensing means, whereby sterilisation of the feed dispensing means and the interior of the feed container can take place using a sterilising medium disposed within the chamber.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a cap for an oral feeding bottle, the bottle comprising a feed container having an open end and a feed dispensing means releasably connectable therewith, the cap being adapted to fit over the open end of the container and to be releasably connectable therewith, wherein the cap is provided with means for stowing the feed dispensing means when the feed dispensing means is released from the container and the cap is connected to the feed container, whereby sterilisation of the feed dispensing means and the interior of the feed container can be carried out with a sterilising medium.
The feed container comprises a hollow body, which for example, can be cylindrical or square shaped in cross-sections. The feed container may be transparent and formed from glass or a plastics material, and can be provided with a neck and shoulder at its open end. The feed container can also desirably be provided with a graduated scale indicating the volume of the contents.
The open end or neck of the feed container is preferably provided with a screw thread co-operable with a screw threaded retaining collar for connecting the feed dispensing means to the feed container. The feed dispensing means normally is a teat or spout which can be formed from a rubber or plastics material. The teat or spout can be provided with a circumferential flange which is gripped by the retaining collar and serves to secure the teat to the open end of the feed container.
Other optional components of the oral feeding bottle of the invention include a sealing disc, which can co-operate with the retaining collar to seal the feed container, optionally with the teat or spout inverted therein.
In a yet further aspect of the invention a pair of tongs are provided for handling the sterilised components of the oral feeding bottle. According to this aspect of the invention, an oral feeding bottle comprises a feed container having an open end, feed dispensing means releasably connectable therewith,
Calvert John Richard
Hobbs Michael Anthony
Rowlands Martyn Omar
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Mai Tri M.
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