US3512301A - Toy and reclining baby bottle holder - Google Patents

Description

33 19, 1970 l :J KRAMER I 3,512,301

TOY 'AND RECLINING BABY BOTTLE HOLD ER v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 1968 INVENTOR. JOSEPH KRAMER FIG 3 W M 1 9,1 970 Q KRAMER I 3,512.30

. TOY AND RECLI NING BABY. BOTTLE HOLDER Fild Jun 6, i968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i v I l l I l l I l I I l l l 60 60 58 l 58 F 56-""";- m

INVENTOR. JOSEPH KRAMER United States Patent 3,512,301 TOY AND RECLINING BABY BO'ITLE HOLDER Joseph Kramer, 1200 Tallwood Ave., Hollywood, Fla. 33021 Filed June 6, 1968, Ser. No. 734,930 Int. Cl. A63h /00 US. Cl. 46-175 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A combination toy and reclining baby bottle holder comprising a tube for receiving the bottle, a first ring aflixed to one end of the tube and encircling the tube to provide a rest for that end of the tube, a second ring affixed to and encircling the other end of the tube, and a plurality of legs projecting radially outwardly from the second ring for supporting the tube and bottle at an angle to a horizontal surface. The tube includes a stop portion so that a nipple on the bottle is outside the lower end of the tube. A stretchable cord afiixed to the tube exerts gripping action on the bottle, and a rattling means is provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Although many types of nursing bottle holders have been proposed, and some have been made available commercially, they have not been completely satisfactory. Some have been too mechanical and the mechanism is subject to breakage or damage. Some have not been as safe as desired. It would be desirable to have a baby bottle holder which would support itself in a reclining position and would also be useful as a toy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The article of the present invention serves three purposes: (I) it is a toy which appeals to babies, (2) it serves as a bottle holder which can easily be held and manipulated by a baby, and (3) it also serves as a recliner which can be placed on a horizontal surface to position a bottle at an angle with the surface with the nipple raised and accessible to the baby for nursing. The article includes a tube for receiving the bottle, a first ring at one end of the tube adapted to rest on the horizontal surface, and a second ring at the other end of the tube provided with a plurality of legs for contacting the surface to tilt the tube and a bottle therein. The legs support the holder and bottle in a stable position, but if the baby rolls the holder over, another set of legs comes into contact with the horizontal surface to keep the bottle in a tilted position. Because of the tilted position, the nipple is kept full until the bottle is nearly empty. The nipple is always raised from the surface by the first ring and is accessible to a baby for nursing. The tube, rings and even the legs can be molded in one piece from plastic material. The tube has a stop portion at one end, and the other end of the tube is large enough to allow insertion of the bottle into the tube until the bottle contacts the stop portion. The holder may be provided wih rattling means, and also a stretchable cord affixed to the tube for exerting gripping action on the bottle.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an article which serves the multiple purposes of being a toy, a nursing bottle holder, and a recliner.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination toy and reclining baby bottle holder which, when placed on a horizontal surface, always positions the bottle in a tilted position, even if the baby should roll the article over.

A further object of the invention is to provide a comice bination toy and trecylining baby bottle holder which consistently positions a baby bottle so that the nipple is raised from the surface on which the article rests but is readily accessible to the baby.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combination toy and holder as described above consisting of a tube with rings at the ends thereof, one of the rings having legs for stabilizing the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a toy and holder as described in the last preceding paragraph With a stop inside the tube which consistently positions the bottle so that its nipple is outside the tube.

Still another object is to provide a toy and holder which grips a baby bottle firmly but allows easy insertion and removal of the bottle.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

On the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a combined toy and holder in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a baby bottle being shown in the toy-holder in dashed lines;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the toy-holder with portions cut away;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the toyholder;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the toy-holder taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the toy-holder with a bottle therein and with the toy-holder resting on a horizontal surface and holding the bottle in a tilted position;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view of a toy-holder forming another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the toy-holder of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the toy-holder taken along line 88 of FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 6.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As shown on the drawings:

Referring first to FIGS. l-5, the combination toy and holder 10 includes a tube 12, the major portion of which is only slightly larger in diameter on the inside thereof than a baby bottle 14 so that the bottle 14 can easily be inserted in the tube 12 from the bottom thereof as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3. The top end portion 16 of the tube 12, as shown in FIG. 3 is slightly smaller in inside diameter than the outside diameter of the bottle so that when the bottle is inserted into the tube 12 from the bottom end 18 thereof, the bottle comes into contact with reduced diameter portion 16 which thus positions the bottle so that its nipple 20 is Outside the tube. Tube portion 16 thus acts as a stop. A resiliently stretchable cord 22 extends across the inside of the tube 12, and through the wall of the tube at both ends thereof. The ends 24 and 26 of the cord 22 are received within recesses in balls 28 and 30 and are knotted so that cord 22 is taut. As shown in FIG. 4, when the bottle 14 is inserted into 3 tube 12, it engages and stretches cord 22 so that the cord exerts a gripping or biasing action on the bottle to hold it in place.

A first hollow tubular ring 32 is afiixed to and may be formed integrally with the upper end 16 of tube 12 as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 3. This ring acts as a rest for holding the nipple end of the bottle in a raised position as shown in FIG. 5, the nipple being raised from the horizontal surface 34 just enough so that a baby which is lying down can turn his head and suck on the nipple 20.

Aflixed to and preferably integral with the lower end 18 of tube 12 is a second hollow tubular ring 36. A plurality of legs 38 (in this case four legs) are afiixed to and project radially from ring 36. The legs 38 extend outwardly to a radius which is substantially greater than the outside radius of ring 32, and the legs 38 are sufficiently long so that two of the legs will always contact the horizontal surface 34 and support the tube 12 and bottle 14 in a tilted position as shown in FIG. 5. The legs 38 keep the toy-holder fairly stable, but it may be seen that a baby can easily roll the holder over. In this case another set of legs 38 will come into contact with surface 34 and support the bottle 14 in the same tilted position. The legs 38 are spaced equidistantly from each other, and in the illustrated embodiment they are spaced at angles of 90 degrees as shown in FIG. 2. The legs keep the bottle tilted sufiiciently that the nipple remains full until the contents are nearly gone. This minimizes the chance that the baby will swallow air. A minimum liquid level is indicated by dashed line 39 in FIG. 5.

The legs 38 may be hollow bulbs, each having a shank portion 40 with a snap-in tip 42 fitting into an opening in ring 36, tip 42 being enlarged so that it will not come out of the ring easily, but can be forced out so that it will come out of the ring rather than break if enough force is applied. Inside each of the legs 38 is a ball 44, so that each leg serves as a rattle for the amusement of the child.

FIGS. 6-9 show another embodiment of the invention including a tube having a hollow tubular ring 52 afiixed to and preferably integral with the upper end 54 of the tube. The ring 52 serves as a rest exactly like ring 32 described previously. At the lower end 56 of tube 50, there is another hollow ring 58 encircling the tube, and ring 58 is shaped as shown in FIG. 7 to form integral legs 60 which are spaced at angles of 90 degrees from each other. The tube 50 and rings 52 and 58 are preferably all molded integrally from plastic material. Rings 52 and 58 are hollow, but legs 60 are preferably solid or at least have thick walls so that a baby can chew on them for teething purposes. The legs 60 can be the same size as ring 58 as shown in FIG. 8, or they may be larger or smaller in thickness than ring 58 if desired.

The legs 60 extend to a radius which is substantially greater than the outside radius of ring 52 so that legs 60 and ring 52 will support the toy-holder on a horizontal surface with both the tube 50 and the bottle 14 in a tilted position substantially the same as shown in FIG. 5. Again, ring 52 keeps the nipple 20 elevated but readily accessible to a baby, so that the baby, when lying on surface 34, can merely turn his head and suck on the nipple. Two of the legs 60 support the toy-holder in a stable position, but the article can easily be turned so that any two of the legs 60 rest on surface 34. The nipple remains full until the bottle is nearly empty, and this minimizes the chance that the baby will take air.

As shown in FIG. 6 tube 50 has two apertures 62 and 64 connected by a slot 66, all formed in the wall of tube 50. Two buttons 68 are afiixed to tube 50 on opposite sides of slot 66, and a resilient stretchable cord 70 is afiixed on opposite ends thereof to buttons 68 such that cord 70 is always taut. When a bottle is inserted into tube 50, the edges of the material at slot 66 are spread slightly, thereby stretching cord 70 further so that it exerts a gripping action on the bottle by causing the tube itself to grip the bottle.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 69, the bottle 14 is inserted bottom end first into end 54 of tube 50. An inwardly extending flange 72 is formed integrally with the bottom end 56 of tube 50, and flange 72 acts as a stop which is contacted by the bottle when it is fully inserted. As shown in FIG. 6-, the stop 72 consistently positions the bottle 14 so that its nipple 20 is outside the tube. The nipple never touches the tube and so is kept sterile.

As shown in FIG. 8, balls 74 (or bells) may be provided inside hollow ring 52 to serve as a rattle for amusing the child.

The article of the invention thus serves multiple purposes of being a toy, a bottle holder and a recliner. The article may be brightly colored and light to encourage a baby to play with it. The toy-holder always supports a bottle in a properly tilted position for nursing when it is placed on its side as shown in FIG. 5. The toyholder can be manufactured economically, and is quite rugged so that it should have a long useful life.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A combination toy and reclining baby bottle holder comprising a tube having an inside diameter sufiiciently large to receive a baby bottle therein with a nipple on the bottle outside one end of the tube, a first legless ring aflixed to said one end of said tube encircling said tube and providing a rest for said one end, a second ring affixed to and encircling the other end of said tube, and at least four legs projecting radially outward from said second ring and terminating at a radius greater than the outside radius of said first ring, said legs being equidistantly spaced apart angularly and sufficiently long so that any two of said legs will support said other end of said tube above said one end of said tube when said holder is placed on a horizontal surface, thereby holding a bottle in said tube at an angle to a horizontal surface with the nipple raised from said surface by said first ring and accessible to a baby for nursing, said tube being capable of being shifted from one pair of legs to another pair of legs without changing the support angle for the bottle, but being resistant to rolling due to the spacing of said legs.

2. The combined toy and holder as claimed in claim 1 in which said first and second rings are integral with said tube.

3. The combined toy and holder as claimed in claim 1 in which said rings are hollow.

4. The combined toy and holder as claimed in claim 1 in which said tube has a stop portion therein for positioning said bottle with a nipple outside said one end of said tube.

5. The combined toy and holder as claimed in claim 4 in which said one end of said tube has a portion smaller in diameter than said bottle, providing said stop portion, the other end of said tube being large enough to allow insertion of the bottle into the tube until the bottle contacts said stop portion.

6. The combined toy and holder as claimed in claim 4 in which said other end of said tube has a portion smaller in diameter than said bottle, providing said stop portion, said one end of said tube being large enough to allow insertion of the bottle into the tube until the bottle contacts said stop portion.

7. The combined toy and holder of claim 1 in which said legs are hollow bulbs attached to said second ring and have rattling means therein.

8. The combined toy and holder of claim 1 in which said legs are integral portions of said second ring.

9. The combined toy and holder of claim 8 in which said second ring is hollow and contains rattling means.

10. The combined toy and holder of claim 1 including resiliently stretchable cord means afiixed to said tube for exerting gripping action on said bottle.

11. A combination toy and reclining baby bottle holder comprising a tube having an inside diameter sulficiently large to receive a baby bottle therein with a nipple on the bottle outside one end of the tube, said one end of said tube having a portion defining an opening which portion is smaller in diameter than said bottle, thus providing a stop portion for holding said bottle, the other end of said tube being large enough to allow insertion of the bottle into the tube until the bottle contacts said stop portion, resiliently stretchable means crossing the interior of said tube and affixed to said tube for exerting gripping action on said bottle, a first legless ring affixed to said one end of said tube encircling said tube and providing a rest for said one end, said first ring providing a continuous circular surface any portion of which may provide a rest for said tube, a second ring affixed to and encircling the other end of said tube, and at least four legs projecting radially outward from said second ring and terminating at a radius greater than the outside radius of said first ring, said legs being hollow and equidistantly spaced apart angularly, with said legs being sutliciently long so that any two of said legs will support said other end of said tube above said one end of References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,063,554 12/ 1936 Meyerson 248-106 2,489,773 11/1949 Hall 248105 2,706,571 4/1955 Ryan 215- 3,258,873 7/1966 Franco 46--11 3,289,986 12/1966 Martin 248103 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner -E. KRAUSE, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 215-100; 248105

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