Patent Application
20160256762
This invention provides a way for athletes and others to carry a mouthful of water or other liquid inside their mouths, attached to a mouthguard, for later consumption under circumstances which otherwise prevent the taking of a normal drink. Many fields of endeavor, athletic and otherwise, have an endurance component, where the person is on the field, driving the high-speed vehicle, or up in the rigging of the ship for a long time, where it is not reasonably feasible to reach for anything, including any container of water or other liquid, to wet a dry throat.
The need for even a small sip of water or other liquid during endurance activities can become very great, and very distracting, for athletes and others. Besides water, a necessary element of life, health, and performance, there are other formulated liquids known to enhance performance and to avoid injury by supplying necessary minerals, salts, and nutrients to a person undergoing extreme exertion. But in many fields of endeavor, it is impractical or impossible to carry a container of water or other liquid or to take a drink from any such container. Doing so would interrupt the concentration of the person, at the least, and might compromise the safety or effectiveness of the high-concentration task at hand.
There is a need for a way to carry such water and other liquids in the mouth of a person, and to be able to dispense such liquid without using the hands or otherwise shifting focus from the task at hand.
Mouthguards are well known in athletics and other activities where a person's teeth are subject to injury. A great variety of mouthguards are available, including custom-made mouthguards, adapted to specific needs and preferences of various fields of endeavor and of various persons. There is a need to accommodate these already existing, sometimes expensive, mouthguards when making an improvement to the technology of mouthguards.
Others have recognized the benefit of assigning additional tasks to the mouthguard. Hawkins (US20130087157 A1) teaches a “supplement dispensing mouthguard” in which “the supplement is gradually and safely dispersed into the user's mouth through openings in the mouthguard.” Turkbas (WO 2014134198 A1) teaches a “therapeutic mouthguard system” having “a chamber formed within the mouthguard that is configured to accommodate the delivery component.” Funt (U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,860) teaches, “delivering an active agent into an oral cavity of a patient” with no mouth-guarding function. Rodgers & Niederer (WO2014085618 A2) teach a “mouth-guard with insert” where the “insert for the mouth-guard includes one or more liquid chambers” but “the liquid passes through the orifice of the main body [of the mouthguard] into a user's mouth.” None of these prior teachings address the problem here. And all of these prior teachings require new mouthguards, displacing all existing mouthguards already in use. What is needed is a refillable liquid-carrying attachment for both new and existing mouthguards, where tongue pressure dispenses the liquid from the attachment itself, not through the mouthguard.
The Liquid-Carrying Attachment for a Mouthguard provides a liquid-carrying container made of shape-retaining flexible material shaped and sized to fit into the roof of a person's mouth, a flexible strap attached to one end of the liquid-carrying container, and an orifice in the opposite end for getting water into and out of the container. The liquid can be dispensed into a person's mouth by the application of tongue pressure, and the container can be refilled as necessary.
Referring to
The container 11 is made of shape-retaining flexible material such as a plastic or rubber. The container 11 is shaped and sized to fit into the roof of a person's mouth. An orifice 12 is located in the end of the container that faces backwards, towards a person's throat, when the invention is in use. This orifice can be a simple hole if the shape-retaining flexible material used is sufficiently stiff to prevent the container from collapsing, or the orifice can be a valve that will retain the liquid until pressure is put on the container with the person's tongue, which is the method of dispensing liquid from the container.
A flexible strap 13, which can be a variety of sizes and configurations, is attached to the end of the container opposite the orifice, which is the front end. The flexible strap has a mouthguard-attachment section 14 on it, close to the front end of the container. The purpose of the mouthguard-attachment section 14 is to engage with and attach securely to the strap slot 21 of a mouthguard 20. Secure attachment prevents the liquid-carrying container 11 from becoming dislodged and possibly going down a person's throat.
In an embodiment of the invention, the mouthguard-attachment section 14 has 2 tabs protruding from the strap, and a number of holes placed in the strap and the tabs. The tabs lock into corresponding recesses in the strap slot 21 of a mouthguard 20, and the holes accommodate protrusions within the mouthguard, making a secure attachment. For purposes of attachment, the flexible strap 13 only needs to be long enough to have a mouthguard-attachment section 14. Otherwise, the flexible strap 13 can be configured to best suit particular activities, such as a long strap for attachment to a helmets's faceguard, or a minimal strap having a connection point for attachment to a cord around the neck or other means of preventing the swallowing or loss of the mouthguard.
In use, the liquid-carrying container 11 is located within the arch of a mouthguard and the roof of a person's mouth, with the orifice 12 pointing toward a person's throat. The liquid can be dispensed into a person's mouth by the application of tongue pressure.
The Liquid-Carrying Attachment for a Mouthguard 10 can be refilled as necessary, by squeezing and releasing the apparatus while the orifice is submerged in a liquid, or by injecting liquid into the orifice.
Many changes and modifications can be made in the system of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof. I, therefore, pray that my rights to the present invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.
