The present invention relates to baby products, in particular, pacifiers.
The present generation of pacifiers is typically comprises a soft nipple held to a fairly rigid plastic shield by a rigid plastic plug. These shields and plugs are not designed to provide protection from a baby falling and potentially injuring the mouth area. This issue is particularly of concern as prior to the age of about 9-12 months of age, babies do not have the parachute reflex (the tendency to put out their hands upon falling), and so they are prone to injuring their mouths, etc upon falling at an early age.
Older style pacifier designs include pacifiers with a soft disk-like shield (e.g. made of rubber or silicone). These shields are particularly large in order to prevent swallowing as they are soft and can bend/deform easily thereby allowing ingestion if not for their large size.
As mentioned, more modern pacifiers comprise rigid shields which thus need not be oversized, and have other advantages such as lower cost, the possibility of printing on the shield, a smoother touch on the baby's face and reduced skin irritation; but on the other hand do not provide significant protection to the baby's mouth if the baby falls forward.
The present invention relates to pacifiers of the type having a rigid shield. In addition to the rigid shield, such pacifiers comprise a nipple on one side of the shield and a plug on the other side of the shield, which secures the nipple. Some kind of handle is also commonly present.
It is an object of the present invention to provide such a pacifier with a shock absorbing feature. This shock absorber feature or mechanism is achieved by incorporating a plug with an associated shock absorber (e.g. resilient material such as an annular component, a loop, etc; a pillow; cushion; foam; gel). The shock absorber may be integrally formed, associated with or attached to the pacifier—typically the plug, but alternatively associated with the shield. In whichever embodiment, the shock absorber mechanism comprises a pillow, cushion, foam material, gel, or other resilient/energy absorbing material or design, or combination thereof, or other such appropriate shock absorber mechanism.
According to embodiments of one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pacifier for a baby of the type having a rigid shield, further comprising: a nipple; and a plug for securing the nipple to the rigid shield, wherein the pacifier comprises a shock absorbing feature disposed on an outer facing portion of the pacifier, for absorbing a shock in the event that the baby falls forward.
In some embodiments, the shock absorbing feature comprises a resilient member of the plug; and in some of those embodiments the resilient member is accordion-shaped, and or the resilient member is annular and disposed between a plug base and plug head of the plug, and/or the plug base comprises an alignment mechanism, and for example the alignment mechanism comprises at least one guide aperture with at least one cooperating and correspondingly disposed extension fitting into the guide aperture(s). In other of those embodiments, the shock absorbing feature comprises a resilient loop-shaped member attached to the plug or the shield. In yet other of those embodiments, the shock absorbing feature comprises a pillow-like member; and in some of such embodiments, the pillow-like member comprises a gas therein, and/or a foamed member therein, and/or a gel therein; and in particular embodiments the pillow-like member comprises a plurality of cells therein.
According to embodiments of another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pacifier plug for a pacifier for securing a nipple to a rigid shield, the plug comprising: a shock absorbing feature disposed on an outer facing portion of the plug, for absorbing a shock in the event that the baby falls forward.
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:
The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings referred to above. Dimensions of components and features shown in the figures are chosen for convenience or clarity of presentation and are not necessarily shown to scale. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the following description to refer to the same and like parts.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features/components of an actual implementation are necessarily described.
Plug 16 comprises a shock absorber such as an annular resilient member 18 and a plug head 20 and a plug base 22. Plug base 22 has a nipple fixing member 24 for securing nipple 10 to rigid shield 12 at a nipple and plug base receiving opening 26 in the shield. Plug base 22 also comprises a disk-shaped member 28 from which projects a plug head guide 30 for interacting and guiding the plug head in the event of compression of the shock absorbing annular resilient member 18 as may occur in the case of a baby falling forward on the pacifier when the pacifier is in the baby's mouth. To help seat resilient member between plug head 20 and plug base 22, either or both of plug head 20 and plug base 22 may comprise a beveled edge 23 (visible on the plug base in
Plug head 20 has a pair of extensions 32 with snap fit ends 34 for fitting into guide apertures 36 of plug head guide 30. Guide apertures 36, which act as an alignment mechanism, are elongated, for example rectangular to allow extensions 32 to slide forward and back as resilient member 18 is respectively compressed and recovers its shape.
In some embodiments, pillow 42 is attached to plug 16b by an attachment ring 44, as illustrated, however, in other embodiments the pillow is integrally formed, attached directly or attached by other means.
It should be understood that the above description is merely exemplary and that there are various embodiments of the present invention that may be devised, mutatis mutandis, and that the features described in the above-described embodiments, and those not described herein, may be used separately or in any suitable combination; and the invention can be devised in accordance with embodiments not necessarily described above.