US3111296A

US3111296A - Nursing bottle holder

Info

Publication number: US3111296A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ludes Edward
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-04-03
Filing date: 1961-04-03
Publication date: 1963-11-19
Anticipated expiration: 1980-11-19

Description

Nov. 19, 1963 E. LUDES NURSING BOTTLE HOLDER Filed April 3, 1961 IN V EN TOR United States Patent ()fiice 3,l l 12% Patented Nov. 19, 1963 3,111,296 NURSING BGTT'LE HGLDER Edward Ludes, 3224 Durand Drive, Holiywood 28, Calif. Filed Apr. 3, 1961, Ser. No. 100,239 3 Claims. (Cl. 248-493) This invention relates to a holder for nursing bottles and has for an object to provide a holder that is capable of universal adjustment of its component parts to enable universal adjustment of a feeding or nursing bottle held thereby.

Another object of the invention is to provide a nursing bottle holder that has substantially universal application to supports such as sides of a baby carriage, walkers, cribs, and other furniture and vehicles used for babies.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in combination with a bottle holder of the character referred to,

a support member that is retained in operative position by the baby being fed.

This invention also has for its objects to provide such means that are positive in operation, convenient in use, easily installed in a working position and easily disconnected therefrom, economical of manufacture, relatively simple, and of general superiority and serviceability.

The invention also comprises novel details of construction and novel combinations and arrangements of parts, which will more fully appear in the course of the following description and which is based on the accompanying drawing. However, said drawing merely shows, and the following description merely describes, one embodiment of the present invention, which is given by way of illustration or example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a nursing bottle holder embodying a preferred form of the present invention.

1G. 2 is an elevational view of said holder as seen from the left in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the upper portion of the holder.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view as taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary side el vational view showing the engagement of the clamp with a thin edge of a supporting means.

FIG. 6 is a view taken from the right hand side of FIG. 5.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention comprises an adjustable holder 5 for a nursing bottle B here shown as detachably mounted on a support member 6 adapted to be held in operative position by a baby lying on a laterally extending flange portion 36 of said support memher.

The holder 5 comprises, generally, a spring biased, pincers-like clamp means 7 with adjustable clamp pads 8, a mount bracket 9 carried by said clamp and swivelly adjustable with respect to the clamp 7 as indicated by the two-headed arrow a, a clamp bracket 16 carried by the bracket 9 and rotationally adjustable with respect to the latter bracket as indicated by the two-headed arrow b, the planes of rotation of arrows a and b being normal to each other, support rod means 11 carried by the clamp bracket 19 adjustable longitudinally according to the twoheaded arrow c and rotationally on its axis according to the two-headed arrow a, a mounting bracket 12 carried by one end of the support rod means 11 adjustable relative to said means according to the two-headed arrow e, and a bottle clamp 13 carried by the bracket 12 swivelly rotational in a plane normal to the plane of rotation of said bracket 12. It will be clear, therefore, that a bottle B held in said clamp 13 may be adjusted towardand from the clamp 5, and in the directions of the arrows a, b, c, d and e to so locate and dispose the same that its liquid-discharging end is directed as desired to feed a baby, without the need for manually holding the bottle. Also, when the clamp means is engaged with a support as, for example, the member 6, the weight of a baby disposed thereon holds the support steady and, therefore, a bottle mounted in the clamp 13 and suitably adjusted in the holder will be held steady in a comfortable feeding position.

The clamp means '7 is shown as a spring biased, pincerslike device comprised of members 15 connected intermediate their ends by a hinge 16 and are shown having upper ends formed as handles engaged and biased by the arms of a torsion spring 17 having a coil surrounding the hinge pin 16 to move the outer ends of said handles away from each other and to press the pads 8 which are carried by hinge pins at the lower ends of the members 15 toward each other. The pivotal mounting of the pads on the said hinge pins 18 at the lower ends of members 15 enable the pads to accommodate to the shape of any support to which the same are applied. Tabs 19 on the end of the members 15 serve to limit the rotational positions of the pads so the clamp may be applied and removed with one hand. Said pads 3 are shaped so they will properly engage fiat as well as round or other shaped supports and the same are provided with rubber or felt liners 26 to obviate man-ing of the supports to which the present device may be removably affixed.

The mount bracket 9 is shown as comprising a lateral extension 21 on the upper end of one member 15, an angle piece 22 connected to said extension by a pivot 23, and one or more friction washers 24 interposed between said extension and angle piece. The axis of pivot 23 is vertical. Hence, the angle piece may be adjusted on said pivot rotationally according to the mentioned arrows a. The washers provide for the adjustment being frictionally maintained, as set.

The clamp bracket 10 is shown as a clip 25 engaged around the rod 26 of the means 11, the same terminating in clamp arms 27 that are drawn together by a wing bolt 28 passing through said arms and having threaded engagement with the angle piece 22. Although friction washers are not shown between the angle piece 22 and the clip 25, the same may be used, if desired, to insure maintenance of any angular adjustment of the bracket It relative to the bracket 9 according to the arrow b. At the same time, longitudinal adjustment of the rod 11 in any position according to arrow 0 and any rotational adjustment according to arrow d is maintained due to tightening of the clip 25 by the screw 28.

In addition to the rod 26, the support rod means 11 includes an enlargement 29 on one end of said rod, and a pivot 36 provided on the other end. The enlargement 29 obviates endwise separation of rod 26 from the clip 25 and the pivot 3i mounts the mounting bracket 12.

Said bracket 12 comprises an angle piece 31 that has one leg connected to the pivot 3%), with friction washers 32 interposed between said leg and a fiat formed in the rod 26, the other leg of the angle piece 31 being directed to be normal to the length of rod 26. The piece 31 is capable of adjustment relative to the rod 26 on the pivot 39, according to the arrow e, the adjustment being maintained by the friction washers 32.

The bottle clamp 13 is shown as a spring clip 33 that frictionally encompasses a bottle B and holds the same in any set longitudinal position in said clip. A pivot 34 connects said clip 33 with the mentioned normal leg of the angle piece 31 and friction washers 35 are provided,

as before, to create a frictional connection between said clip and angle piece so that a bottle may be positioned at any desired angle.

The support member 6 is shown as made of thin, pliable material, such as plastic, light metal (suitably coated) or fiber composition. The same is shown as having a flat base portion 36 with a support portion 37 along one side edge. In this case, the portion 37 is formed as a rectangular mounting wall formed by bent and formed portions of the member 6. Regardless how the portion 37 is formed or even if it comprises a separately applied part to the base portion 36, the same constitutes an elongated support part along which the clamp 7 may be moved to desired position. Of course, suitable bedding may be interposed between the base portion 36 and the baby or the same may be disposed between a mattress or pad. In any case, the babys weight will retain the member 6 in position, thereby insuring proper operative disposition of the bottle B.

Referring finally to FIGS. and 6, the purpose of the

tongue elements

39, 39 formed as integral portions of one of the clip members 15 and which extend radially from the axial line of the hinge 16 toward the clamp pads is illustrated. These tongue elements project in the same direction as the support engaging ends of the clamp forming members and are disposed at the side thereof adjacent the other members. In those cases in which the holder is required to be mounted on a thin edge of a supporting means such as, for example, on infant carriers formed from thin rigid sheet plastic such as shown for example at 40, the leverage of the weight of the bottie and the holding means on the hinge pins 18 coupled with the fact that the force exerted by the spring 17 in effecting the clamping action is considerably decreased, tends to make the mounting less steady than is desirable. In such case, as shown in FIG. 6, the clamp 7 is moved over the edge of the support to be engaged until the

tongue elements

39, 39 extend alongside of the support edge. The clamp then, in effect, engages one side of the support at two points, the pad 8 and the

tongue elements

39, 39 and at the other side by the other pad 8 thus effecting a rigid engagement. The tongue elements can, of course, engage either side of the supporting edge as may be found most convenient in positioning the bottle holding clamp. When the device is used on a thicker edge such as the portion 37 of the support 6 or on the side rail of a crib or the like, the engagement of the tongues therewith as shown in FIG. 1 is with the edge of the wider support element and tends to resist lateral movement of the clamp since lateral movement can then be achieved only with slippage of one or the other of the clamp pads on the surface engaged thereby. The tongues thus contribute to the rigidity of the engagement with the wider supports,

White the foregoing has illustrated and described what is now contemplated to be the best mode of carrying out the invention, the construction is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it is not desired to restrict the invention to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a nursing bottle holding device, a resilient, bottle-engaging clamp, a spring biased, incers-like clamp detachably engageable with a support adjacent to the infant to be supplied from the bottle and carrying adjustable supporting means on which said bottle engaging clamp is mounted; said incers-like clamp including means engageable with the edge or either side of the support engaged by said incers-like clamp and effective in cooperation with the support engaged by said incers-like clamp means to enable said pincers-like means to be self-securing by the spring bias thereof in different.

angular positions relative to the support engaged by said pincers-like clamp means.

2. A nursing bottle holder as claimed in claim 1 in which said means for enabling said pincers-like clamp means to self-securingly engage the support in different angular positions comprises a tongue element carried by one of the members constituting said pincers-like clamp means, and in which the end of said tongue element may be optionally engaged with the edge of the support engaged by said incers-like clamp means or a side of said tongue element may be engaged with a side of the engaged support to dispose said pincers-like clamp means at an angle to the position thereof when the end of said tongue element engages the support.

3. A nursing bottle holding device as claimed in claim 2 in which said bottle carrying means is detachably mounted on the one of said members constituting said pincers-like clamp means which also carries said tongue element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,554,201 Dalzell Sept. 22, 1925 1,688,765 Veras Oct. 23, 1928 1,753,875 Baumann Apr. 8, 1930 2,334,610 Crawford Nov. 16, 1943 2,349,054 Phipps May 16, 1944 2,483,303 Rysick Sept. 27, 1949 2,557,430 Hensley June 19, 1951 2,585,592 Sears Feb. 12, 1952 2,605,069 Gillaspy July 29, 1952 2,690,107 Ludwig Sept. 28, 1954

Claims

1. IN A NURSING BOTTLE HOLDING DEVICE, A RESLILENT, BOTTLE-ENGAGING CLAMP, A SPRING BIASED, PINCERS-LIKE CLAMP DETACHABLY ENGAGEABLE WITH A SUPPORT ADJACENT TO THE INFANT TO BE SUPPLIED FROM THE BOTTLE AND CARRYING ADJUSTABLE SUPPORTING MEANS ON WHICH SAID BOTTLE ENGAGING CLAMP IS MOUNTED; SAID PINCERS-LIKE CLAMP INCLUDING MEANS ENGAGEABLE WITH THE EDGE OR EITHER SIDE OF THE SUPPORT ENGAGED BY SAID PINCERS-LIKE CLAMP AND EFFECTIVE IN COOPERATION WITH THE SUPPORT ENGAGED BY SAID PINCERS-LIKE CLAMP MEANS TO ENABLE SAID PINCERS-LIKE MEANS TO BE SELF-SECURING BY THE SPRING BIAS THEREOF IN DIFFERENT ANGULAR POSITIONS RELATIVE TO THE SUPPORT ENGAGED BY SAID PINCERS-LIKE CLAMP MEANS.