US3342443A - Bottle holding attachment - Google Patents

Description

p 1967 J. D. BENNYHOFF BOTTLE HOLDING ATTACHMENT Filed March 24, 1966 INVENTOR JAMES D. BEN/v YHOF'F A 7' TOP/V5 Y5 United States Patent 3,342,443 BOTTLE HOLDING ATTACHMENT James D. Bennyhoff, Rte. 1, Box 826-E, Excelsior, Minn. 55331 Filed Mar. 24, 1966, Ser. No. 537,140 4 Claims. (Cl. 248-104) This invention relates generally to holding devices, and more particularly, to improvements in bottle holding attachments for infants seats of the reclining type.

An important object of this invention is the provision of a bottle holding attachment which can be quickly and easily applied to an infants seat for supporting a feeding bottle in proper position to dispense liquid food to the infant occupying the seat, and as quickly and easily removed.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a bottle holding attachment which may be easily adjusted to various position relative to the seat whereby to present a feeding bottle to infants of diiferent sizes or to an infant disposed in various positions in the seat.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a bottle holding attachment as set forth, which will, if the bottle is pushed away by the infant, support the bottle in a generally upright position.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a bottle holding attachment having means for preventing accidental detachment from an infants seat which is mounted.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a bottle holding attachment which is relatively simple and inexpensive to produce, which is easy to keep in a sanitary condition, and which is durable in use. To the above ends, I provide a bottle holding attachment comprising a main body and a yoke, the main body being made from asinglelength of fairly stiff or hard but resilient metal wire formed to provide a generally U-shaped saddle at its longitudinally central portion, a pair of upper arm portions diverging downwardly from opposite ends of the saddle and having outer ends curving downwardly and inwardly, a pair of downwardly converging arm portions extending from said outer ends and having lower end portions bent to form downwardly diverging leg portions terminating at their lower ends in outwardly and upwardly curving hook-like feet, the yoke being curved and formed to provide loops at its opposite ends, said loops encompassing the main body adjacent the opposite ends of the U-shaped saddle, the yoke and saddle cooperating to define an opening for reception of an infant feeding bottle.

The above, and still further highly important objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification, appended claims and attached drawings.

Referring to the drawings, which illustrate the invention, and in which like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of an infants reclining seat showing the bottle holding attachment of this invention mounted thereon;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, but showing the attachment of this invention in a different position from that shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 but showing a different position of the attachment;

FIG. 4 is a view in front elevation of the bottle holding attachment;

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation; and

FIG. 6 is a view in top plan.

The bottle holding attachment of the present invention is adapted for' use with infant supporting devices, particularly of the type shown in US. Patent 2,324,421 and 3,006,688, which are in the nature of seats which can be adjusted between generally upright positions and rearwardly tilted reclining positions. A reclining seat of this general type is shown in FIG. 1 and indicated in its entirety by the numeral 1, the seat comprising a bottom 2, a rear wall 3 and laterally spaced side walls 4, the side walls 4 being relatively wide or deep at the lower portion thereof near the bottom wall 2, and relatively shallow toward the upper end portions thereof. Such seats are generally made from plastics and are formed with marginal reinforcing flanges or beads 5. Further, the seat 1 is shown as including supporting legs or braces 6 and 7 which may be assumed to be adjustable to vary the inclination of the seat 1. The seat 1 in and of itself does not comprise the instant invention. Hence, in the interest of brevity, further detailed showing and description thereof is omitted.

The attachment of this invention comprises a main body 8 and a cooperating yoke 9. The main body 8 is preferably made from a single relatively long length of somewhat stiff but resilientvwire or metal rod formed at its longitudinally central portion to provide a generally U-shaped saddle 10. The body 8 is bent downwardly at the opposite ends of the saddle 10, as indicated at 11, to provide a pair of downwardly diverging upper arm portions 12 the outer ends 13 of which curve downwardly and inwardly to provide the outer ends of lower arm portions 14 which converge in a downward direction. At the inner or lower ends of the arms 14, the main body 8 is, bent, as indicated at 15, to provide downwardly diverging leg portions 16 which terminate at their lower ends in laterally outwardly projecting foot p0rtions which define upwardly opening hooks .17.

As shown, the yoke 9. is formed from a relatively short length of resilient wire similar to that of the body.8,

and is curved in a direction opposite to the curve of the saddle 10..At its opposite ends, the yoke 9 is formed to provide a pair of loops 18 which encompass the main body 8 at the bends 11 or adjacent the opposite ends of thesaddle 10, the yoke 9 overlying the saddle .10. and cooperating therewith to define an opening 19 for reception of a conventional nipple-equipped babys feeding bottle 20. The opening 19 has a width greater than the width of a conventional feeding bottle 20, and a height slightly less than the cross sectional height of the bottle, the resilience of the main body 8 and yoke 9 permitting the same to yield sufficiently to permit insertion of the bottle 20 into the opening 19, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, but firmly gripping the bottle 20 against accidental slippage in the opening 19.

In use, a pair of preferably countersunk openings 21 are made in the side walls 14 of the reclining seat 1, and the hook-like foot portions 17 are inserted into the openings 21. In practice, the normal distance between the leg portions 16 is somewhat greater than the space between the walls 4 of the seat 1, so that the legs 16 must be moved toward each other to permit insertion of the foot portions 17 through the openings 21. Preferably, the distance between the bends 15 is substantially equal to the distance between the walls 4 of the seat. With the foot portions 17 extending outwardly through their respective openings 21, the attachment may be adjusted upwardly or downwardly relative to the seat 1 by sliding the leg portions 16 angularly upwardly or downwardly through their respective openings, as shown in FIGS. 1-3, the attachment being frictionally held against upward or downward movement due to the frictional engagement of the leg portions 16 against the inner surface of the side walls 4 adjacent the openings 21. Thus,

Patented Sept. 19, 1967 the attachment may be easily placed so that the feeding nipple of the bottle 20 is properly positioned with respect to the infant seated in the seat 1. Should the feeding infant push the bottle 20 in a forward direction, the main body 8 will merely pivot about the axes of the openings 21 toward its dotted line position shown in FIG. 1, wherein the feeding bottle 20 will be held in a generally upright position, whereby to prevent leakage of the liquid food therefrom through the nipple. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the curved portions 13 of the main body 8 are disposed a greater distance apart than the normal distance between the foot portions 17, whereby to be somewhat out of the reach of the infant and to engage the marginal head or flange on the side Walls 4 to limit swinging movements of the main body 8.

It will be further noted, with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6, that the various portions of the main body 8 and the yoke 9 are disposed in a common plane that is substantially straight with respect to the transverse dimension of the main body 8 and curved or arcuate with respect to the generally vertical dimension of the main body 8. This curvature places the feeding bottle 20 at a proper angle to dispense the liquid food therein when the main body 8 is swung to its feeding position relative to the infant within the seat 1. It will be further noted that, should the infant occupying the seat 1 grasp one side or the other of the main body 8 and manage to pull the same upwardly, the adjacent hook-like foot portion 17 will hookingly engage the side wall 4 surrounding the adjacent opening and prevent the adjacent-like portion 16 from being totally withdrawn from the opening 21. However, when it is desired to remove the attachment from the seat, it is a simple matter to raise the main body 8 until the foot portions 17 are adjacent their re spective openings 21, thereafter moving the leg portions 16 laterally toward each other to cause the foot portions 17 to be withdrawn from the openings 21. The main body 8 and yoke 9 may, if desired, be painted, covered with plastic material, or otherwise treated. The simplicity of the device allows the same to be easily cleaned and kept in a sanitary condition.

While I have shown and described a commercial embodiment of my attachment for infants seats, it will be understood that the same is capable of modification without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bottle holding attachment for infants reclining seats having spaced side walls and bottom and back walls, said attachment comprising a main body and a yoke, said main body being formed from a single relatively long length of somewhat hard resilient metallic wire to provide, a generally U-shaped saddle intermediate its ends,

a pair of normally downwardly diverging upper arm portions extending from said saddle and having outer ends forming, and a pair of downwardly converging lower arm portions having lower end portions bent to form a pair of downwardly diverging leg portions, the lower ends of said leg portions terminating in a pair of laterally outwardly projecting foot portions, said yoke comprising a relatively short length of wire bent into arcuate form and having its opposite ends formed into loops encompassing said main body adjacent opposite ends of said saddle, said yoke cooperating with said body to define an opening for reception of an infants feeding bottle, said foot and leg portions being adapted to project outwardly through openings in the side walls of an infants reclining seat, said leg portions being disposed a distance apart whereby the resilience of said body yieldingly urges said leg portions toward engagement with said side walls adjacent the openings therein when the legs are projected through said openings.

2. The bottle holding attachment defined in claim 1 in which the downwardly curving outer ends of said upper arm portions are normally disposed a greater distance apart than said foot portions.

3. The bottle holding attachment defined in claim 1 in which said foot portions curve laterally outwardly and upwardly from the lower ends of said leg portions to define upwardly opening hooks.

4. The bottle holding attachment defined in claim 3 in which said saddle and said upper and lower arm, leg and foot portions are all disposed in a common plane having a straight lateral dimension and a curved normally generally vertical dimension.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,336,809 4/1920 Batty 248-407 3,151,828 10/1964 Alloy 248104 3,153,556 10/1964 Westerback 248-107 X 3,184,193 5/1965 Melvin 248-106 ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner.

R. P. SEITTER, Assistant Examiner.

Claims (1)

1. A BOTTLE HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR INFANT''S RECLINING SEATS HAVING SPACED SIDE WALLS AND BOTTOM AND BACK WALLS, SAID ATTACHMENT COMPRISING A MAIN BODY AND A YOKE, SAID MAIN BODY BEING FORMED FROM A SINGLE RELATIVELY LONG LENGTH OF SOMEWHAT HARD RESILIENT METALLIC WIRE TO PROVIDE; A GENERALLY U-SHAPED SADDLE INTERMEDIATE ITS ENDS, A PAIR OF NORMALLY DOWNWARDLY DIVERGING UPPER ARM PORTIONS EXTENDING FROM SAID SADDLE AND HAVING OUTER ENDS FORMING, AND A PAIR OF DOWNWARDLY CONVERGING LOWER ARM PORTIONS HAVING LOWER END PORTIONS, BENT TO FORM A PAIR OF DOWNWARDLY DIVERGING LEG PORTIONS, THE LOWER ENDS OF SAID PORTIONS TERMINATING IN A PAIR OF LATERALLY OUTWARDLY PROJECTING FOOT PORTIONS, SAID YOKE COMPRISING A RELATIVELY SHORT LENGTH OF WIRE BENT INTO ARCUATE FORM AND HAVING ITS OPPOSITE ENDS FORMED INTO LOOPS ENCOMPASSING SAID MAIN BODY ADJACENT OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID SADDLE, SAID YOKE COOPERATING WITH SAID BODY TO DEFINE AN OPENING FOR RECEPTION OF AN INFANT''S FEEDING BOTTLE, SAID FOOT AND LEG PORTIONS BEING ADAPTED TO PROJECT OUTWARDLY THROUGH OPENINGS IN THE SIDE WALLS OF AN INFANT''S RECLINING SEAT, SAID LEG PORTIONS BEING DISPOSED A DISTANCE APART WHEREBY THE RESILIENCE OF SAID BODY YIELDINGLY URGES SAID LEG PORTIONS TOWARD ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID SIDE WALLS ADJACENT THE OPENINGS THEREIN WHEN THE LEGS ARE PROJECTED THROUGH SAID OPENINGS.

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