Inflatable nursing pillow
An ergonomical pillow to be worn around the waist of woman, supporting infant in nursing position. The front pillow (10) has a front portion and adjacent left and right side portions. The front pillow (10) has an attaching mean (30a) attached to the left side and an attaching means (30b) attached right side or the front pillow (10). The nursing pillow (10) further comprises a webbing (45) with ends connected to the attaching means (30a) and (30b) A webbing (45) is laced around users back so that the ends of the webbing are over-passing the distal ends (13) and (13b) of the front pillow (10). The over-passing webbing is keeping distal end (13a) and (13b) down when a weight is placed on top of the front portion. The nursing pillow further comprises back support (32), supporting nursing woman's back against the seat.
Disclosed invention relates to nursing pillows supporting infant when nursing, especially to nursing pillows having an inflatable front pillow made out of polymeric material and having a back support attached to it with a webbing strap and locking means. Present invention discloses particularly a nursing pillow having a strap attached to the front part with removable locking means wherein the strap overlaps the distal ends of the front pillow and keeps the front pillow from tilting down.
Inflatable bladder of the front pillow is made of hygienic, easily cleanable polymeric material, which is covered, on all sides with a protective and comfortable washable fabric. The invention relates also to reversible nursing pillows that can be used on both sides in order e.g. to extend the using time before washes.
The invention relates also to nursing pillows having an inflatable, size-adjustable back support.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Will be disclosed later
DRAWING FIGURES
Will be disclosed later
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTThis invention relates to a provisional patent application Inflatable Nursing Pillow, application No. 60/610,247, filed Sep. 16, 2004, and provisional patent application 60/636,739, filed Dec. 17, 2004, both attached as reference and claiming priority from those application.
Nursing Pillow has an inflatable front pillow 10, which can be placed on the around of the torso of a nursing woman and is wide and long enough to hold a breast-feeding child. The shape of the front pillow 10 is preferably crescent. The side 12, which is facing the nursing mother, is concave so that the pillow comfortably follows the contour of her waist up to the corners 13a and 13b of the crescent.
The nursing pillow 10 is made of approximately 0.20 mm PVC sheet material. The outer core of the front pillow 10 is formed out of three parts: first surface 14, second surface 16 and a surrounding sidepart 18. The shorter edges of a rectangular sidepart 18 are thermally joined 19 together. The upper edge 20 of the sidepart 18 is thermally sealed the edge of the first surface 14 and the lower edge of the sidepart 18 is sealed to the edge of the second surface 16. The parts are forming an envelope, which can be inflated and deflated from an airvalve 24.
In order to keep the first surface 14 and second surface 16 in substantially equal distance from eachother and stiffening the structure sideways the front pillow 10 has membrane walls 26a-26n connecting first surface 14 and second surface 24. The membrane walls 26 are preferably bowed as shown in
D-rings 30a and 30b providing an attaching means for the strap 45 and the back support 32 (
Back Support 32 is made out of two rectangular approximately 0.20 mm thick PVC sheet material parts 34a and 34b, which are heatsealed together from all four edges to form an airtight envelope. The material is preferably same material than used for the front pillow 10. Uninflatable areas 38a-38c, which determine the upper and lower side of the finished back support, are left in the middle and in the ends.
The ultimate thickness of the backsupport is dependent on the width of airchambers 40. The wider the chambers are, the thicker the support will be, and vice versa. If one is changing the width of the airchambers 40, the height of the uninflatable areas 38 has to be adjusted respectively. Airchambers 40a-40h are created when heatsealing parts 34a and 34b together by welding parts also along joints 42a-42f. In order to make the backsupport more uniformly thick and support the structure, joints 42 can be supported by membrane walls which can also called I-beams. Airconduits 43 are left open for the airflow between the airchambers 40a-40h. The back support 32 is inflated and deflated through the airvalve 44.
Alternatively two separately inflatable parts having can be created by closing the airconduits passing the uninflatable area 38a and providing both envelopes with airvalves. Two separate envelopes increases the adjustability of the thickness of the back support, since only one bladder can be inflated and employed.
In
In
In
The purpose of the back support 32 is to support mothers back against a chair or other surface or as an independent support for a mother in a nursing position and provide greater comfort for her.
An adjustable nylon webbing 45 is used to connect the front pillow 10 and the back support 32. Adjustable tri-glides 46a and 46b are laced through both ends of the webbing and tighten around user in comfortable position. The remaining free ends of the webbing 45 are looped around snaphooks 48a and 48b and then laced around the middle-bar of the tri-glide 46, turned double over itself and secured by sewing. Alternatively a tension lock can be used to adjust the length of the strap 45. In order to save in production costs, only one snaphook be used in one end of the strap, the second end of the strap being directly looped around the D-ring.
Back support has a protective and comfortable pillowcase-like cover, which has openings 52a and 52b in the middle of opposite sides.
The uninflated envelope 32 is rolled, stuck inside of a cover 50 from the outlet 52 and unrolled. The webbing 45 with hardware is pulled through the cover openings 52 and envelope 32 inside of the cover.
The back support 32 is inflated through the airvalve(s) located at the cover opening. and secured inside of the cover 50. The back support is held in the middle of the webbing 45 by a friction between pressurized air chambers. Openings 52a and 52b keep the webbing in the middle of the backsupport.
Front Pillow 10 is covered with a protective, decorative and comfortable cover 54. The fabric cover has been sewn together from four parts: a first nursing surface part (top), a second nursing surface part (bottom), the back part covering the concave part on the back of the pillow, which is against the user, up to the D-ring outlets 58 and the front part covering the area in front of the D-rings.
The back part 12 is sewn to the top-and bottom parts from its longitudinal edges. The front part is covering the vertical side area in front of the D-ring outlets 58. The front part is sewn permanently to the top part and openable to the bottom part by a zipper 56.
The inflated front pillow 10 is placed inside of the cover, D-rings 30a and 30b on both sides of the pillow are left out from outlets 58a and 58b. The front part is pulled down and the cover is closed by a zipper 56. Back support is connected by snapping the hook 48a of the webbing 45 to the D-ring 30a.
OPERATION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTUser places the nursing pillow 10 in front of her torso, one end of the webbing being attached to the front pillow, routes the webbing with the back support 32 behind her back and attaches snaphook 48b to the D-ring 30b. Then she takes her child on her arms and sits in a comfortable nursing position, places the back support to a desired position either to support her lower back, lumbar region or higher to support her middle back against the back of the chair, other surface or simply as support by itself.
Half round D-rings 30 with snaphooks 48 sliding along the rim provide a flexible joint to adjust the back support 32 up or down to any desired position against back within at least 45-60 degrees. When the pillow is in a comfortable position, webbing 45 is adjusted around the waist by tightening or loosening the tri-glides 46. The Nursing Pillow is ready to be used.
Fabric Cover
Fabric cover provides cleanlines and comfort for both mother and baby. Attaching the D-ring 30, or any other locking means, e.g camlock buckle, side release buckle or front release buckle, directly to the side of the inflatable front pillow instead of fixing it to the cover has a very important novel advantage; the removable fabric cover 50 can be made simpler without locking means and with less sewing seams. The cover 50 only needs two simple outlets for the D-rings. Without locking means and less sewing operations the fabric cover 50 can be produced up to 50% cheaper than with e.g. a camlock buckle attached to both side of it. Therefore consumer can be offered more covers at lower expense to use while washing the soiled ones.
Disposable Covers
Since the protective cover does not need buckles or any other attachment means, economical disposable paper, woven or non-woven materials can be used to make the cover 50 to protect the front pillow and to be discarded after every use. In disposable cover the zipper can be replaced with an economical pressure sensitive adhesive strip. Before use the adhesive can be covered with a removable tear-off liner. (Not shown)
Since the PVC material of the front pillow 10 provides an excellent attachment surface for pressure sensitive adhesive, a full two-sided pillow cover with zipper or adhesive attachment means can be replaced with an economical protective sheet 60. Material of the sheet can be e.g. soft nonwoven fabrics which are used to make baby wipers.
The cover is cut to shape and layer of low tack pressure sensitive adhesive 62 is attached to the bottom surface of the sheet, covering the bottom at least partially. The pressure sensitive adhesive is covered with tear-off liner(s) 64.
Tear-off liners 64 are removed before the use and sheet is attached to the nursing surface of the front pillow 10. After nursing the protective sheet 60 can be pulled off from the surface and discarded.
Identical Surfaces
It is very common to get spills on a nursing pillow. Since the first nursing surface and the second nursing surface are identical in shape, pillow is even in thickness and the pillow has identical D-rings or other attaching means on both side of the pillow, the pillow can be turned around. A clean surface can be taken to use immediately by turning the pillow. It is also important that the material of the front pillow is nonpermeable PVC that can be washed and dried easily and fast and the cover 50 can easily be replaced.
First purpose of the membrane walls is to shape the front pillow. By using rectangular membrane walls 29a in
Membrane walls keep the first surface and the second surface at a substantially equal distance from each other. Surface areas between the membrane walls tend to expand thicker than height of the membrane wall because of the air pressure inside of the pillow. In general, the more supportive membrane walls the pillow has, the more flat and even the surface will be.
The membrane walls can be half round as seen in drawings, or they can be round cylinder membrane walls (29b) between the surfaces or rectangular shape or combination of x- and y-axies placed rectangular membrane walls (not shown).
As in
By using a tapering membrane walls 29c in
Preferred shape for the nursing pillow is flat, not tapering nor roundish like in some prior art cases which do not have membrane walls. It is easier to keep child safe on top of a box than on top of a ball. If the mother needs a slanted surface facing inwards towards herself she can shift her weight back and adjust legs/feet upwards to achieve this effect.
Second purpose of the membrane walls is to provide structural support for the pillow to x- and y direction even if the pillow is slightly uninflated (
Third purpose of the membrane walls is to prevent noise from traveling inside of the pillow. In a nursing position an infant has his/her ear against the pillow. If the pillow were scratched from any part, without muffling membrane walls the sound would reach the infant's ear un-muffled and disturb the child. By dividing the Nursing pillow onto compartments by membrane walls, the sound will get quieter after every compartment.
User can adjust the size of the back support-32 by regulating the air inside of it. The sheet material 34 expands if bigger support and higher pressure is needed. The PVC material can also be replaced with more or less elastic materials e.g. rubber or latex. If the cover 50 were made out of elastic knit or yarn it would follow the expansion and suspension of the back support.
The webbing 44 stays in its place by pressure from the airchambers 40 and friction. If the back support 32 is used with a lower pressure, friction might not be enough to keep back support attached to the webbing 44. In these occasions, the webbing 44 may be knotted to increase the friction between the airchambers and the webbing.
In two-valve construction (not shown) chambers 40a-40b are airtightly separated from the chambers 40e-40h and they would have an additional valve of their own. The advantage is that even if either of the inflatable areas gets flat the back support can be used with the remaining chambers.
The moonshape front pillow 10 has two D-rings 30a and 30b attached directly to the side of the bladder as shown in
In
The friction between the strap 45 and the back support 32 and friction between the back support 32 and user's back keeps the strap 45 in its position relative to the user's back. If weight of a child is placed on top of the front pillow 10 and the front of the moonshape pillows is pushed down at force F1 causing the opposite distal ends 13a and 13b go upward at force F2, Line L1-L2 immediately in front of user's torso being the fulcrum point, the overpassing strap 45 keeps the distal ends down, preventing the front of the pillow tilting beyond acceptable levels. The vertical sidewalls of the bladder 10 and vertical membrane walls inside of the bladder keep the pillows distal ends from bending.
The side portions of the moonshape front pillow 10 have width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user. Side portions have distal ends 13a and 13b.
It is important to have the distal ends 13a and 13b constructed substantially long, so that they can well reach backwards under the strap 45. When wearing around torso, the both ends 13a and 13b of the side portions should extend at least partially behind user's elbow when user's arms are in downward pointing, relaxed position. Preferably, the ends 13a and 13b should reach the line L3-L4 which is drawn in front of the backsupport 32 which is the same than line drawn immediately behind user's torso. The D-rings 30a and 30b has to be attached to the side of the front pillow 10, far enough in front, so that the strap 45 would securely pass over the distal ends 13a and 13b. However it is preferred that the D-rings would be located behind the fulcrum line L1-L2 in front of the torso, but not further than line L3-L4 behind the torso.
It is also understood that the above described Supportive construction can be used with the strap only, without the inflatable back support. In this case the strap is tightened against user's back and is kept in its place relative to the back by a friction. The ends of the strap overpass the distal ends 13a and 13b of the front pillow and keep front of the pillow from tilting down when a weight is placed on top of it.
The advantage of inflatable architecture is that vertical membrane walls 26 (
The back support 32 is supporting mother's back against the back of the chair.
Nursing pillow 10 is preferably shaped crescent, but it can also be U-shape.
The front pillow 10 and back support 32 are made but not restricted to PVC material which is commonly know from beachtoys. PVC material, the thickness of which can vary, can be covered with different embedded, sandwiched, glued, printed or other way joined layer to make the material stronger, easy cleaned, decorative, softer, warmer, or any other way more practical or decorative.
One advantage of the inflatable nursing pillow is the ability to adjust the firmness of the nursing pillow to comfort. Another advantage of the inflatable nursing pillow is that it may be deflated and stored, making it easy to transport for travel.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
- 10 inflatable front pillow, inflatable bladder
- 12 concave back side of the front pillow
- 13a-13b corners of the crescent shaped front pillow
- 14 first nursing surface
- 16 second nursing surface
- 18 Rectangular sidepart of the nursing pillow
- 19 thermal joint joining short surfaces of the sidepart 18
- 20 upper edge of the sidepart 18
- 24 airvalve
- 26a-26n membrane walls
- 28a-28n compartments or airpockets or airchambers
- 30a-30b D-rings
- 31a-31b Straps joining D-rings to the side of the front pillow
- 32 back support
- 34a-34b PVC sheet material
- 36 Tension Lock Buckle, adjustable
- 37 End of the Strap
- 38a-38c uninflatable area
- 39 Loosening end of the strap
- 40a-40h airchambers or airpockets
- 41 heatsealed seam
- 42a-42f joints
- 43 airconduits
- 44 airvalve
- 45 webbing, e.g. woven nylon 50 mm
- 46a-46b adjustable tri-glides, e.g. 50 mm
- 48a-48b snaphooks
- 50 Protective cover of the back support
- 52a-52b outlets in protective cover for the webbing
- 54 protective, decorative and comforting cover of the front pillow
- 56 zipper of the front pillow allowing opening of the front part of the cover
- 58a-58b outlets for D-rings and straps
- 60 sheet of economical disposable protective material.
- 62 low tack pressure sensitive adhesive layer
- 64 protective tear-off strip covering adhesive
Claims
1. An Inflatable support envelope to be worn around the torso of a nursing woman comprising;
- A front portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to enable support of a child on the front portion;
- An adjacent first side portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user;
- An adjacent second side portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user;
- A first attaching means attached to the right side of the support envelope;
- A second attaching means attached to the left side of the support envelope;
- Said support envelope further comprising an inflatable and size adjustable back support envelope having a sufficient magnitude to enable support back of said nursing woman in a nursing position against a solid surface behind her back or independently;
- Said back support being connected to said support envelope with a strap device;
- A first attaching means mating with said first attaching means on right side of said support envelope
- A second attaching means mating with said second attaching means on left side of said support envelope.
- Said support envelope which may be turned over, reversible and able to be used either side up.
2. The support envelope of claim 1 further comprising a protective cover having outlets for said first and said second attaching means.
3. The support envelope of claim 1 wherein the material of said support envelope is chosen from a group of PVC, nylon, rubber, or latex
4. The support envelope of claim 1 having membrane walls to keep said envelope in shape, support said envelope from rolling and therefore being more secure for an infant and additionally muffling the sound inside the envelope to prevent disturbing the infant.
5. The support envelope of claim 1 wherein the size of said backsupport is adjusted by regulating the airpressure inside of said backsupport.
6. The support envelope of claim 1 wherein said attaching means attached to the right and left side of said support envelope are loops and the attaching means of the strapping device of the backsupport mating with them are hooks providing an up- and downward adjustable joint for the back support.
7. The support envelope of claim 1 wherein said back support has at least one airchamber on both sides of said strapping device and wherein said back support is secured in a predetermined place of said strapping device by pressure and friction caused by inflation of said backsupport when said webbing is between said airchambers.
8. An Inflatable support envelope to be worn against the torso of a nursing woman comprising;
- A front portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to enable support of a child on the front portion;
- An adjacent first side portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user and having a distal end extending at least partially behind user's elbow when user's arms are in downward pointing relaxed position;
- An adjacent second side portion having a width and length of sufficient magnitude to provide support for an elbow and forearm of the user and having a distal end extending at least partially behind user's elbow when user's arms are in downward pointing relaxed position;
- A first attaching means attached to the right side of the support envelope;
- A second attaching means attached to the left side of the support envelope;
- A adjustable strap with a third attaching means connected to a first end of said strap and mating to said first attaching means on the right side of the support envelope and a fourth attaching means connected to a second end of said strap and mating to said second attaching means on the left side of the support envelope;
- Said strap being able to be laced around user's back, attaching means secured to their mates and adjusted to a right length so that the first end of the strap will overpass said adjacent first side portion and said second end of said strap will overpass said adjacent second side portion;
- a middle part of the strap being secured by friction to a constant position relative to a user's back and said overpassing first and second end of the strap keeping distal ends of said first and second side portions down when a weight is placed on top of said front portion and a force is pressing said nursing pillow to tilt around a fulcrum immediately in front of user's torso.
9. Said nursing pillow of claim 8 further comprising an inflatable and size adjustable back support envelope attached to said strap, having a sufficient magnitude to enable support back of said nursing woman in a nursing position against a solid surface behind her back or independently;
10. Said support envelope of claim 8 which may be turned over, reversible and able to be used either side up.
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 15, 2005
Publication Date: Mar 15, 2007
Inventors: Veijo Tuoriniemi (Summit, NJ), Cornelia Tuoriniemi (Summit, NJ)
Application Number: 11/228,091
International Classification: A47G 9/00 (20060101);