Beverage holder
A wrap provides one or more stimuli to a child during feeding. This creates interest in feeding, increases the child's attention span, keeps the child occupied during feeding, provides comfort and security, fun and enjoyment, and generally improves the child's mood during feeding. The beverage container wrap has an inside face and an outside face, the outside face generally facing away from the beverage container, the outside face comprising at least one attachment configured to capture the attention of the child using the beverage container.
The field of the invention is beverage holders.
BACKGROUNDMany parents of infants and small children use bottles during feeding. These bottles usually lack any stimulus for the child besides the interface between the nipple and child, which can leave the child bored and restless during feeding. This restlessness may lead to bottle rejection, distraction, or the child may not eat as much from the bottle as he or she otherwise would eat. Alternately, the child may become generally unhappy while eating in a still and unstimulating environment.
SUMMARYThe goal of the present invention is to create interest on the part of the child to feed, and to provide one or more stimuli to a child during feeding. This increases the child's attention span, keeps the child occupied and focused during feeding, provides comfort, security, enjoyment, and generally improves the child's mood. Another goal of the present invention is to provide a convenient insulating holder for a beverage container that is applied to the container similar to swaddling a small child. Such an application invokes the goodwill a parent associates with a child with the mere application of the wrap on a container.
In one embodiment, the invention a beverage container wrap having an inside face and an outside face, the outside face generally facing away from the beverage container, and the outside face comprising at least one attachment configured to capture the attention of the child using the beverage container.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)
The inventive wrap 10 is as shown in
The wrap 10 generally encloses a beverage container (baby bottle 12, child's cup 112, or other beverage bottle 212) to thereby provide insulating properties to the container 12. The wrap 10, when laid flat as shown in
The wrap 12 has first and second wrap portions, 20 and 30 respectively divided along the line 22. An axis of symmetry 40 divides the first (left) 42 and second (right) 44 side portions of the wrap 10.
A person applies the wrap to a beverage container 12 as shown in
The applied wrap that partially encloses the beverage container is as shown in
It should be understood that the application of the wrap is the same for baby bottles 12, child cups 112, and bottles 212.
The above sequence describes the application of the wrap 10 to a container 12, and
In order to provide a child with interesting visual, auditory, tactile, and/or scented stimuli during feeding, the wrap can further comprise various attachments, preferable extending from the wrap's outside face 16. For example, the wrap my have attachments that light up or make sounds in response to pressure.
These features include, as shown in a second embodiment of the wrap in
It should be appreciated that in order to make the faces in
It should further be appreciated that the faces in
The wrap of
The wrap of
The wrap of
The wrap of
With respect to the squeaky nose shown in
Similarly, although not shown, a clear sleeve could be provided on the wrap 10 in which a photograph could be placed. Again, in the absence of a parent, this photograph might be of the parent, and provide the child with a known face to look at during feeding.
All of the attachments described herein could be removably attached to the wrap using Velcro™. The advantages of this are several. First, a child could play with the attachments separately and apart from the wrap 10. Second, the attachments could be mixed and matched according to a child's preference, which would allow a parent to find those attachments that most appeal to the child and attach those during feeding. Third, since the wrap is closely associated with a food item, the wrap itself and/or the attachments could be removed for easy washing of both the wrap 10 and the attachments. Fourth, the ability to sell the wrap with the flexibility of several faces, designs, and the like, would be a retail advantage.
Finally, the simple application of the wrap to the container will engender goodwill in the person applying it, as the application of the wrap is similar to swaddling baby, and wrapping a bottle or sippy cup in the manner described above, will link the goodwill between the two.
Claims
1. A wrap for a beverage container comprising:
- a wrap configured to partially enclose a beverage container, the wrap having an inside face and an outside face, the outside face generally facing away from the beverage container, the outside face comprising at least one attachment configured to capture the attention of the person using the beverage container.
2. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises ribbons.
3. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises fringe.
4. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a tactile stimulating material extending from the outside face.
5. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a figure of a face.
6. The wrap of claim 5, wherein the face comprises features that are three dimensional and extend from the outside surface of the beverage holder.
7. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment is removably attached to the outside surface of the beverage holder.
8. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment makes a sound.
9. The wrap of claim 8, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a sound player that creates the sound.
10. The wrap of claim 9, wherein the sound player is also a sound recorder capable of recording sounds, wherein recorded sounds can be played back through the sound player to capture the attention of the child.
11. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a clear sleeve within which a picture can be placed for viewing.
12. The wrap of claim 1, the wrap being generally shaped, when laid flat, with an first and second wrap portions, wherein in use partially enclosing the container:
- the first wrap portion folds along an area dividing the first and second wrap portions to cover a first portion of the container;
- the second wrap portion folds along the area dividing the first and second wrap portions to cover a second portion of the container;
- wherein the first and second wrap portions overlap once the wrap encloses at least a portion of the container.
13. The wrap of claim 12, wherein the wrap, including the first and second wrap portions, is symmetrical about an axis.
14. The wrap of claim 1, the wrap having a generally flat configuration and a generally open ended cylindrical configuration, the wrap being able to change between said configurations;
- wherein in the first configuration, the wrap comprises first and second wrap portions wherein the wrap, including the first and second wrap portions, is symmetrical about an axis;
- wherein in the second configuration, the first wrap portion folds along an area dividing the first and second wrap portions to cover a first portion of the container, and the second wrap portion folds along the area dividing the first and second wrap portions to cover a second portion of the container, wherein the first and second wrap portions overlap once the wrap encloses at least a portion of the container.
15. The wrap of claim 14, wherein in the second configuration, the first portion attaches to itself to enclose at least a portion of the container.
16. The wrap of claim 15, wherein the first portion attaches to itself at areas of the first portion on either side of the axis.
17. The wrap of claim 14, wherein in the second configuration, the first portion attaches to the second portion to enclose at least a portion of the container.
18. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the inside face comprises a non-slip material that discourages the container from removal from the wrap when the wrap partially encloses the container.
19. The wrap of claim 1, wherein when the wrap partially encloses the container, handles extend from the wrap that allow for easy grasping of the container therein.
20. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a light.
21. The wrap of claim 1, wherein the at least one attachment comprises a plurality of lights that light in a manner consisting of one or more of the following: lighting on touch, lighting in reaction to a bottle's movement, being constantly lit, lighting in prearranged patterns, and lighting in random patterns.
22. A wrap for enclosing at least a portion of a baby bottle in which the wrap is applied to enclose the portion of the baby bottle in a manner similar to an application of a diaper on a child.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 21, 2006
Publication Date: Aug 23, 2007
Inventors: Jean Torchia (Langhorne, PA), Michael Torchia (Langhorne, PA)
Application Number: 11/358,377
International Classification: B65D 73/00 (20060101); B65D 65/00 (20060101);