Spoon

Abstract

A spoon is provided that has a handle, a neck, a head, and a spoon or food receiving recess that has a front edge and a rear edge. The rear edge is raised such that a straight line joining the front edge and the rear edge extends in the same general direction as a straight line extending in the general direction of the length of the handle of the spoon. Preferably, the neck is spaced from the spoon or food receiving recess by a distance of the same order as the dimension of the recess itself. The cross-sectional size of the spoon increases from the neck to a position corresponding to the rear edge of the recess with the outer surface being smoothly contoured to provide a smooth contact surface for the lips of a person using same to encircle the spoon between the neck and recess.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION AND PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application is a U.S. National Stage filing under 35 U.S.C. 371 based on PCT International Application No PCT/IB2013/002457, filed Nov. 6, 2013, which in turn claims priority to Untied States Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/725,222, filed on Nov. 12, 2012, the entirety of each being incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a spoon.

In one variation the invention relates to an infant feeding spoon that is particularly suitable for use as a so-called first feeding spoon for use during weaning when an infant is beginning to ingest solid food for the first time. Typically such an infant would be in the age range of about 4 to 12 months but such a feeding spoon may be used on any other individuals as may be appropriate.

In another variation the invention relates to a spoon that can, at least in some instances, be used advantageously for administering medicine or food to physically impaired persons that have difficulty in effectively clearing the contents of a conventional spoon.

BACKGROUND

Numerous different infant feeding spoons have been proposed and manufactured for the purpose of feeding an infant solid foods and training such an infant to eat solid foods. However, the major improvements that have been presented over the past few years are focused on heat sensitive spoon materials that change colour and softer flexible spoons with a two material construction.

There has, however, as far as applicant is aware, been very little innovative activity around the mouth ergonomics for infants. Two of what are apparently the most popular infant feeding spoons available on the market both have a two material construction method to make soft rubbery contact surfaces and both are smaller versions of standard larger spoon geometry. Neither of these infant feeding spoons appears to address the ergonomics of first spoons or training spoons from the perspective of an infant totally unused to ingesting anything other than milk in one form or another.

Applicant perceives a need for an infant feeding spoon that may be more ergonomically suited to use as a first spoon.

In order to facilitate an understanding of the present invention and this patent specification, a spoon will be regarded as having a handle, a neck at which the cross-sectional size of the handle is at a minimum and where the handle connects with a head of the spoon that increases in size from the neck, and a food or medicine receiving recess.

Thus, with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a typical prior art infant feeding spoon has a handle (A); a neck (B); a head (C); and a food or medicine receiving recess (D). The food or medicine receiving recess is typically elongate and either oval or somewhat egg shaped in plan view with its length extending in the direction of the handle. The depth of the food or medicine receiving recess is typically about 4 to 5 mm; its length is about 35 to 40 mm; and its width is about 20 mm. A straight line (E) joining a front edge (F) of the food or medicine receiving recess and a rear edge (G) thereof is typically roughly horizontal in the operative position and crosses a straight line (H) extending in the general direction of the length of the handle portion of the spoon a short distance rearwards of the neck.

In another application of spoons, the administration of medicines or food to physically impaired persons using a conventional spoon is often difficult and may result in the spoon not being cleared properly of whatever medicine or food is located upon it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of this invention there is provided a spoon having a handle, a neck, a head, and a spoon or food receiving recess that has a front edge and a rear edge wherein the rear edge is raised such that a straight line joining the front edge and the rear edge extends in the same general direction as a straight line extending in the general direction of the length of the handle of the spoon.

Further features of this aspect of the invention provide for the neck to be spaced from the spoon or food receiving recess by a distance of the same order as the dimension of the spoon or food receiving recess and preferably by a distance of between 15 and 25 mm and most preferably about 20 mm; for the cross-sectional size of the spoon to increase from the neck to a position corresponding to the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess with the outer surface being smoothly contoured to provide a smooth contact surface for the lips of a person using same to encircle the spoon between the neck and spoon or food receiving recess; and for the cross-sectional shape of the neck to be approximately oval with a major axis of the oval preferably measuring about 12 to 16 mm and most preferably about 14 mm with the cross-sectional shape of the spoon at the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess being larger and approximately oval with an upper side of the oval bulging upwards and with a major axis of the oval preferably measuring about 18 to 22 mm and most preferably about 20 mm.

Still further features of the invention provide for the spoon or food receiving recess to have a shape in plan view that closely approximates a circular shape with a width between 18 to 25 mm and preferably about 20 mm and a length of between 20 and 30 mm, preferably about 25 mm; for the spoon or food receiving recess to be shallow relative to a straight line joining the top edges of two opposite sides of the spoon or food receiving recess, with such a depth preferably being about 1.5 to 2 mm; and for the sides of the spoon or food receiving recess to be somewhat concave between the front edge and rear edge thereof to provide a smooth surface to the recess for the purpose of a person's lips clearing food off the recess surface.

The entire spoon may be of a solid construction in which instance it can conveniently be made of suitable plastics materials that may be moulded as a single moulding or, alternatively, with different materials in different steps to provide a satisfactorily rigid structure with a soft rubbery outer surface. Of course, it is possible to injection mould the spoon of other materials such as a foam filled plastics material. Solid or hollow spoons can also be made of a suitable plastic material or metal whilst solid spoons can generally be made of wood, engineered wood, or metal. Numerous different possibilities exist as regards manufacture of the spoons and those identified above are not intended to be exhaustive in any way.

In accordance with a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a spoon according to the invention in which an inner plastic element is moulded firstly; followed by moulding of one half of an outer cover onto the inner plastics element to cover a first major surface thereof and followed thereafter by moulding of a second-half of an outer cover onto the inner plastics element to cover a second major surface thereof.

The method defined above has the advantage that registration formations formed on the inner plastic element for the purpose of locating it in the second mould can be over moulded in the third moulding step so that they are totally covered by the second half of the outer cover.

In order that the above and other features of the invention may be more fully understood, an expanded description based on one particular geometric embodiment of the invention follows with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a typical prior art infant feeding spoon;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of one embodiment of spoon according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual side view thereof;

FIG. 5 is an inverted plan view thereof;

FIG. 6 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view thereof;

FIG. 8 is an end view of the spoon from the front end thereof;

FIG. 9 is an end view from the rear end thereof;

FIG. 10 is a sectional side view of the spoon taken along line X-X in FIG. 3;

FIG. 11 is a cross-section taken through the neck of the spoon along line XI-XI in FIG. 3 and showing the peripheral shape along line XI-XI;

FIG. 12 is a cross-section taken along line XII-XII in FIG. 3, namely at the rear of the spoon or food receiving recess and showing the peripheral shape along line XII-XII;

FIG. 13 is a cross-section taken along line XIII-XIII in FIG. 3, namely through the centre of the spoon or food receiving recess and showing the peripheral shape along line XIII-XIII;

FIG. 14 is a sectional side view of a spoon that is manufactured according to a preferred manufacturing process according to the invention; and,

FIG. 15 is an exploded view showing the different layers making up the spoon illustrated in FIG. 14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 13 of the drawings, a spoon (1) has a handle (2), a neck (3), a head (4), and a spoon or food receiving recess (5). The spoon or food receiving recess has a front edge (6) and a rear edge (7).

The cross-sectional size of the spoon is at its smallest at the neck and increases from the neck to a position corresponding to the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess. The neck is located distinctly rearwards of the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess such that a distance of about 20 mm exists between the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess and the neck.

The outer surface of the spoon is smoothly contoured to provide a smooth contact surface for the lips, for example of an infant using same, to encircle the spoon between the neck and spoon or food receiving recess. The peripheral and therefore the cross-sectional shape of the neck is approximately oval, as illustrated in FIG. 11 with a major axis that measures from 12 to 16 mm and preferably about 14 mm. The peripheral and therefore the cross-sectional shape of the spoon at the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess is enlarged and also approximately oval with an upper side (11) of the oval bulging upwards, as illustrated in FIG. 12, with the major axis of the oval measuring from 18 to 22 mm and preferably about 20 mm.

The spoon or food receiving recess has a shape in plan view that reasonably closely approximates a circular shape with a width of about 20 mm and a length of about 25 mm. The spoon or food receiving recess is shallow relative to a straight line joining the top edges (12) of two opposite sides of the spoon or food receiving recess, as illustrated in FIG. 13, with such a depth preferably being about 1.5 to 2 mm. Also, as shown clearly in FIG. 13, the thickness of the spoon in the region of the spoon or food receiving recess is considerable and may measure from 4 to 5 mm. This provides a substantial region over which the lips of a person can slide whilst removing food from the recess. The sides of the spoon or food receiving recess may be somewhat concave between the front edge and rear edge thereof to provide a smooth surface to the recess for the purpose of the lips clearing food off the recess surface. This is shown clearly in FIG. 6 and is indicated by numeral (13). This concavity may be about 3 or 4 millimetres in extent.

The arrangement is such that the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess is significantly raised such that a straight line (15) joining the front edge of the spoon or food receiving recess and the rear edge thereof extends in the same general direction as a straight line (16) extending in the general direction of the length of the handle of the spoon, as shown in FIG. 4.

One of the consequences of this arrangement is that the bottom profile of the spoon follows a shallower feeding plane and this is believed by applicant to improve ergonomics.

In the illustrations making up FIGS. 1 to 13, the illustrated embodiment of spoon is shown as being made of a single material with a plastic hatching being employed in respect of the sections, simply by way of illustration. However there are numerous different ways in which the spoon can be manufactured, some of which have been mentioned above. It could even be made hollow if it be made of a suitable material by a suitable procedure. The important thing is that the peripheral shape of the spoon is substantially as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13 so that a person's lips sliding over the outer surface of the spoon do so smoothly and uninterruptedly.

Nevertheless, at the present time, applicant prefers to employ a method of manufacturing the spoon according to the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15. In this instance a relatively rigid inner plastic element (21) is moulded firstly with registration formations (22) to ensure proper registration of the prefabricated plastic element with a die in which a subsequent moulding procedure takes place. In that subsequent moulding procedure one half, in this instance the upper half (23) of a very much softer rubbery outer cover, is moulded onto the inner plastics element to cover a first major surface thereof.

A third moulding procedure is then employed to apply a second-half (24) of the softer outer cover onto the inner plastics element to cover a second major surface thereof and the registration formations. The registration formations can thus be totally covered with the outer cover.

Whatever process is employed to make the spoon according to this invention, the resultant spoon is seen as having various areas of interacting geometry to give it a unique profile.

As will be quite apparent from the foregoing, the spoon of this invention is especially well suited to use as an infant feeding spoon. The plan shape and size of the spoon or food receiving recess of the spoon reduces the amount of food that can be placed on the spoon recess. The raised rear edge of the spoon recess forms an elevated ridge, which creates a backstop for food and triggers the upper lip in order for a child to latch onto the spoon and ingest all the food. The raised rear edge apparently causes a child to bite down, suck the food off and clear the spoon of any food.

The result of the invention is a feeding plane that is tilted forwards towards an infant's mouth which appears to improve the infant's ability to ingest and swallow the food on the spoon. The shortened food retaining recess eases the overbite required of an infant to clear the food off the spoon. This also allows a child to bite and close their lips over the food and not into it thereby reducing smearing of food on the face.

Whilst being primarily aimed at infant feeding spoons, a spoon made according to this invention can also be used to good effect in the feeding or administration of medicines to physically impaired persons who are unable to effectively use conventional cutlery in order to feed themselves or take medicines. Indeed it is envisaged that a health carer could advantageously use a spoon according to this invention in order to feed or administer medicines to a physically impaired person.

Numerous variations may be made to the embodiment of the invention described above without departing from the scope hereof.

Claims

1. A spoon having a handle, a neck, a head, and a spoon or food receiving recess that has a front edge and a rear edge wherein the rear edge is raised such that a straight line joining the front edge and the rear edge extends in the same general direction as a straight line extending in the general direction of the length of the handle of the spoon.

2. A spoon as claimed in claim 1 in which the neck is spaced from the spoon or food receiving recess by a distance of the same order as the dimension of the spoon or food receiving recess.

3. A spoon as claimed in either one of claim 1 or 2 in which the cross-sectional size of the spoon increases from the neck to a position corresponding to the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess with the outer surface being smoothly contoured to provide a smooth contact surface for the lips of a person using same to encircle the spoon between the neck and spoon or food receiving recess.

4. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the cross-sectional shape of the neck is approximately oval with the cross-sectional shape of the spoon at the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess being larger and approximately oval with an upper side of the oval bulging upwards.

5. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the spoon or food receiving recess has a shape in plan view that closely approximates a circular shape with a width of between 18 to 25 mm and a length of between 20 and 30 mm.

6. A spoon as claimed in claim 5 in which the width of the spoon or food receiving recess is about 20 mm and the length thereof is about 25 mm.

7. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the spoon or food receiving recess is shallow relative to a straight line joining the top edges of two opposite sides of the spoon or food receiving recess.

8. A spoon as claimed in claim 7 in which the depth of the spoon or food receiving recess relative to a straight line joining the top edges of two opposite sides of the spoon or food receiving recess is from 1.5 to 2 mm.

9. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the sides of the spoon or food receiving recess are somewhat concave between the front edge and rear edge thereof to provide a smooth surface to the recess for the purpose of a person's lips clearing food off the recess surface.

10. A spoon as claimed in claim 9 in which the depth of the concavity is about 3 to 4 millimetres in extent.

11. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the neck is located rearwards of the rear edge of the spoon or food receiving recess by a distance of between 15 and 25 mm.

12. A spoon as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the entire spoon is of a solid construction consisting of a relatively rigid inner plastic element and a soft rubbery outer surface.

13. A method of manufacturing a spoon as claimed in claim 12 in which a relatively rigid inner plastic element is moulded firstly; followed by a second moulding step in which approximately one half of an outer cover is moulded onto the inner plastics element to cover a first major surface thereof and thereafter a third moulding step is carried out in which a second-half of an outer cover is moulded onto the inner plastics element to cover a second major surface thereof.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13 in which registration formations are formed on the inner plastic element and the registration formations are used to locate the inner plastic element it in a second mould for the purpose of moulding the said one half of an outer cover onto the inner plastic element in the second moulding step.