Rigid Food Pouch Holder for Controlled Squeeze Feeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Food pouches often create messes due to uncontrolled food flow, squirting food from the top opening, which soils clothing and surfaces when children squeeze them.
Innovation Solution
Design of a container with a contoured shape that maintains the food pouch's accessibility by preventing the pouch body from collapsing, using side pinches and a surface divider to create a stable environment for easy consumption, and incorporating a latch mechanism for secure closure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a child squeezes the food pouch to access food, then food flow rate increases, but food squirts from the top opening creating mess
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary device (the container with controlled opening) between the child's squeezing action and the food pouch. This intermediary controls the food flow by restricting it to a specific path through the opening, preventing uncontrolled squirting while still allowing food access. The container acts as a mediator that transforms the uncontrolled squeezing force into controlled food dispensing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the food flow control function from the food pouch itself and places it in a separate container structure. By separating the pouch from the opening mechanism, the design allows the pouch to remain simple and squeezable while the container provides the controlled opening that prevents mess. This extraction of the control function resolves the contradiction between ease of squeezing and controlled flow.
2Ease of operation
If the food pouch is made flexible for easy squeezing, then accessibility improves, but the pouch collapses creating vacuum and blocking food flow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies counterbalancing forces to offset the vacuum pressure that forms when the pouch is squeezed. The container structure provides a counteracting force that prevents the pouch from collapsing completely. By balancing the inward vacuum pressure with outward structural support, the system maintains both pouch flexibility for squeezing and structural stability for continuous food flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a one-dimensional collapse problem (pouch walls collapsing inward) to a three-dimensional solution space by introducing a container structure that surrounds and supports the pouch. This dimensional expansion allows the pouch to maintain its collapsed state for squeezing while the container prevents complete collapse that would block the opening, effectively solving the stability problem through spatial reconfiguration.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If a container is added to control food flow, then mess is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the food containment system into two distinct segments: the flexible food pouch and the rigid container with controlled opening. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specialized function - the pouch for food storage and flexibility, the container for flow control and structure. By dividing the system, the patent achieves mess control without requiring the entire system to be complex, as only the container needs structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The container structure is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support to prevent pouch collapse, controls food flow through its opening design, contains any potential mess, and maintains the pouch in an optimal position for feeding. By consolidating these multiple functions into a single container component, the patent reduces overall device complexity compared to having separate mechanisms for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
A rigid food pouch container developed to accommodate prepared food packaged in soft containers is designed to prevent a child from squeezing the container and causing its contents to spurt from the container. The food pouch container includes a back portion having an interior cavity; a front portion; a top hole; and a surface dividing the back portion into an upper cavity and a lower cavity. In some embodiments, the lower cavity is inside the back portion, while in other embodiments, the lower cavity is an exterior cavity. Also disclosed are food pouch containers that include a back portion having an interior cavity; a front portion; a top hole; means for contouring the food pouch from the bottom or side of the pouch. Some embodiments include a hinged clam shell configuration for easy insertion and removal of the food pouch. Other embodiments include a storage facility for the pouch cap.