Infant Pacifier Retainer with Chin Contact Pad
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Solution Overview
Problem
Infant pacifiers often fall out of a child's mouth due to lack of control or understanding, requiring constant parental support, leading to abandonment of use despite providing soothing comfort.
Innovation Solution
A pacifier design featuring a nipple portion with a bulb and stem, combined with a retainer portion that includes a contact pad for gentle biasing force application under the chin, ensuring the pacifier remains in the mouth without obstructing natural sucking or causing choking hazards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional pacifier is used, then the infant can suck on the nipple portion for comfort, but the pacifier easily pops out of the infant's mouth requiring constant parental support
Solution Approach 1:
The pacifier is divided into functionally independent segments: a nipple portion for sucking and a retainer portion for facial engagement. This segmentation allows each part to perform its specific function optimally - the nipple provides comfort while the retainer provides retention through facial contact, eliminating the need for parental intervention to maintain positioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from one-dimensional oral retention (relying solely on the infant's mouth) to two-dimensional retention by adding facial engagement through the retainer portion. The retainer contacts the infant's face at a location spaced from the mouth, creating a second retention point that stabilizes the pacifier in addition to the oral suction, thereby improving reliability without increasing parental effort.
2Reliability
If parental pressure is applied to keep the pacifier engaged, then the pacifier remains in the child's mouth, but once pressure is removed the pacifier falls out again
Solution Approach 1:
The retainer portion is designed to automatically engage with the infant's face through elastic biasing, creating a self-regulating retention system. When the pacifier tends to fall out, the biased retainer contacts the facial skin and applies gentle restoring force to push the nipple back into the mouth, eliminating the need for external parental pressure while maintaining reliable engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The retainer portion acts as an intermediary mechanism between the nipple and the infant's face. Instead of requiring direct parental intervention to maintain engagement, the retainer serves as an automatic mediator that continuously adjusts the nipple position by contacting the facial skin and applying biasing force, thereby maintaining retention without increasing overall system complexity.
3Reliability
If the retainer portion contacts the infant's face to provide biasing force, then the pacifier is retained in the mouth, but the design must ensure it does not obstruct natural sucking or cause choking hazards
Solution Approach 1:
The retainer portion is designed with localized contact characteristics - it contacts the infant's face at a specific location spaced from the mouth (such as the cheek or jaw area), applying biasing force only at that remote location. This localized facial contact provides retention while leaving the oral cavity and sucking pathway completely unobstructed, eliminating choking hazards and preserving natural sucking function.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The pacifier effectively stays engaged in the infant's mouth during non-sucking periods, reducing parental maintenance and preventing frequent drops, while allowing intentional ejection and maintaining comfort and safety.
Implementation Method 1
The retainer portion is biased toward the nipple portion
Data Source
AI summary
An improved infant pacifier includes a nipple configured to trigger an infant's sucking reflex so as to provide a tool for nourishment and also a calming effect for an infant. An extension depends from a distal end of the nipple to a retainer portion that extends proximally from the extension and is spaced from the nipple. The retainer portion terminates in a proximal contact pad. When the nipple is in the child's mouth, the contact pad engages the child's skin under the chin. Preferably a biasing force gently urges the contact pad toward the nipple, maintaining engagement with the child's skin, and helping retain the nipple in the child's mouth even without any effort on the child's part to retain the nipple. Various specific structures of pacifiers employing these principles are provided.