Penetrable Side-Entry Tube for Infant Medicine Administration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for administering pediatric fluid medicines, such as liquid Tylenol, directly into an infant's mouth can be problematic, as the medicine may be spit out or not fully consumed, posing challenges for both medical professionals and parents in ensuring proper ingestion, especially outside of a hospital setting.
Innovation Solution
A hollow baby bottle nipple with a side-entry tube and aperture allows for the insertion of an oral medicine needle, enabling the medicine to be mixed with the bottle's contents during feeding, ensuring consumption and allowing for controlled administration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If medicine is administered directly into the infant's mouth using a syringe, then the administration process is simple and quick, but the medicine may be spit out or not fully consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a feeding bottle as an intermediary device between the medicine and the infant. The medicine is administered through the bottle's nipple system rather than directly into the mouth, allowing the infant to consume it passively during feeding without spitting it out, thus ensuring complete consumption while maintaining simple administration procedure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines medicine administration with the existing feeding process. By integrating the medicine delivery system into the feeding bottle nipple, the infant receives both nutrition and medicine simultaneously through the same pathway, eliminating the need for separate administration steps and ensuring the medicine is consumed along with the familiar feeding contents
2Reliability
If a penetrable side entry tube is integrated into the nipple, then medicine can be mixed with feeding contents for better consumption, but the nipple structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a nested structure where the penetrable side entry tube is integrated within the nipple body. The tube is positioned inside the nipple's existing cavity system, allowing medicine to be delivered through the tube and mix with the feeding contents in the bottle without requiring separate external components or complex assembly mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The penetrable side entry tube serves multiple functions: it acts as a barrier during normal feeding to maintain nipple functionality, provides a penetration pathway for medicine injection, and facilitates mixing of medicine with feeding contents. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby limiting the increase in overall structural complexity
3Ease of operation
If the side entry tube is made penetrable from the outside, then oral medicine can be inserted easily, but it may allow unintended fluid flow or contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic barrier mechanism in the side entry tube that adapts its state based on external forces. During normal feeding conditions, the barrier remains closed to prevent contamination. When external pressure is applied during medicine injection, the barrier dynamically opens to allow medicine insertion, then automatically closes afterward, providing both ease of operation and protection against contamination
Solution Approach 2:
The penetrable barrier in the side entry tube is pre-configured to resist unintended fluid flow and contamination under normal conditions. The barrier's design anticipates potential harmful effects by providing preliminary resistance, only allowing fluid passage when deliberate external pressure is applied during medicine administration, thus preventing contamination while maintaining ease of medicine insertion
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
This solution facilitates the administration of liquid medicines by mixing them with familiar feeding contents, reducing refusal and spillage, and allows for regulated dosing, thereby improving the ease and effectiveness of medicine administration during feeding.
Implementation Method 1
allowing the fluid medicine to be injected into the nipple of the baby bottle so that it mixes into the contents
Implementation Method 2
mixes into the contents and can be immediately consumed while in the act of feeding
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is a hollow nipple containing a side-entry tube and aperture that solves the problem of administering fluid medicines to infants or babies by combining the comfort of a common baby bottle, containing accustomed milk or formula, with the use of an industry common, over-the-counter oral medicine syringe by allowing for the syringe to be inserted into the side-entry tube and aperture so that the medicine can mix with the milk or formula and be quickly consumed while the care provider has the option of manually regulating the flow of the medicine into the nipple. The invention therefore avoids the need for administering such fluid medicine directly into the mouth, or even mixing it into the contents of the bottle where the medicine may not be fully or timely consumed. The invention has applications not only with human infants and babies but also in the field of animal care.