Baby bottle tether

Abstract

A tether for securing a baby bottle or toy to a structure such as a highchair or car seat for the baby. The tether has an elongated member with a flexible portion and having opposed ends with a securing device at each of the opposed ends. Both of the securing devices are straps that have a fastening system such as a hook and loop system such that the securing devices can form a loop of a desired size to encircle an item, such as a baby bottle or a toy and structure to secure the tether to both the item and the structure. As such, the baby bottle or toy can be secured to a structure such as a highchair or car seat and if dropped, the item will be restrained so as to not contact the floor and become contaminated.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to a convenient device for use with an infant, and, more particularly, to a flexible device used to secure an item, such as a baby bottle, to a structure such as a highchair or car seat to tether that item to the structure and limit the range of movement of that item.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]It is often important to tether some item to a structure to prevent that item, for example, from being dropped on the floor, or otherwise moving beyond a limited distance from that structure. One typical example is in the care of infants where the infant may have access to a baby bottle for obtaining food as is desired. There is, however, a problem in that the infant may well drop the bottle onto the floor and it is therefore necessary for the child care giver to pick up the bottle and thoroughly clean it before handing it back to the baby.[0003]Unfortunately, the dropping of a bottle by a baby can become often very repetitive and...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]At each of the opposed ends of the flexible member, there is a securing means that allows the flexible member to be easily and conveniently secured to an item or structure. The securing means comprises a strap that can be used to encircle the item or structure and be closed to form a loop around that item or structure. The size of the closed loop can be easily established by the user, that is, one end of the strap is secured through the use of a securing means to another portion of the strap to form the closed loop.

[0012]As such, the size of the loop can easily be established by the user depending upon where along the portion of the strap the end of the strap is affixed. Conveniently, that securing means can be a hook and loop system, such as is available under the trademark Velcro so the user can simply use the hook and loop system to size the loop according to desires. When the item is a baby bottle, the loop can be sized to be fairly snug around the bottle to prevent the bottle from falling out of the loop, however, where the structure is a highchair, the loop may be looser encircling one of the components of that highchair. Where the hook and loop system is utilized, the components may be located at least partially along the length of the strap or at least substantially therealong.

[0013]As one of the advantages over the aforedescribed prior art, the present tether has the ability of being easily secured to either the item or the structure since the securing means is the same at both ends of the tether and the loop that is formed at those ends can be of any particular size needed to carry out the securing of the tether to the item or structure.

Problems solved by technology

There is, however, a problem in that the infant may well drop the bottle onto the floor and it is therefore necessary for the child care giver to pick up the bottle and thoroughly clean it before handing it back to the baby.

Unfortunately, the dropping of a bottle by a baby can become often very repetitive and ultimately becomes a burden to the care provider who is taken away from other activities to continue to pick up and clean the baby bottle.

Typically, the problem takes place when the baby is in a highchair, however, other locations can be involved, such as in an automobile where the baby is contained within a car seat.

In such instant, even the retrieval of the bottle can be a problem since the bottle may ultimately rest in an inconvenient location after having been dropped.

Some devices have been disclosed as tethers for baby bottles or toys and one is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,119, however, that device does not have a flexible or stretchable nature and the means of attachment to the baby bottle is not particularly convenient or secure.

Another type of baby bottle tether is shown and described in U.S. Pub. 2004 / 0079843, however, that device is also not longitudinally stretchable and the device requires some fitting on the baby bottle to be attached thereto.

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