Patent ID: 7134932
Filing Date: 2006-11-14
Classification: A61J

Abstract:
1. In a musical infant nursing bottle employing a liquid container, an electrical power source, and a musical player, a base containing said electrical power source and said musical player and forming a liquid container seat to receive and support said liquid container from beneath and also to serve as a stand for supporting said liquid container in an upright vertical orientation, and wherein said base defines within its structure a cavity with a circular outer perimeter and an axial center, the improvement comprising: an omnidirectional, gravity operated switching mechanism including a cavity floor formed within said base as an inverted, frustoconical, inclined surface with a detent recess therein at said axial center of said cavity, and said cavity floor is inclined toward said detent recess at an angle of no less than about two degrees and no greater than about ten degrees, and said floor slopes from said outer perimeter away from said liquid container and toward said axial center at a uniform angle of inclination relative thereto, and further comprising a sphere movable by gravity to roll freely across said floor and beneath said liquid container when said liquid container is tilted from vertical alignment, and said detent recess is a circular aperture of diameter smaller than that of said sphere located in said floor at said axial center of said cavity, wherein said sphere rolls across said inclined surface and releaseably lodges in said detent recess when said liquid container resides in vertical alignment, and an electrical switch having a switching actuator located directly beneath said detent recess, whereby the weight of said sphere operates said switching actuator when said sphere is lodged in said detent recess to create an open circuit condition between said electrical power source and said musical player, and said sphere rolls out of said detent recess to create a closed circuit condition between said electrical power source and said musical player when said base is tilted sufficiently from vertical alignment.