Improvements in and Connected with Feeding Bottles.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd June, 1887.
Specification Accepted, 15th July, 1887
[Communicated from abroad by PIERRE ROUGEOT, of 59, Rue de Rivoli, Paris,
France, Doctor of Medicine.]
Improvements in and Connected with Feeding Bottles.
1. ERNEST DE PASS, of 68 Fleet Street, in the City of London, Fellow of the
Institute of Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The feeding of newly born infants, or of infants of tender age, is a problem to the
solution of which too much care and too great an effort cannot be bestowed, it has
long since justly occupied the attention of the medical profession, and likewise that of
other learned men,
for reasons of public health and with a view to the increase of
population.
The milk diet being the only diet capable of furnishing the best results, and the
mother's or nurse's suckling being preferable to feeding by the bottle, it is therefore
requisite in cases where the mother is prevented by the state of her health from
suckling her child, or is compelled for reasons of economy to feed it with the
bottle, to effect such artificial feeding under conditions of efficacy approaching as
near as possible those of a mother's, or of a nurse's suckling.
Human milk is richer in sugar than cow's milk of good quality, but it contains
less caseine, it will hence be sufficient in practice to ascertain the quality of the
cow's, or other milk used (I shall only refer to cow's milk) in order to know the
quantity of water which has to be added for diminishing the percentage of caseine
as well as the quantity of sugar to be added to obtain milk whose composition
may be approximately similar to human milk. It is known that milk is composed
of three essential principles, 1-butter, 2, cascine, a nitrogenous and albuminoid
substance, and 3, a liquid proved by analysis to be only water holding in solution a
special substance called lactine or sugar of milk; it contains moreover alkaline and
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page_text: other salts amongst which predominates phosphate of lime besides traces of iron and
the like. The essential principles above indicated exist in variable quantities
according to the different classes of milk used for feeding infants of tender age, and
it will be useful to shew in the following table the proportions of the elements
contained in the different classes of milk.
In order to appreciate the nutritive value of milk and to know whether it
contains the proportions of butter, caseine, &c., above indicated, it will thus be
sufficient to ascertain the quantity of cream contained therein, per litre, and the
following table will serve to explain in the course of my description the principle
upon which my "normal thermo cremometer feeding bottle" is based, and which.
forms the object of this invention. The figures represent gramme weights.
In order to render my invention better understood, I proceed to describe the same
with reference to the drawings which represent, by way of example, different applica-
tions of my invention.
Fig. 1 is a front view of the feeding bottle and of the "cremometer," Fig. 2 is a
front view of that face of the feeding bottle upon which are the graduations for
quantities, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the axis of the said feeding bottle. The
same letters of reference represent like parts throughout the figures.
My improved feeding bottle is composed of a bottle A, graduated on the face
shewn in fig. 1, by means of divisions extending, for instance, from 15 to 15, in order
to indicate the quantity of cream which the milk may contain, this constitutes the

page_text: cremometer by means of these divisions it can be ascertained whether the milk has
been freed from some of its cream, or water has been added. For this purpose the
bottle is filled with milk which is allowed to rest therein for 24 hours; good
cow's milk will yield a layer of cream comprised between 0 and 150. If Toth of
cream be removed and 100 grammes of water added, per litre of milk (about
4 ounces per quart) and placed in the bottle, at the expiry of 24 hours the thickness
of the layer of cream will be comprised between 0 and 120. If 200 grammes of
water were added instead of 100, the thickness of the layer of cream would be com-
prised between 0 and 90, and so on; in this latter condition the milk should be
rejected.
The neck of the bottle is provided with two inner protuberances u, a diametrically
opposite, and forming stops for securing the helicoidal projections b, b', of the stopper B
(shewn in elevation in fig. 4 and in section in fig. 5) these projections are terminated
by the stops 62, 63. The upper part of the stopper is also provided with helicoidal
projections c, c¹³, for securing the rim or flange d, d' of an ivory teat 1), whose extremity
has been dipped in acid so as to soften it. By means of this stopper a rapid and
hermetic closure is effected, india rubber washers f, f¹ (or washers of any other
suitable elastic material) being interposed in order to form hermetic joints, and the
travel of the stopper being regulated by the stops 62, 63. The stopper is provided
with a hole g (fig. 5) through which passes the dipping pipe E, provided at its
upper part with a shoulder h, resting upon the helicoidal projections c, c', of the
stopper, and upon which is placed the washer f, or a cotton wick previously dipped
into alcohol may be used, or again the rigid tube may be used in combination with a
cotton wick fixed to the lower part of the tube. It will be readily understood that by
turning the teat D, from right to left, the helicoidal projections c, c¹ will force the
flange or rim d, d¹ to descend and consequently the teat D with them; the tube E, or the
wick, is thus held in position and at the same time a hermetic joint is obtained. The
advantage of this arrangement is that the milk has, so to say, no contact with the
caoutchouc or india rubber washer, as will be obviously understood by referring to
fig. 3.
In fig. 2 the double graduations from 0 to 7 representing English ounces are
designed to indicate the determined quantities of milk which should be placed,
according to quality, in the bottle, for a feed. Thus for example, if it be desired to
prepare a 4 oz. feeding bottle registering 150 by the cremometer, 33 ozs. of milk
should be put into the bottle together with oz. of water and oz. of sugar.
The milk must be heated, and not boiled, and in order that there should be no
mistake in the degree of heat of the feeding bottle, I have provided the latter with a
graduated thermometer T cemented in the cavity H for this purpose.
An indicator
point, registered 37° C (98°. 6 F.) which corresponds to the inner heat of the body;
other higher temperatures may be read on the graduations indicated above. A small
hole m, is formed above the cavity H to facilitate exhaustion.
In order to facilitate the rapid heating of the feeding bottle, even when away from
home, I have devised a small apparatus to which I have given the name of "feeding
bottle heater," or "milk heater" and which is shewn in figs. 10 and 11, representing
respectively, on a smaller scale. than that of the other figures, a sectional elevation
and a plan, hereinafter described. In figure 11 the feeding bottle is removed so as
to shew the projections s upon which it rests.
From the foregoing, it results that the combination of the cremometer on the one
hand, and of the thermometer and of the graduation of the quantities on the other
hand, answer exactly the proposed object, that is to say, it permits of infants being
supplied with a milk as near as possible approximating to mother's milk.
To close the feeding bottle, the stopper B is placed so that the recesses i, (figs. 4
and 5) are opposite the protuberances a, a', then it is turned from the left to the right;
the washer of the stopper bearing against the neck forms a hermetic joint at the
same time as it exerts a pressure upon the protuberances a, a¹, by means of the
helicoidal projections b, b', which prevent the said stopper from becoming loosened.

page_text: Fig 6 shews a modification of my stopper in cases where it is preferred to use an
india rubber tube I, instead of the teat D.
Figs. 7 and 8 shew in section and in front elevation a modification of my feeding
-bottle which I term a "milk drawer feeding bottle," (biberon tire-lait) whose operation
will be immediately understood. This modification consists in the addition to my
improved feeding bottle of a pavilion forming a part of the bottle and designed to be
applied to the nipple of a woman's breast. By sucking at the mouth piece M of the
tube N, the milk enters the bottle A, without coming into contact with the surrounding
air. The quality of the milk can be ascertained by means of the cremometer shewn
in fig. 8, and in cases where such milk is more or less good, it would be necessary,
by careful attendance on the woman, to cause it to resume the hygienic and nutritive
conditions required for the proper feeding of the infant. It is obvious that this
application may have smaller dimensions than those indicated, and that it may be
made to assume a cylindrical form, while it may be specially used, when required, for
cremometric experiments.
Although the stopper B shewn in the two figures is an emery ground stopper, I can
equally well use the above described stopper provided with helicoidal projections.
Fig. 8x represents the stopper B of figs. 7 and 8 seen above, in order to shew the
elliptical form of the projections c, c¹, of fig. 7 which prevent the india-rubber tube
from being withdrawn, or from dropping out.
Fig. 9 shews a feeding bottle which can be laid flat and provided with an oblique
neck, it is furnished with a thermometer and has the same cremometric and quantity
graduations as the others. In this feeding bottle the stopper B is screw-threaded,
but it may also be made with helicoidal projections, as in figs. 1, 2 and 3. I have
stated above that, in order to facilitate the heating of the milk, I had devised a heating
apparatus for feeding bottles. This apparatus is composed of a receiver O of elliptic
form, provided with two moveable handles O' capable of being folded against the sides
of the receptacle o, divided in two parts P and P¹ by the bottom S, provided with two
projections s,s; the upper part P serves as a receptacle for the feeding bottle and for
the water and operating as a water bath, the lower part P' is provided with perforations
and is destined to receive a spirit lamp Q, furnished with a lid q, and located within a
sheath Q which is soldered, together with its ring q, to the moveable bottom R
serving as a base to the feeding bottle heater and capable of being forced within the
part P. The practical utility of this apparatus will be easily understood, as it allows
of a feeding-bottle' being rapidly prepared during the night, or even when out walking,
water being simply placed in the water bath P up to the height indicated by the small
notch and the wick of the lamp Q¹ lighted. The feeding bottle is placed in the
water bath, and left therein, until the milk contained in such bottle has reached the
temperature required and shewn by the small indicator point t of the thermometer.
Although I have not shewn in figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10 the inner exhausting tube, it will
be obvious that it exists there as well as in the other feeding bottles. I would also
state that the tube E instead of being rigid may be articulated by means of an india
rubber ring forming a joint to connect the two parts thereof at the lower extremity of
the stopper, so that the said tube may assume any suitable position. Furthermore,
though I have described my stopper with helicoidal projections as specially applicable
to feeding bottles, it can also be applied to jam pots, to jars for fruits or preserves, to
bottles or to any other receptacle furnished with a hermetic closure.
Having now described the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, I declare that I claim, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent :-
:
1. The improved feeding bottle termed "normal thermo cremometer feeding bottle"
in which the correlative combination of the graduations of quantities with the
graduations of quality permits of obtaining a milk having the required conditions for
the proper feeding of infants of tender age, constructed and combined as above
described and represented by way of example, in the accompanying drawings.

page_text: 2. The correlative combination of the graduations of quality with the graduations
of quantity as above described, for the purpose set forth.
3. The application to feeding bottles generally of my improved hermetic stopper
with helicoidal projections arranged and working as above described, and shewn by
way of example, in the accompanying drawings.
4. The employment in or application to feeding bottles of an inner thermometer
whose graduations may be read from outside, as above described, and shewn by way
of example, in the accompanying drawings.
5. The application to the "thermo-cremometer feeding bottle of a pavilion L for
converting it into a milk drawer, as above described, and shewn by way of example
in figs. 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings, and for the purpose set forth.
6. The application to feeding bottles capable of being laid flat, of all the above
mentioned combinations, as herein described and shewn by way of example in the
accompanying drawings.
7. The portable apparatus termed feeding bottle heater, or milk heater, constructed
combined, and working as above described and shewn by way of example in the
accompanying drawings and for the purpose set forth.
Dated thin 2nd d
T
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