A wide variety of baby bottles have been designed and sold. However, very few have had the vision to include structures to allow the storage of two fluids in one bottle. The advantages of having two different fluids in a single baby bottle are several: convenience, versatility, economy and practicality. Dental health may also be improved, since milk or sugar-based juices may be followed by water, which tends to wash away the decay producing substances present in milk or juice.
Of the few baby bottles which have included two cavities to carry two different fluids, all suffer from one or more problems. One problem shared by several such bottles is that the valving structure used to switch the flow to the nipple from one cavity to the other is either expensive or leaky, or both. To be commercially practical, a baby bottle must be lightweight and inexpensive. Given the generally flimsy nature of most inexpensive materials, it is likely that an inexpensive valve will leak. As a result, two-sided baby bottles having a valve typically will leak fluid from the side intended to be blocked into either the nipple, or the other side, or both.
A second problem common to prior art two-sided baby bottles is that two nipples are required, even though only one can be used at any given time. This is generally true of baby bottles having two opposed, in-line cavities, joined by their respective bases. Using one nipple for both fluids is more economical and results in a more compact design.
What is needed is a baby bottle having two fluid containing cavities and sharing one nipple. A leak-proof structure must be disclosed, so that the two fluids are not mixed as they enter the nipple, and so that they are not mixed in the bottle.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds