WO2010001159A1

WO2010001159A1 - Urine bottle

Info

Publication number: WO2010001159A1
Application number: PCT/GB2009/050761
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wayne Nelson
Original assignee: Vernacare Ltd
Current assignee: Vernacare Ltd
Priority date: 2008-07-02
Filing date: 2009-06-30
Publication date: 2010-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 2011-01-02
Also published as: EP2306954A1; CA2732866A1; GB0812090D0; AU2009265352A1

Abstract

A urine bottle comprises a hollow body having a generally triangular base wall (18), an opening (14) above the base wall and side walls (28, 30) located on opposite sides of the base wall (18), The side walls (28, 30) converge both towards the base wall (18) and to the end (12) of the hollow body where the opening (14) is located. The inclination of the side walls allows the bottle to sit comfortably against the inner thigh portions of a user.

Description

URINE BOTTLE

The present invention relates to urine bottles and in particular, but by no means exclusively, to disposable male urine bottles, such as those moulded from paper pulp, If a person finds it difficult to visit a lavatory, for example if the person is a hospital patient confined to bed, it becomes necessary for the person to use a bedpan or urine bottle instead. If the person only wishes to pass water, a urine bottle is preferred, particularly for male patients, as it is simpler to use than a bedpan. In particular, the urine bottle can be presented to the user while lying down or in a semi-recumbent position. In contrast, it is necessary to manoeuvre a person onto the top of a bedpan. Moreover, a urine bottle is enclosed and is therefore less likely to spill its contents accidentally after use.

However, there is a reluctance amongst some people to use a urine bottle and it is therefore desirable for the bottle to be comfortable, stable and easy to use, to give a user the necessary confidence to use the bottle.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a urine bottle comprises an elongate hollow body having a base wall, an opening above the base wall and side walls located on opposite sides of the base wall, wherein the opening is located at a first end of the hollow body and the side walls converge towards the base wall and towards the first end of the hollow body. A urine bottle having converging side walls is much more comfortable for a user, since it conforms more closely to the shape of a user's inner thigh portions,

In this specification, reference to the side walls "converging" should not be taken as meaning that the side walls necessarily intersect, adjoin or abut, but merely that they are inclined with respect to each other.

By having the side walls converging towards the base wall, in other words the side walls are inclined with respect to the base wall, the urine bottle is narrower at its base and is therefore more comfortable to use than prior art bottles.

In addition, a urine bottle having side walls which converge towards the end at which the access opening is positioned is much more comfortable to use.

Preferably, the side walls are generally planar. Preferably, each of the side walls extends upwardly from the base wall.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, a urine bottle comprises an elongate hollow body having a generally triangular base wall, an opening above the base wall located at a first end of the hollow body and side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from opposite sides of the base wall.

In a preferred embodiment, the urine bottle comprises a front wall at the first end of the hollow bottle. More preferably, the opening is located in the front wall. The hollow body may comprise recesses forming a handling facility. For example, there may be a recess in the base wall. The urine bottle may comprise a recess in the base wall extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hollow body. The bottle may comprise a recess in the base wall extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the hollow body.

There may be a plurality of recesses in the base wall. There may be a plurality of intersecting recesses in the base wall.

Alternatively, or in addition, the hollow body comprises a top wall above the base wall and a recess in the top wall above a recess in a base wall.

There may also be a recess in one or both of the side walls. In one embodiment, the hollow body comprises a top wall above the base wall and the recess in a side wall extends into the top wall. Preferably, the base wall is generally planar.

The base wall may be generally or substantially triangular.

In a preferred embodiment, the base wall comprises three support points upon which the bottle can rest.

In one embodiment, one of the support points is located at a first end of the hollow body.

The base wall may comprise a concave portion between the support points.

In a preferred embodiment, the opening comprises an outwardly- projecting tubular collar. Preferably, the profile of the collar is non-circular. For example, the collar may comprise a notch or recess or recess in its periphery. The notch or recess is preferably located at the lowermost portion of the collar.

More preferably, the notch or recess is located at the outermost portion of the collar. The collar may comprise two inwardly-extending projections, located either side of the notch or recess.

In a preferred embodiment, a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable manually. This allows the collar to be deformed manually after use, which indicates to the nursing staff that the bottle has been used and needs to be removed from the bedside.

Preferably, a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable inwardly.

Preferably, the portion of the collar forming the notch or recess is adapted to be deformable manually, In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, a male urine bottle comprises a hollow body having the base wall and an opening above the base wall, wherein the opening comprises an outwardly- projecting tubular collar having a non-circular profile.

Preferably, the collar comprises a notch or recess in its periphery. The provision of a notch or recess in the collar facilitates correct positioning, and retention, of a user's penis with respect to the collar during use of the bottle, which is desirable in order to minimise leakage of urine. This is also important for patients with a retracted penis as it provides a contact point. This has been found to be a problem with the aperture of some prior art urine bottles, particularly with a considerable proportion of elderly male patients.

The notch or recess is preferably located at the lowermost portion of the collar. The notch or recess is also preferably located at the outermost portion of the collar.

The collar may comprise two inwardly-extending projections located either side of the notch or recess.

Preferably, a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable inwardly.

Preferably, the portion of the collar forming the notch or recess is adapted to be deformable manually.

Preferably, the hollow body is elongate and the collar is located at first end of the hollow body.

The urine bottle may comprise an end wall at the first end of the hollow body and the hollow collar preferably extends from the end wall. Preferably, the urine bottle is formed from moulded paper pulp.

By way of example only, specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of male urine bottle in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view from below of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ; Fig. 4 is a side view of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 5 is a front view of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 6 is a rear view of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the urine bottle of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of male urine bottle in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 9 is an inverted view plan view of the urine bottle of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a side view of the urine bottle of Fig. 8;

Fig. 11 is a front view of the urine bottle of Fig. 8;

Fig. 12 is a rear view of the urine bottle of Fig. 8; and Fig. 13 is a plan view of the urine bottle of Fig. 8.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 7 of the drawings, a first embodiment of male urine bottle 10 is a hollow one-piece moulding produced from fibrous material such as paper pulp. The bottle is generally elongate and has a front end 12 having an access aperture 14 and a rear end 16. As best seen in Fig, 3_» the bottle 10 has a generally planar base wall 18 which is in the general shape of an isosceles triangle, with the two longer edges 20 following the lateral boundaries of the base and the apex between the two longer edges being located at the front end 12 of the bottle. A triangular recess 22 is formed in the base wall 18 adjacent to its rear end to form a finger grip, as will be explained.

As seen in Fig. 4, the base wall is also bowed upwardly slightly, and the frontmost part of the base wall 18 is flat, thereby forming a planar front support foot 24 adjacent to the front apex of the triangular base wall 18 and two rear support feet 26a, 26b at the rear of the base wall 18, a respective one located on each side of the finger recess 22. The bottle can thereby rest on a planar surface by virtue of the three support feet 24, 26a, 26b, with most of the base wall 18 not touching the planar surface. Two side walls 28, 30 extend upwardly from the lateral edges 20 of the base wall 18. The side walls 28, 30 are generally planar and are inclined in two senses. Firstly, the side walls converge or taper downwardly towards the base wall, i.e. they are inclined to a plane extending through a longitudinal central axis of the urine bottle and perpendicularly to the base wall 18, whereby the side walls 28, 30 flare out upwardly from the base wall and are inclined upwardly and outwardly with respect to the base wall 18. Secondly, the side walls 28, 30 converge or taper from the rear end 16 of the bottle to the front end 12 of the bottle.

The front edges of the side walls 28, 30 are closed off by a generally planar front wall 32 in the shape of an inverted isosceles triangle. The access aperture 14, defined by a tubular collar 34, is located at the uppermost portion of the end wall. The collar 34 is generally circular in cross-section but its outer rim is provided with two identical inwardly- projecting side lugs 36, 38 on either side of the lowermost portion of the collar, which define a notch or recess 40 at the lowermost portion of the collar which assists in using the bottle, as will be explained. The periphery of the outermost portion of the collar 34 is also formed into a smooth rounded lip 42. As best seen in Fig. 4, the generally triangular front wall 32 has a lower planar portion 32a which extends perpendicularly to the planar front support foot 24 of the base wall 18 and an upper planar portion 32b from which the collar 34 extends perpendicularly, the upper planar portion 32b being inclined slightly rearwardly at an angle of about 15° to the lower front wall portion 32a.

A generally planar top wall 44 extends between the side walls 28, 30, the front wall 32 and a generally planar rear wall 46 which projects upwardly and forwardly from the rear end of the base wall 18 at an angle of about 15° to the vertical. As seen in the drawings, deep thumb recesses 48, 50 are located one on either side of the bottle and extend into either side of the top wall 44 and a respective one of the two side walls 28, 30. The rear end of the top wall 44 is also provided with a generally triangular recess 52, vertically above the recess 22 in the base wall 18, to form a further finger grip, as will be explained. A urine bottle will normally be used by a person who is unable easily to visit a lavatory. Consequently, the user of a urine bottle will normally be in a lying or semi-recumbent position in bed. In use, the urine bottle will be presented to the user and will sit on the surface of a mattress on which the user is situated. The downwardly tapering and forwardly tapering side walls 28, 30 allow the bottle to sit flush with the inner thigh portions of a user and significantly increase the ease and comfort of use as compared with the prior art urine bottles. The holding and positioning of the bottle by an assistant is facilitated by the finger grips formed by the recesses 22, 52 at the rear end of the base wall 18 and top wall 44.

Moreover, the holding and positioning of the bottle by a user is facilitated by the thumb recesses 48, 50 on either side of the bottle. The bottle is then used in the normal way, as for the prior art bottles. This is facilitated by the notch or recess 40 in the collar 34 between the two side lugs 36, 38, which facilitates correct positioning, and retention, of a user's penis inside the collar during use of the bottle, which is desirable in order to minimise leakage of urine. This has been found to be a problem with the aperture of some prior art urine bottles, particularly with a considerable proportion of elderly male patients (who may have a retracted penis). The provision of the side lugs 36, 38 also has the result that the portion of the collar 34 which forms the notch 40 is slightly deformable manually, which improves the ease and comfort of use and aids the pushing in of notch 40 radially inwardly after use (which in turn informs nursing staff that the bottle has been used). The bottle is supported in use at three points_s namely by the front foot 24 and the two rear feet 26a, 26b, which provides a secure support irrespective of the surface on which it is used.

After use, the bottle is removed for disposal, normally in a macerator which reduces the soiled bedpan to particles of a size which can be disposed of in the normal drainage system. The finger grips formed by the recesses 22, 52 again assist if the bottle is removed by an assistant and the thumb recesses 48, 50 facilitate removal by the user.

After removal, it may be necessary to stand the soiled bottle on a support surface (e.g. a work surface) for a short period of time. As explained previously, the bottle is designed to be stood on a surface supported by only the front foot 24 and the two rear feet 26a, 26b. This allows air to circulate around the side walls 28, 30 and underneath the base wall 18, which reduces the occurrence of condensation, which might otherwise cause potential infection problems.

It will also be noted that the shape of the bottle allows identical bottles (unused or soiled) to be stacked side-by-side, with the front end of one bottle being located adjacent to the rear end of an adjacent bottle.

This considerably reduces the amount of space required for storage, as compared with some prior art bottles.

A second embodiment of male urine bottle 10' is illustrated in Figs. 8 to 13. The second embodiment is very similar to the first embodiment shown in Figs. 1 to 7, and corresponding features have been identified with the same reference numerals. As for the first embodiment, the second embodiment of male urine bottle 10' is a hollow one-piece moulding produced from fibrous material such as paper pulp.

There are four significant differences between the first and second embodiments. The first difference is that the tubular collar 34' of the second embodiment is longer than the tubular collar 34 of the first embodiment, although the size, shape and position of the inwardly-projecting side lugs 36, 38 and the notch or recess 40 on the outer rim of the collar 34' are the same as those in the first embodiment. It has been found that some patients, who are not confined to bed, prefer to use the urine bottle when standing up. The increased length of the collar 34', as compared with the first embodiment, facilitates such use.

The second difference is that the thumb recesses 48, 50 of the first embodiment are omitted from the second embodiment, so that the side walls 28, 30 merge smoothly and continuously with the top wall 44 along the entire length of the urine bottle.

The third difference is that, in addition to the recesses 22, 52 at the rear end of the base wall 18' and the rear end of the top wall 44 respectively, a further recess 60 is provided in the base wall 18'. The further recess 60 is elongate and extends generally transversely to the longitudinal direction of the bottle, intersecting the inner end of the recess

22 in the base wall 18'. The provision of the further recess facilitates removal of a used bottle from a patient, particularly by someone other than the user.

The fourth difference is that the base wall 18' is more planar, i.e. less upwardly bowed, than the base wall 18 of the first embodiment. The upward bowing of the base wail 18' takes place between the planar front foot 24 and the front edge of the transversely-extending further recess 60. Other than the above, the construction and operation of the second embodiment of urine bottle are the same as those of the first embodiment.

The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiments. For example, although the bottle as described is manufactured from paper pulp and is designed to be disposed of after use, it would be possible to make the bottle out of a material, e.g. plastics, which is designed to be reusable. Although this might not be suitable in circumstances where the bottle would be used by several different people, it might be more appropriate if the same bottle is used repeatedly by only one person.

Moreover, although the specific embodiment is a male urine bottle, many of the features of the invention, particularly, but not exclusively, the first and second aspects of the invention, are equally applicable to female urine bottles.

Claims

1. A urine bottle comprising an elongate hollow body having a base wall, an opening above the base wall and side walls located on opposite sides of the base wall, wherein the opening is located at a first end of the hollow body and the side walls converge towards the base wall and towards the first end of the hollow body.

2. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the side walls are generally planar.

3.. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein each of the side walls extends upwardly from the base wall.

4. A urine bottle comprising an elongate hollow body having a generally triangular base wall, an opening above the base wall located at a first end of the hollow body and side walls extending upwardly and outwardly from opposite sides of the base wall.

5. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 4, comprising a front wall at the first end of the hollow body.

6. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 5, wherein the opening is located in the front wall.

7. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the hollow body comprises recesses forming a handling facility,

8. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 7_» comprising a recess in the base wall.

9. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 8, comprising a recess in the base wall extending generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the hollow body.

10. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, comprising a recess in the base wall extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the hollow body.

11. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 8 to 10, comprising a plurality of recesses in the base wall.

12. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 11 , comprising a plurality of intersecting recesses in the base wall.

13. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 8 to 12, wherein the hollow body comprises a top wall above the base wall and wherein the top wall comprises a recess above a recess in the base wall.

14. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 7 to 13, comprising a recess in one or both of the side walls.

15. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 13, wherein the hollow body comprises a top wall above the base wall and wherein the recess in a side wall extends into the top wall.

16. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the base wall is generally planar.

17. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the base wall is generally or substantially triangular.

18. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the base wail comprises three support points on which the bottle can rest.

19. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 18, wherein one of the support points is located at the first end of the hollow body.

20. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 18 or claim 19, wherein the base wall comprises an upwardly concave portion between the support points.

21. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the opening comprises an outwardly-projecting tubular collar.

22. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 21 , wherein the profile of the collar is non-circular.

23. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 22, wherein the collar comprises a notch or recess in its periphery.

24. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 23, comprising a notch or recess located at the lowermost portion of the collar.

25. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 23 or claim 24, comprising a notch or recess located at the outermost portion of the collar.

26. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 23 to 25, wherein the collar comprises two inwardly-extending projections located either side of the notch or recess.

27. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 21 to 26, wherein a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable manually.

28, A urine bottle as claimed in claim 27, wherein a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable inwardly.

29. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 27 or claim 28, when dependent on any of claims 23 to 26, wherein the portion of the collar forming the notch or recess is adapted to be deformable manually.

30. A male urine bottle comprising a hollow body having a base wall and an opening above the base wall, wherein the opening comprises an outwardly-projecting tubular collar having a non-circular profile.

31. A male urine bottle as claimed in claim 30, wherein the collar comprises a notch or recess in its periphery.

32. A male urine bottle as claimed in claim 31 , comprising a notch or recess located at the lowermost portion of the collar.

33. A male urine bottle as claimed in claim 31 or claim 32, comprising a notch or recess located at the outermost portion of the collar.

34. A male urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 31 to 33, wherein the collar comprises two inwardly-extending projections located either side of the notch or recess.

35. A urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 30 to 34, wherein a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable manually.

36. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 35, wherein a portion of the collar is adapted to be deformable inwardly.

37. A urine bottle as claimed in claim 35 or claim 36, when dependent on any of claims 31 to 34, wherein the portion of the collar forming the notch or recess is adapted to be deformable manually.

38, A male urine bottle as claimed in any of claims 27 to 37, wherein the hollow body is elongate and the collar is located at a first end of the hollow body.

39. A male urine bottle as claimed in claim 38, comprising an end wall at the first end of the hollow body and wherein the hollow collar extends from the end wall.

40. A urine bottle as claimed in any of the preceding claims, formed from moulded paper pulp.