Pumping breast milk
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A breast pump provides multiple orientations of the pumping lever with respect to the breast shield. A breast pump includes a liner extending from the breast shield, through the suction chamber, and out of the suction chamber, which liner shields other components of the pump from contamination by the flow of milk through the pump during pumping operation. A breast pumping device includes a pumping lever for manually providing a cyclical vacuum within the suction chamber and an external pumping source, connected to the suction bell, that the user can activate to provide a cyclical vacuum within the suction chamber. A breast pump provides a smaller change in the grip width from when the lever is fully-extended to when the lever is fully-retracted, allowing more comfortable manual pumping.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1-32. -32. (Canceled).
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33. A breast pump comprising
a suction bell defining an internal suction chamber; -
a breast shield extending from the suction bell and defining a receptacle for receiving a human breast, the receptacle being in hydraulic communication with the suction chamber;
a valve attached to the suction bell that partially defines the suction chamber and is adapted to drain pumped milk from the suction chamber; and
a removable, flexible liner extending from within the breast shield, through the suction chamber, and out of the suction chamber through the valve, the liner defining a conduit for conducting pumped milk. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. A breast pumping device comprising
a suction bell defining an internal suction chamber; -
a breast shield extending from the suction bell and defining a receptacle for receiving a human breast, the receptacle being in hydraulic communication with the suction chamber;
a hand-operable lever secured to the suction bell for cyclical motion with respect thereto to generate a cyclical vacuum within the suction chamber; and
a secondary vacuum cycling pump in hydraulic communication with the suction chamber through a length of flexible tubing; and
a valve repositionable between a first position restricting hydraulic communication between the secondary vacuum cycling pump and the suction chamber, and a second position enabling hydraulic communication between the secondary vacuum cycling pump and the suction chamber, for switching between a hand pumping mode and a secondary vacuum cycling pumping mode of the device. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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59. A manual breast pump, comprising:
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a suction bell defining an internal suction chamber and a pumping chamber, the suction and pumping chambers being in hydraulic communication via an aperture through an internal suction bell wall, the aperture being positioned at an upper end of the suction chamber;
a breast shield extending from the suction bell and defining a receptacle for receiving a human breast, the receptacle being in hydraulic communication with the suction chamber via a port disposed below the aperture; and
a valve forming the lower extent of the suction chamber, adapted to inhibit air flow into the suction chamber, and to drain pumped milk from the suction chamber;
wherein the pumping chamber forms a manually cyclable volume, such that when the pumping chamber is expanded a vacuum is created in the suction chamber, and when the pumping chamber is subsequently collapsed the vacuum is reduced; and
whereinthe aperture provides hydraulic communication between the pumping and suction chambers only through a tortuous air flow conduit requiring multiple flow direction changes between the pumping and suction chambers.
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Specification