Stretchable pacifier retainer harness

Claim 2

A stretchable retainer for yieldably biasing a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the stretchable retainer comprising a one-piece, elongated, elastic strap having a stretchable anchoring member at each of its distal ends and a single, stretchable, pacifier-supporting strip interconnecting the anchoring members, each anchoring member being formed to include an ear-receiving aperture configured to receive a child's ear therein to attach said each anchoring member to the child so that the elastic strap stretches about the child's face to yieldably bias a pacifier coupled to the pacifier-supporting strip into the child's mouth upon attachment of both of the anchoring members to the child's ears, wherein the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is a thin flat sheet and each of the anchoring members is oval-shaped and has a minor axis having a dimension that is greater than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 3

The stretchable retainer of claim 1, wherein the dimension of the minor axis of each of the oval-shaped anchoring members is about three times larger than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip;

Claim 4

The stretchable retainer of claim 1, wherein each of the oval-shaped anchoring members has a major axis having a dimension that is about four times larger than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 5

The stretchable retainer of claim 1, wherein each anchoring member includes an oval-shaped inner edge defining the ear-receiving aperture and the oval-shaped inner edge has a minor axis having a dimension that is about one and one-half times larger than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 6

The stretchable retainer of claim 1, wherein each anchoring member includes an oval-shaped inner edge defining the ear-receiving aperture and the oval-shaped inner edge has a major axis having a dimension that is about two and one-half times larger than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 7

The stretchable retainer of claim 1, wherein each of the oval-shaped anchoring members has a major axis and the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is made of a fabric that is stretchable in a longitudinal direction parallel to both of the major axes of the oval-shaped anchoring members and in a transverse direction parallel to both of the minor axes of the oval-shaped anchoring members.

Claim 8

The stretchable retainer of claim 6, wherein the fabric is a double-knit material.

Claim 9

The stretchable retainer of claim 6, wherein the stretchable fabric is an asymmetrically knit material that exhibits a first tensile strength when the elastic strap is loaded in said longitudinal direction having a magnitude that is greater than the magnitude of a second tensile strength exhibited by the asymmetrically knit material when the elastic strap is loaded in said transverse direction so that the elastic range of the elastic strap is greater under a tensile load applied to the elastic strap along said longitudinal direction than under a tensile load applied to the elastic strap along said transverse direction.

Claim 10

A stretchable retainer for yieldably biasing a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the stretchable retainer comprising a one-piece, elongated, elastic strap having a stretchable anchoring member at each of its distal ends and a single, stretchable, pacifier-supporting strip interconnecting the anchoring members, each anchoring member being formed to include an ear-receiving aperture configured to receive a child's ear therein to attach said each anchoring member to the child so that the elastic strap stretches about the child's face to yieldably bias a pacifier coupled to the pacifier-supporting strip into the child's mouth upon attachment of both of the anchoring members to the child's ears, wherein the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is made of elastic sheet material, wherein the elastic sheet material is a stretchable double-knit fabric.

Claim 11

A stretchable retainer for yieldably biasing a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the stretchable retainer comprising a one-piece, elongated, elastic strap having a stretchable anchoring member at each of its distal ends and a single, stretchable, pacifier-supporting strip interconnecting the anchoring members, each anchoring member being formed to include an ear-receiving aperture configured to receive a child's ear therein to attach said each anchoring member to the child so that the elastic strap stretches about the child's face to yieldably bias a pacifier coupled to the pacifier-supporting strip into the child's mouth upon attachment of both of the anchoring members to the child's ears, wherein the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is made of elastic sheet material, wherein the elastic sheet material is a stretchable double-knit fabric.

Claim 12

A combined stretchable retainer and pacifier combination wherein the retainer yieldably biases a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the pacifier including a web formed to include two apertures arranged in spaced-apart relation and a nipple coupled to the web and situated between the two apertures; wherein the stretchable retainer comprises: a one piece elongated stretchable elastic strap formed to include an ear-receiving loop at each of its distal ends and a single pacifier-supporting band interconnecting the ear-receiving loops, the single pacifier-supporting band being configured to extend through the two apertures formed in the web to connect the elastic strap to the pacifier so that the elastic strap yieldably biases the pacifier into the child's mouth upon connection of its pacifier-supporting band to the pacifier web and engagement of both of the ear-receiving loops over the child's ears; and wherein the one piece elastic strap is made of a stretchable sheet material of double knit fabric.

Claim 13

A combined stretchable retainer and pacifier combination wherein the retainer yieldably biases a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the pacifier including a web formed to include two apertures arranged in spaced-apart relation and a nipple coupled to the web and situated between the two apertures; wherein the stretchable retainer comprises: a one piece elongated stretchable elastic strap formed to include an ear-receiving loop at each of its distal ends and a single pacifier-supporting band interconnecting the ear-receiving loops, the single pacifier-supporting band being configured to extend through the two apertures formed in the web to connect the elastic strap to the pacifier so that the elastic strap yieldably biases the pacifier into the child's mouth upon connection of its pacifier-supporting band to the pacifier web and engagement of both of the ear-receiving loops over the child's ears; and wherein the one piece elastic strap is made of a stretchable sheet material of double knit fabric.

Claim 14

The stretchable retainer of claim 10, wherein the elastic strap includes an annular inner edge defining an aperture in the ear-receiving loop.

Claim 15

The stretchable retainer of claim 10, wherein the elastic strap is made of a compressible material to permit one of the ear-receiving loops to be compressed and passed through both of the apertures formed in the pacifier web as the elastic strap is threaded through said apertures to connect the pacifier web to the pacifier-supporting band of the elastic strap.

Claim 16

A combined stretchable retainer and pacifier combination wherein the retainer yieldably biases a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the pacifier including a web formed to include two apertures arranged in spaced-apart relation and a nipple coupled to the web and situated between the two apertures; wherein the stretchable retainer comprises: a one piece elongated stretchable elastic strap formed to include an ear-receiving loop at each of its distal ends and a single pacifier-supporting band interconnecting the ear-receiving loops, the single pacifier-supporting band being configured to extend through the two apertures formed in the web to connect the elastic strap to the pacifier so that the elastic strap yieldably biases the pacifier into the child's mouth upon connection of its pacifier-supporting band to the pacifier web and engagement of both of the ear-receiving loops over the child's ears; and wherein the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is a thin flat sheet and each of the anchoring members is oval-shaped and has a minor axis having a dimension that is greater than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 17

A combined stretchable retainer and pacifier combination wherein the retainer yieldably biases a pacifier into the mouth of a child, the pacifier including a web formed to include two apertures arranged in spaced-apart relation and a nipple coupled to the web and situated between the two apertures; wherein the stretchable retainer comprises: a one piece elongated stretchable elastic strap formed to include an ear-receiving loop at each of its distal ends and a single pacifier-supporting band interconnecting the ear-receiving loops, the single pacifier-supporting band being configured to extend through the two apertures formed in the web to connect the elastic strap to the pacifier so that the elastic strap yieldably biases the pacifier into the child's mouth upon connection of its pacifier-supporting band to the pacifier web and engagement of both of the ear-receiving loops over the child's ears; and wherein the one-piece, elongated, elastic strap is a thin flat sheet and each of the anchoring members is oval-shaped and has a minor axis having a dimension that is greater than the width of the pacifier-supporting strip.

Claim 18

The stretchable retainer of claim 13, wherein the elastic strap includes an annular inner edge defining an aperture in the ear-receiving loop.

Claim 19

The stretchable retainer of claim 13, wherein elastic strap is made of a compressible material to permit one of the ear-receiving loops to be compressed and passed through both of the apertures formed in the pacifier web as the elastic strap is threaded through said apertures to connect the pacifier web to the pacifier-supporting band of the elastic strap.