When my wife and I were first time parents 4 years ago, it was such a blessing, but bottle feeding was my least favorite task; I just couldn’t get the temperature right. With all the pressures of trying to be perfect parents; I failed. I burned my baby's tongue because the milk was too hot and had to run the milk under water to cool. Of course, I would never get it right after running it under cool water so I had to re-heat; it was a never ending cycle of frustration! Fortunately, my child was not harmed, only left with hunger pains having to wait on daddy taking too long to get the milk the right temperature. I had to find a solution because my baby was not happy!

After various incidents I began to search the market for a solution and the products available only sensed the temperature of the plastic baby bottle or sensed the temperature of the water used to heat the bottle. We found out quickly those measurement techniques just weren’t accurate enough for sensing the milk inside the bottle and could not be used.

After many attempts to find an “off-the-shelf” solution, I reached out to my eventual co-inventor for a full market study to see what prior art and patents existed. Each patent found had critical limitations, so we decided to develop a better solution to the problem.

Our invention, the float thermometer, takes the temperature of the milk inside the baby bottle and communicates the fluid’s temperature by visual means (multiple changes in color) or by both visual means and wireless transmission of the temperature to a standalone device or devices via access point (no internet required) or Wi-Fi (internet required) communication.

The working mechanisms common amongst the non-electronic and electronic encapsulations are a food safe thermally conductive plastic core, a food safe thermochromic pigment, and a food safe silicone coating. In addition to the common working mechanisms, the electronic embodiment includes a microcontroller, a temperature sensor, a three-color light emitting diode, a program, an on/off push button, and a long-lasting battery.

Additional features that set the float thermometer apart are the ability to maneuver within the bottle in various orientations and safety features that alert the user when the milk approaches 104 degrees Fahrenheit, which cannot only cause harm to our child, but also starts degrading the nutritional value of breast milk.

With the float thermometer; no more worries about the milk being too hot or cold, just a happy baby!

This float thermometer can also apply to industrial applications which require close monitoring of fluid temperature within a container.

Additional Notes:

• Patent pending.
• Color changes based on temperature (e.g., temperature less than 90 Fahrenheit- Color 1, temperature 90ºF-100ºF Fahrenheit Color 2 (Just Right!), temperature greater than 100ºF Fahrenheit- Color 3).
• Standard shapes (turtle, frog, and plane).
• Working prototypes for both electronic and non-electronic embodiments have been successfully tested.
• Dishwasher safe.
• Conducting market study for optimum colors.