AU2006100055A4 - Magnetic underlay assembly - Google Patents

Description

ISAT (AUST) PTY LTD

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

FOR AN INNOVATION

PATENT

MAGNETIC UNDERLAY

ASSEMBLY

The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it know to us:- MAGNETIC UNDERLAY ASSEMBLY Technical Field This invention relates to a magnetic underlay assembly and in particular to a magnetic underlay assembly for use with beds or mattresses for magnetic therapy treatment for persons using a bed or mattress.

Background Art The use of magnets is known in magnetic therapy applications for treating various ailments. In particular the use of magnets in magnetic therapy has been shown to increase blood circulation to promote the body's natural healing process. A number of different products are in current use for the purpose of different magnetic thereby treatments. Such products range from specific articles designed for parts of the body which incorporate a series of magnets and which are worn by a person in the particular part of the body to be treated for example on the knee or back. Other magnetic therapy articles comprise articles in the nature of blankets or underlays which are applied to a bed so that a person using the bed is subject to magnetic therapy. In most cases the articles include a plurality of magnets arranged in a predetermined pattern For use of beds, magnetic underlays have been used in which a plurality of magnets are permanently secured to a blanket or cover. It is however difficult to clean blankets of the form and furthermore the magnets can be damaged during cleaning.

It has been proposed to provide a blanket for magnetic therapy which has an outer cover and an inset carrying a series of magnets which may be placed within the outer cover. The blanket is thus of similar form to a conventional doona and therefore has some of the disadvantages associated with a doona. In particular it is not only difficult to place the insert within the outer casing but it is also difficult to ensure that the corners of the insert are adjacent to the corners of the casing. Furthermore, if a user requires a blanket for use in different seasons, the outer casing is usually required to be of a different material which therefore increases costs.

Summary of the Invention The present invention aims to provide a magnetic therapy underlay for use on mattresses or beds which overcomes or alleviates one or more of the above disadvantages or which at least provides an alternative to the know prior art.

The present invention thus provides in a preferred form a magnetic underlay assembly for use in magnetic therapy, said underlay assembly having a base underlay and a top cover, said base underlay including a plurality of magnets, means for securing said base underlay to a mattress, and co-operable releasable attachment means at corresponding positions on said base underlay and said top cover whereby said top cover may be releasably attached to said base underlay.

The releasable attachment means are preferably provided at peripheral locations around the base underlay and top cover. The releasable attachment means may be continuous or discrete attachment means. The releasable attachment means are most preferably provided at corresponding corners of the base underlay and top cover. The releasable attachment means may also be located along the sides and/or along the ends of the base underlay and top cover at corresponding positions.

The magnets are suitably arranged in a series of rows and columns in or on the base underlay. The magnets typically may be of disc-like form or may be of any other form. The magnets may be arranged such that at least groups of the magnets have an alternating magnetic polarity. Thus adjacent magnets in the group or groups suitably have opposite poles uppermost. Alternatively the magnets may be arranged such that at least groups of magnets are arranged in the same orientation with common poles uppermost for example North or South Poles uppermost.

The magnets may be supported the base underlay in any suitable manner. Thus the magnets may be arranged in pockets in the base underlay, adhered to the base underlay, sewn to the base underlay or held to the base underlay in any other manner.

Most preferably the base underlay comprises at least upper and lower layers between which the magnets are located. Alternatively the base underlay may comprise a single layer. The layer or layers of the base underlay may be any pliable sheet-like material including woven, non-woven or knitted natural or synthetic fabrics.

Preferably the means for securing said base underlay to a mattress comprise means to attach the base underlay to the corners of the mattress. Preferably the base underlay is provided with straps which span its corners which may be located under the respective corners of the mattress. The straps suitably comprise straps of elastic or resilient material.

Thus the base underlay through the straps will remain attached to the mattress when the top cover is detached from the base underlay.

Preferably the releasable attachment means for releasably attaching the top cover to the base underlay comprises complementary hook and loop material or touch and grip material such as material know under the trade mark Velcro. Alternatively the releasable attachment means may comprise press studs or any other complementary attachment means.

The top cover suitably comprises a top layer of corresponding shape and size to the base underlay or layers or layers of the base underlay. Typically the top cover comprises any pliable sheet-like material including any natural or synthetic fabric such as a cotton fabric, a fabric having a pile such as a wool pile, wool or any other pliable sheet material.

A user thus may have top covers for use in different seasons. For example a top cover comprising cotton fabric may be used in summer but removed from the base underlay and replaced by a wool top cover in winter.

Preferably the top layer of the top cover is provided with a skirt around at least part of its periphery to serve as an additional means for securing the top cover to the mattress when the top cover is secured to the base underlay. The skirt may have an elasticized hem so that the top cover is in the configuration of a fitted sheet.

Brief Description of the Drawings Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein Fig. 1 illustrates the topside of a base underlay of the magnetic underlay assembly according to an embodiment of the invention; Fig. lA is an enlarged view of portion of the region A of Fig. 1 showing the manner in which magnets are arranged on the base underlay; Fig. 2 illustrates the underside of the base underlay of Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate in top and underside views, the top cover of the magnetic underlay assembly according to one embodiment of the invention; Fig 5 illustrates the manner in which the magnetic underlay assembly is secured to a mattress; and Fig. 6 is a side partially cut away view showing the manner in which the top cover is engaged with the base underlay and the base layer secured to a mattress.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment Referring to the drawings and firstly to Figs. 1 and 2, there is illustrated a base underlay 10 of a magnetic underlay assembly for use with mattresses according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base underlay 10 comprises a layer or layers of a fabric 11 of a rectangular configuration corresponding to the shape and size of a mattress to which the base underlay 10 is to be applied. A plurality of magnets 12 are supported on or within the base underlay 10 (for example between upper and lower layers) and arranged in this embodiment in a rectangular array of a number of columns and rows of magnets 12.

The magnets 12 further in this embodiment are of disc-like form with adjacent magnets 12 having opposite North and South poles uppermost as indicated in Fig. lA. Alternatively the magnets 12 may be arranged such that the North pole of each magnet 12 is uppermost or the South pole of each magnet 12 is uppermost. Various different combinations of magnets 12 however may be provided. Thus some magnets 12 may have their South poles uppermost and other magnets 12 may have their North poles uppermost. The magnets 12 are typically ceramic magnets with a magnetic flux of approximately 1000 gauss flux density. It will be appreciated however that magnets of other flux density may be used and the magnets may be other than ceramic magnets. Further the magnets 12 need not be of a disc-shaped configuration but may be of rectangular or square configuration.

The base underlay 10 additionally includes corner straps 13 which are located on the normally lower side of the base underlay 10 and which span' each corner of the underlay 10 being connected at opposite ends such as by sewing to the edges of adjacent sides of the base underlay layer 11. The corner straps 13 are formed of a resilient or elastic material.

The base underlay 10 further includes on its upper side, hook and loop fastener pieces 14 comprising one part of a hook and loop fastener known under the trade mark Velcro. The fastener pieces 14 are arranged at the four corners of the base underlay 10 and additionally along the opposite longitudinal sides of the base underlay 10 centrally between the opposite ends of the base underlay 10. The hook and loop fastener pieces 14 on the base underlay 10 preferably comprise the loop or plush part of a hook and loop fastener and are sewn, adhered or otherwise attached to the layer 11 or upper layer 11 of the base underlay The magnetic underlay assembly also includes a top cover 15 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 comprising a rectangular fabric layer 16 in this case formed of cotton or other natural or synthetic fabric material of a similar size and shape to the layer or layers 11 of the base underlay 10. A skirt 17 is attached to the fabric layer 16 extending along the opposite sides and ends of the fabric layer 16 and being attached to the fabric layer 16 by sewing. The skirt 17 has an elasticised hem 18 which assists in securing the top cover to a mattress as described below.

The fabric layer 16 is provided on its underside with hoop and loop fastener pieces 19 complementary to the pieces 14 on the base underlay 10. Thus where the hook and loop fastener pieces 14 comprise loop or plush pieces, the complementary hook and loop fastener pieces 19 on the layer 16 of the top cover 15 comprise complementary hook pieces. The fastener pieces 19 are arranged at the four corners of the fabric layer 16 and additionally along the opposite longitudinal sides of the fabric layer 16 centrally between the opposite ends of the layer 16 at positions corresponding to the positions of the fastener pieces 14. The fastener pieces 19 are either sewn, adhered or otherwise attached to the fabric layer 16.

Fig. 5 illustrates an alternative top cover 20 which is of similar construction to the cover 15 of Figs. 3 and 4 and in which like components have been given like numerals. In this case however the layer 21 of the top cover 20 comprises natural wool or a fabric with a wool pile. As with the top cover 15, the cover 20 includes hook and loop pieces 19 on its underside complementary to the hook and loop pieces 14 of the base underlay In use and as shown in Fig. 5, the base underlay 10 is applied to a mattress 22 such that the hook and loop fastener pieces 14 are uppermost and the straps 13 are looped under the respective corners 23 of the mattress 22 which secures the base underlay 10 to the mattress 22. A top cover such as the cover 20 is then applied over the base underlay 10 so that the respective aligned hook and loop fastener pieces 14 and 19 cooperate to secure the top cover 20 to the base underlay 10 to form the magnetic underlay assembly 24 as shown in Fig. 6. In the secured position of the top cover 20, the skirt 17 extends around the sides of the mattress 11 and the elasticised hem 18 locates on the underside of the mattress 22 to further secure the top cover 20 in position in a similar manner to a fitted sheet.

A person subsequently lying on the mattress 22 is thus subject to magnetic therapy from the magnets 12 carried by the base underlay For washing or cleaning purposes the top cover 20 can be simply detached from the base underlay 10 by disconnecting the cooperating hook and loop fastener pieces 14 and 18 and freeing the skirt 17. The top cover 20 can then be washed or cleaned in a conventional manner whilst the base underlay 10 remains in place secured to the mattress 22. The top cover 20 can then be simply reattached after washing or cleaning.

Where a different top cover, for example the top cover 15, is to be used in place of the cover 20, the cover 20 may be simply removed and the cover 15 attached in its place through the cooperable hook and loop fastener pieces 14 and 19.

The reference to prior art herein is not to be taken as an acknowledgment that such prior art constitutes common general knowledge in the art in Australia.

The terms "comprising" or "comprises" as used throughout the specification and claims are taken to specify the presence of the stated features, integers and components referred to but not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other feature/s, integer/s, component/s or group thereof.

Whilst the above has been given by way of illustrative embodiment of the invention, all such variations and modifications thereto as would be apparent to persons skilled in the art are deemed to fall within the broad scope and ambit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (4)

1. A magnetic underlay assembly for use in magnetic therapy, said underlay assembly having a base underlay and a top cover, said base underlay including a plurality of magnets, means for securing said base underlay to a mattress, and co-operable releasable attachment means at corresponding positions on said base underlay and said top cover whereby said top cover may be releasably attached to said base underlay.

2. A magnetic underlay assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein said releasable attachment means comprise hook and loop or touch and grip material arranged at the periphery of said base underlay and top cover.

3. A magnetic underlay assembly as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said means for securing said base underlay to a mattress comprises means to attach the base underlay to the corners of the mattress.

4. A magnetic underlay assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said top cover includes a top layer of a shape and size corresponding to said base underlay. A magnetic underlay assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein said top layer is provided with a skirt around at least portion of its periphery. Dated this twenty-third day of January 2006 ISAT (AUST) PTY LTD By Their Patent Attorney JOHN R G GARDNER