EP0018046B1 - Upper mattress with a foam plastics interior - Google Patents

Description

The invention relates to an upper mattress provided with a foam core, which is particularly suitable for children's beds, according to the preamble of claim 1.

It is a well-known fact among experts that the rapidly increasing backward deformation in our time already in childhood, i.e. caused by inappropriate storage of the toddler. The knowledge of modern sleep physiology has so far been largely neglected in the construction of the cot, where it is important here to support the even more flexible and growing spine anatomically correctly and to begin damage from the outset through targeted, local support or stiffening of the supporting zones.

Another problem that has not yet been solved in connection with the cots is that children, once they have outgrown the diapers, “bedwet” well into school age. This mostly psychologically caused, difficult to manage phenomenon still awaits a solution on the part of the mattress suppliers because the known foam mattresses have to be described as not washable.

The drying time of a normal foam core top mattress is in fact so great that washing it cannot be considered either in a private household or in an institution (children's hospital, etc.). So far, people have been helped by putting on rubber blankets, but this prevents the necessary ventilation of the mattress in the upper lying area. After all, it is a generally accepted requirement today to surround people with air on all sides and thereby stimulate their skin breathing.

It is known from US Pat. No. 3110042 to divide the foam core of a mattress into two superimposed halves, to provide each of these halves with a separate covering and to insert rigid stiffening bars made of wood, metal, etc. in the boundary region of the two foam core halves. Pockets are sewn onto the above-mentioned covers for the stiffening rods, which - as long as the stiffening rods have not yet been pushed in - are pressed together by the elastic material of the two adjacent foam core halves. When the rods are pushed in, they must therefore displace the material mentioned in the pocket area, which is only possible with absolutely rigid rods and can also cause difficulties. In addition, undesirable increases are formed on the lying surface after the stiffening rods have been inserted.

GB-A 2 005 133 shows the subdivision of the foam core of a mattress and the arrangement of liquid-absorbing inserts in corresponding recesses.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to propose a top mattress which can be used in particular for children and which takes into account the specific circumstances of both the small child and the adolescent adolescent up to school age. The new mattress should in particular be washable and yet easy to handle and, according to a preferred embodiment, should also allow partial hardening of certain supporting zones, with particular emphasis being placed on the fact that flexible stiffening rods made of foam can also be inserted without difficulty and the lying surface do not interfere. This object is achieved by the combination of features defined in independent claim 1. Special embodiments of the invention are characterized in the dependent claims.

• Fig. 1 ist eine vereinfachte schematische Perspektivansicht der beiden nebeneinandergelegten Teile des Schaumstoffkernes, wobei die Innenhülle teilweise zwecks besserer Sichtbarmachung der Schaumstoffteile weggelassen wurde,
• Fig. 2 zeit ein Detail der Ausbildung des Schaumstoffkern-Unterteiis,
• Fig. 3 ist eine Perspektivdarstellung der kompletten Obermatratze mit aufgeschnittener Aussenhülle und
• Fig. 4 ist eine Schnittdarstellung einer Variante.

A preferred embodiment of the subject matter of the invention is described below along with a constructive variant.

• 1 is a simplified schematic perspective view of the two juxtaposed parts of the foam core, the inner shell being partially omitted for the purpose of making the foam parts more visible,
• 2 shows a detail of the formation of the foam core lower part,
• Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the entire top mattress with the outer shell and cut open
• Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a variant.

The top mattress selected as an exemplary embodiment has a foam core which consists of an upper part 1 and a lower part 2. The dimensions of the two foam core parts are practically the same, but the thickness of the upper part is preferably chosen to be somewhat less than that of the lower part 2. The two parts 1 and 2 can be achieved, for example, by making a foam core through a horizontal section practically parallel to the lying surface divided into two parts. But it would also be easily possible to produce the two parts 1 and 2 from different foam materials.

While the upper part 1 corresponds to the conventional foam core shape, the lower part 2 has on its upward-facing surface undulating elevations 3 or indentations 4, which in the embodiment shown extend over the entire length of the lower part 2, but only a specific one as required Can take section of the lower part 2.

The indentations 4 are adapted to the cross section of cylindrical stiffening rods 5, which can thus be inserted into the indentations 4 as required. The stiffening rods 5 be are made of a foam in a preferred embodiment, but should be relatively smooth and slidable on their circular cylindrical circumference, so that they can be easily pushed into the indentations 4 between the two foam core parts 1 and 2. Through the targeted arrangement of such stiffening bars 5 at certain points of the upper mattress to be hardened, the latter can be adjusted from an orthopedic point of view and thus adapted to the anatomical needs.

It should be clear to the person skilled in the art that such a partial or local stiffening can also be achieved with differently shaped indentations and stiffening elements. Moreover, it should be sufficient in most cases that the stiffening elements 5 do not extend over the entire width, but only over a large part of the lower part 2 and thus leave the edge regions of the indentations 4 free.

With a view to good moisture absorption and the mutual displacement and easy handling of the two parts 1 and 2, these are surrounded by a common shell 6. As is shown in particular in FIG. 1, the sleeve 6 encloses the two parts 1 and 2 on all sides and is secured in the central region by detachable members, for example loops 7. From this position of the two adjacent parts 1 and 2 shown in FIG. 1, the part 1 only needs to be folded over onto the part 2 and the two parts can then be inserted together into an outer shell 8. The latter preferably has a zipper 9 extending over three sides, so that the attachment of the outer shell is also uncomplicated and can be carried out in a few simple steps.

A constructive variant of the foam core is shown in a partial section in FIG. 4. The foam core is divided into three parts 10, 11 and 12. The middle part 11 is provided on both sides with indentations 13, in which stiffening bars 14 can be inserted.

The described top mattress has the considerable advantage that it consists of two relatively thin parts 1 and 2, which can be washed and dried separately. In a preferred embodiment, the thickness of each of these parts 1 and 2 is, for example, 5 cm, so that the foam should readily dry within 24 hours after washing. It is therefore a top mattress, the core and cover of which are washable as required and which is therefore particularly well suited for small and small children.

The arrangement of the stiffening bars 5 in the middle area between the two foam core parts 1 and 2 can be seen as the integration of a cross-bar-like suspension in the mattress, which has the additional advantage that it allows an extremely uncomplicated local adjustability. Thanks to this structure of the top mattress and the possibility of hardness adjustment, the cot does not have to be equipped with a special spring base. It is sufficient if a rigid slat suspension or a simple perforated plate is available to support this top mattress.

The stiffening rods 5 are solid in the preferred embodiment.

Another possibility of adapting to changing loads already results from the subdivision of the foam core. So it is easily possible to replace the upper part 1 with a harder and therefore more stable one as soon as the child gets bigger and therefore heavier.

For stubborn bedwetters, a special fabric can advantageously be inserted between the two parts 1 and 2, e.g. can consist of an absorbent virgin wool. This moisture-absorbing intermediate layer absorbs the moisture that has passed through the upper part 1, so that the child nevertheless lies on a dry surface.

In unfavorable weather and thus drying conditions, the top mattress described still offers the option of washing only one part at a time and leaving the child lying on the other foam part until the former has dried. In addition, thanks to the small thickness of parts 1 and 2, the drying process can be considerably accelerated by rolling the part to be dried into a terry towel under pressure.

The person skilled in the art can vary the described exemplary embodiment in a variety of ways within the scope of the intended protective area. For example, instead of the lower part 2, the upper part 1 of the foam core could be formed with indentations 4 or similar transverse grooves. It would also be possible to clad the two parts 1 and 2 of the foam core with separate inner casings, which, like the common inner casing 6, perform the double function of absorbing moisture and, on the other hand, to facilitate the mutual friction (displaceability) of parts 1 and 2 when placed on top of one another.

Claims (4)

1. An over-mattress with a foam plastics core, particularly for children's beds, wherein the foam plastics core is subdivided along a plane substantially parallel to the surface of the bed and the superimposed sections (1, 2; 10, 11, 12) of the foam plastics core are encased in a common outer casing (8) and a liquid-absorbing inner case (6), said sections resting loosely one above the other inside the outer case (8) to enable them to be washed separately and being reinforced by stiffening elements (5, 14) loosely inserted at right angles to the longitudinal axis thereof, characterised in that recesses (4, 13) are formed in the foam plastics core, at least in the lower half of said core, the contour of these recesses being matched to the cross section of the stiffening elements (5, 14), and in that the stiffening elements (5, 14) are in the form of flexible plastics rods made of a foam plastics material.

2. An over-mattress as claimed in claim 1, characterised in that the stiffening elements (5, 14) are in the form of cylindrical rods.

3. An over-mattress as claimed in either of claims 1 and 2, characterised in that the superimposed sections (1,2; 10, 11, 12) of the foam plastics core are encased in a common inner casing (6) which surrounds the sections of the foam plastics core on all sides and is secured by releasable means (7).

4. An over-mattress as claimed in claim 1, characterised in taht the foam plastics core is subdivided into three section (10, 11, 12) with the central section (11) comprising undulating contours (13) and being provided with stiffening rods (14).

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