EP0923897B1

EP0923897B1 - Holder for a water mattress

Info

Publication number: EP0923897B1
Application number: EP98204278A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Douglas Brian Damude
Original assignee: European Sleep Products Bv
Current assignee: European Sleep Products Bv
Priority date: 1997-12-18
Filing date: 1998-12-17
Publication date: 2003-07-02
Anticipated expiration: 2018-12-17
Also published as: EP0923897A2; DE69816008D1; EP0923897A3; ATE243965T1; NL1007833C1; DE69816008T2

Abstract

Described is a holder (1) for a water mattress. This holder (1) comprises at least a number of edge elements (3A,3B,3C,3D) of a flexible material with a height substantially corresponding with the height of a water mattress to be accommodated and a width which is such that the edge elements can stand independently. The edge elements (3) are positioned on a base board such that they enclose a space (7) all around within which a water mattress can be placed. The edge elements (3) are mutually coupled herein by means of a base part (5) of a water-impermeable material. Also described is a covering intended for use in the above stated holder. This covering comprises at least a number of jackets (9) intended to receive edge elements (3). The jackets are mutually coupled by means of a base part (5) of a water-impermeable material. <IMAGE>

Description

The present invention relates to a holder for a water mattress comprising at least a number of edge elements of a flexible material with a height substantially correspondin with the height of a water mattress to be accommodated and a width which is such that the edge elements can stand independently which are positioned on a base board such that they enclose a space within which a water mattress can be placed.
Such a holder is known, see for example DE 4 404 823 A, and is applied with water beds which can be used in freestanding manner and therefore do not have to be placed per se in a surround. The holder herein comprises a number of flexible edge elements, for instance two edge elements with a length of two metres twenty and two edge elements with a length of one metre sixty, which are placed in a rectangular form on a base board. When the width of the top part of the edge elements is ten centimetres, a peripheral edge with inner dimensions of one metre sixty by two metres can in that case be constructed. The edge elements, also referred to as beams, comprise a flexible and resilient material which also has some firmness, such as for instance polyether, and are normally enclosed by a sleeve as disclosed in US 5 515 560 A. The edge elements are preferably formed such that a person can sit on the edge. In order to fix the edge elements onto the base board in the desired configuration at least one - protruding - part of the sleeve is fastened to the base board using a wooden fixing slat. A fixing slat is normally placed on a part of the sleeve protruding toward the inside of the space enclosed by the edge elements, which slat is then screwed fixedly to the base board. In the space enclosed by the edge elements a safety lining is then placed which serves to prevent water possibly leaking out of the water mattress from remaining inside the space enclosed by the edge elements and the safety lining.
A drawback to the above holder however is that the fixing between the edge elements and the base part is not watertight. In the case that water from the water mattress leaks over the edge of the safety lining, the water will run onto the base board and can escape through the space between the edge elements and the base board. It will be apparent that such water leakage can cause great damage.
The present invention has for its object to avoid the above stated drawback. The present invention moreover has the object of providing a holder which is watertight as such, even when no safety lining is applied. The present invention provides for this purpose a holder as according to the preamble which is characterized in that the edge elements are mutually coupled by means of a base part of a water-impermeable material.
By coupling all edge elements of the holder to a base part of water-impermeable material and placing the thus formed holder as such onto a base board, any water possibly leaking from the water mattress is contained by the water-impermeable material, thus preventing the water running into the space between the edge elements and the base board. With the mutual coupling of the edge elements and the base part a container is as it were created which is substantially bounded on the underside by the water-impermeable material and at the sides by the edge elements. This container can be placed as such on a base board or any other suitable base and is intended to accommodate a water mattress.
In preference the edge elements are at least partially enclosed by a jacket of a water-impermeable material.
In addition to contributing towards increased watertightness of the holder, this also prevents water which runs in any way whatever onto the edge element from soaking into the material of the edge element. The jacket can herein be formed such that it is arranged relcasably round the edge element. In order to enhance the appearance of the holder the jacket of water-impermeable material will preferably be covered with an upholstery material suitable for this purpose.
In an advantageous embodiment at least a part of the edge elements is enclosed by the base part.
The water-impermeable material of the base part herein advantageously extends along the vertical inner sides of the edge elements so that the watertightness of the holder is increased still further.
Although in principle any water-impermeable material known to the skilled person can be applied for both the base part and the covering of the edge elements, it is recommended that the material is chosen from the group consisting of vinyl, polyvinyl chloride and rubber.
In an advantageous embodiment the edge elements widen in cross-section towards the underside.
Thus is achieved that the edge elements can stand alone in more stable manner.
The base part is preferably coupled to the jacket of the edge elements.
The jacket can herein be formed such that the edge elements can be removed therefrom so that the jacket with the base part and the edge elements can be transported separately.
Preferably however, the base part is coupled to the jacket by means of a welded connection.
The present invention further relates to a covering intended for use in a holder according to the present invention, at least comprising a number of jackets which are intended to receive edge elements and which are mutually coupled by means of a base part of a water-impermeable material.
The present invention will be further elucidated hereinbelow with reference to the annexed drawing, in which:

figure 1: shows a schematic top view of a holder for a water mattress according to the present invention;
figure 2: shows a schematic cross-section of the holder along the line 2-2 in figure 1;
figure 3: is a schematic cross-section as shown in figure 2 of another embodiment of a holder according to the present invention; and
figure 4: is a schematic view of the underside of the holder according to the invention.

The figures are purely schematic and not drawn to scale. Some dimensions in particular are highly exaggerated for the sake of clarity. Corresponding reference numerals are used as far as possible for corresponding components in the different figures.
Figure 1 shows a schematic top view of a holder 1 for a water mattress according to the present invention. In the shown embodiment this holder 1 comprises four edge elements 3A,3B,3C,3D of flexible material, such as for instance polyether. Edge elements 3 preferably have a height corresponding with the height of the water mattress to be accommodated and a width which is such that the edge elements can stand independently. In the shown embodiment the edge elements widen towards the underside. This latter will be further elucidated in figure 2. Edge elements 3 are positioned in a rectangle and mutually coupled by means of a base part 5 of a water-impermeable material. This latter comprises in the shown embodiment a vinyl product; other water-impermeable materials can of course also be used. In the shown embodiment the base part 5 extends over a part of the edge elements. Although the mutual coupling of edge elements 3 using base part 5 can take place in many ways, such as for instance by applying a glue connection between edge element and base part, the base part 5 is preferably coupled by means of a welded connection to a jacket arranged round an edge element. Such a jacket is not shown in figure 1 but is further elucidated in figure 2. The mutual coupling of edge elements 3 by means of base part 5 results as it were in a container with a space 7 in which a water mattress can be received. In preference however, the container will first be placed on a base board - not shown in figure 1 - before space 7 is filled with a water mattress.
Water possibly leaking out of the water mattress is contained by the base part 5 of water-impermeable material, thus preventing a leakage outside holder 1. If desired, a safety lining (not shown) can be arranged in the space 7 enclosed by edge elements 3 before the water mattress is placed in space 7; this is however not essential to use of holder 1 according to the present invention.
Figure 2 shows a schematic cross-section of a part of the holder of figure 1 along the line 2-2, wherein however the holder is placed in this case on a base board 8 and wherein a water mattress 10 is placed in space 7 of the holder. As according to the shown embodiment, edge element 3 is enclosed by a jacket 9 of a water-impermeable material, in this case in a rubber material. Jacket 9 is arranged detachably round edge element 3 and provided for this purpose with an opening 14 which can be closed using for instance a zip-fastener. Such a manner of closing enables simple removal of an edge element 3 from jacket 9, so that the jackets with the base part, together known as the covering, and the edge elements can be stored and transported separately. Base part 5 of water-impermeable material extends in vertical direction along a part of edge element 3. Base part 5 is advantageously fixed to jacket 9 of edge element 3 by means of a welded connection 11. In the shown embodiment a safety lining 12 is arranged prior to placing of water mattress 10 in space 7. Such a lining 12 is manufactured from a water-impermeable material such as for instance polyvinyl chloride.
Figure 3 shows a schematic cross-section as shown in figure 2 of another embodiment of a holder according to the present invention. In this embodiment edge element 3 is first enclosed by a cover sheet 13 of a non-woven material. Such a cover sheet can of course also be applied in the embodiment shown in figure 2. Edge element 3 is subsequently enclosed by the jacket 9 of water-impermeable material. In the shown embodiment a fixing slat 16 is placed on a protruding portion 15 of sleeve 13, which slat is fixed through the underlying jacket 9 to the base board 8 (not shown in the figure). This fixing can take place for instance by fixedly screwing slat 16 to base board 8. Other methods of fixing known to the skilled person are of course also possible. In the embodiment of the holder shown in figure 3 the base part 5 is coupled, preferably welded, at two points 11 to jacket 9. In this embodiment also the edge element 3 can simply be removed from jacket 9 by opening the zip fastener - or any other applied closure - so that opening 14 is placed in the opened situation and the jacket can be folded away from the edge element so that edge element 3 can be removed. The embodiment of figure 3 is finally provided with coupling members 18 which can for instance comprise velcro tape and which are intended to couple an outer sleeve (not shown) to jacket 9 in order to embellish the appearance of the holder according to the present invention.
Finally, figure 4 shows a schematic view of the underside of the holder according to the invention. Clearly shown here is that sides of holder 1 are formed by edge elements 3 covered with a jacket 9, while edge elements 3 are mutually coupled by a base part 5 of water-impermeable material.
It will be apparent that the present invention is in no way limited to the above explained embodiments. Although in these embodiments the holder for a water mattress has for instance a rectangular form, any desired form of a holder can in principle be applied according to the present invention. This is also the case for the covering used in the holder according to the present invention and arranged round the edge elements.

Claims

Holder (1) for a water mattress comprising at least a number of edge elements (3A,3B,3C,3D) of a flexible material with a height substantially corresponding with the height of a water mattress to be accommodated and a width which is such that the edge elements (3) can stand independently which are positioned on a base board (8) such that they enclose a space (7) within which a water mattress (10) can be placed, characterized in that the edge elements (3) are mutually coupled by means of a base part (5) of a water-impermeable material.
Holder (1) as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the edge elements (3) are at least partially enclosed by a jacket (9) of a water-impermeable material.
Holder as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at least a part of the edge elements (3) is covered by the base part (5).
Holder as claimed in one or more of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the water-impermeable material is chosen from the group consisting of vinyl, polyvinyl chloride and rubber.
Holder as claimed in one or more of the foregoing claims, characterized in that the edge elements (3) widen in cross-section towards the underside.
Holder as claimed in one or more of the claims 2-5, characterized in that the base part (5) is coupled to the jacket (9) of the edge elements (3).
Holder as claimed in claim 6, characterized in that the base part (5) is coupled to the jacket (9) by means of a welded connection.
Holder as claimed in one or more of the foregoing claims, characterized in that a covering is provided comprising at least a number of jackets (9) which are intended to receive edge elements (3) and which are mutually coupled by means of a base part (5) of a water-impermeable material.