GB1572763A - Duvets - Google Patents

Description

(54) DUVETS (71) We, JOHN LEWIS AND COM PANY LIMITED, a British Company, of 4 Old Cavendish Street, London W1A 1EX, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: The present invention relates to duvets.

The better quality duvets are filled with natural product, such as duck down and feather. These materials are becoming increasingly expensive and may shortly become impossible to obtain. Cheaper synthetic products have been used as fillings for duvets but have certain disadvantages.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a duvet filled with both synthetic and natural material, but which does not have the disadvantages at present associated with 100% synthetic duvets.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a duvet having an outer cover of down-proof material the interior of which is divided up by contiguous tubes of non-woven synthetic fibrous web material, which tubes are filled with a natural or synthetic, thermally insulating material.

Preferably, the tubes are formed by stitching together, along parallel lines, a front and back sheet of the non-woven fibrous web material.

One considerable advantage of the present invention is that it allows front-to-back stitching of the duvet. Conventional duvets are divided by longitudinal stitching to minimise the presence of thin places in the duvet, but the division is made not by stitch- ing together the front and back of the cover, since this could result in areas of "no-fill" along the duvet, but by including longitudinal panels of material approximately one inch in width extending between the front and back of the cover and dividing the interior.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a transverse section through a duvet embodying the present invention.

The duvet comprises an outer cover 11 within which are two sheets of non-woven fibrous web material 12 and 13, in this case, a 4OZ. sq. yd. polyester loose fibre wadding.

The sheets 12 and 13 are stitched together along longitudinal lines so as to form a series of contiguous tubes within the outer cover.

The tubes are filled with one of the natural products conventionally used to fill duvets.

It is believed that because of the fibrous nature of the material forming the tubes, the fill tends to be held in place by the quill shafts catching in the fibrous structure, thus reducing the longitudinal migration of the fill and preventing the development of thin patches or strips. It will be appreciated that as the tubes occupy a significant amount of the interior space of the duvet, the amount of natural product required is much less than in conventional duvets. Moreover, the natural product used can be of lower quality than that required in a conventional duvet.

The tubes could be formed from some material other than polyester, e.g., viscose or nylon.

Various examples of duvets made as described above have been tested and the results of the test in connection with two examples are as follows: Example 1 A duvet was made as described above using traditional downproof cambric for the outer cover 11 (gross weight 735g) and polyester wadding weighing 135/m (gross weight approximately 800g) for the sheets 12 and 13. The inner tubes were filled with 493g of natural filing, equal to 180g/m2 giving a duvet of gross weight approximately 2100g.

The duvet was based on the least expensive blend of fill available under British Standard 2005, namely 85%feather/15%down, using five separate tubes formed by front-to-back stitching of the sheets i2 and 13.

The duvet thus produced had an average insulation factor, overall, of 11 Togs and tests made at the seam show the average insulation at the seams to be 9 Togs.

Example ll A duvet was constructed as described in Example I except that pure new duck down was used. The weight of down was 143.g/m2, the gross weight of the duvet was 1880g., the overall Tog rating of the duvet was 11.6 and the Tog rating of the seams was 11.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. A duvet having an outer cover of down-proof material the interior of which is divided up by contiguous tubes of non-woven synthetic fibrous web material, which tubes are filled with a natural or synthetic, thermally insulating material.

2. A duvet according to claim 1 wherein the tubes are formed by stitching together along parallel lines, a front and back sheet of the non-woven fibrous web material.

3. A duvet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

4. A duvet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Example I or Example II.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (4)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. 2005, namely 85%feather/15%down, using five separate tubes formed by front-to-back stitching of the sheets i2 and 13. The duvet thus produced had an average insulation factor, overall, of 11 Togs and tests made at the seam show the average insulation at the seams to be 9 Togs. Example ll A duvet was constructed as described in Example I except that pure new duck down was used. The weight of down was 143.g/m2, the gross weight of the duvet was 1880g., the overall Tog rating of the duvet was 11.6 and the Tog rating of the seams was 11. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A duvet having an outer cover of down-proof material the interior of which is divided up by contiguous tubes of non-woven synthetic fibrous web material, which tubes are filled with a natural or synthetic, thermally insulating material.

2. A duvet according to claim 1 wherein the tubes are formed by stitching together along parallel lines, a front and back sheet of the non-woven fibrous web material.

3. A duvet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

4. A duvet substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Example I or Example II.