GB2207045A - Zonal support spring mattresses - Google Patents

Abstract

A sprung mattress or mattress base is provided over the springs with a reinforcing overlay which has cut-outs or areas of lesser rigidity at positions approximating to the position of hips and shoulders of users.

Description

Improved Zonal Support Spring Mattresses The invention relates to the provision of an improved support in spring mattresses and/or the foundation bases or other supports used in conjunction with such mattresses.

Conventionally sprung mattresses and bases employ assemblies of steel wire springs to provide resilience and support to the bodies of the users in conjunction with paddings or fillings to provide cushioning between an outer cover and a spring assembly or spring units.

The manufacture of spring units is generally highly mechanised with the possible exception of individually pocketed springs.

Such structures as described have the disadvantage that resistance to load is uniform throughout the length and breadth of the structure and cannot take account or disproportionate loading imposed as the result of differential heights, weights, and physical contours of the users nor of differential loading through the bed being occupied by two people often resulting in the lighter being rolled toward the heavier occupant. In use, steel springs loose some height and resilience over time; fillings and paddings tend to migrate, with resultant tendency to sag or fail to support adequately, particularly in the zones which provide support to the lower spine, pelvis, hips and shoulders.

The relationship between correct sleeping posture and good health is well known, as are the problems related to back disorders, particularly the lower spine, and the considerable discomfort attributable to incorrect or inadequate support during rest.

Conventionally, increasing the hardness of the bed has been employed as a means of providing a healthy sleeping surface simulating a board flat surface.

Such beds are however generally uncomfortable and give rise to aggravation at points of contact between the body and the mattress surface, in turn causing restlessness.

Recently the above problems have been recognised with the result that spring assemblies have been produced which contain more than one strength of spring; alternatively they may be reinforced through insertion of, for example, polyurethane foam blocks betwen the springs, but these solutions fail, either on the grounds of cost, or for example not being truly reversible in use.

It is an object of myinvention, at least in one aspect, to provide, in a bed, an anti-roll feature which is durable, simple in design and application, combined with low manufacturing and assembly cost.

Additionally, I aim to provide mattresses which are reversible not only laterally but also longitudinally.

Total reversibility is a feature generally considered beneficial to the long term life and user comfort of sprung mattresses.

According to one aspect of my invention therefore I provide, in or for a sprung mattress or mattress base, an overlay for the springs, the overlay being provided with at least one cut-out. Preferably for a single or double mattress or base there are cut outs -corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of the users.

According to a further aspect of my invention I provide an overlay for the springs in or for a sprung mattress or mattress base providing differential reinforcement for the underlying springs. Preferably the overlay provides reinforcement preferentially in areas of the mattress or base other than those corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of each of the users. The overlay may thus extend across the bed between head and foot and, in a double bed, lengthwise midway between the sides.

Preferably the overlay is of flexible or semi-rigid sheet material and may comprise fibrous material or plastics sheeting.

According to yet a further aspect of the invention I provide a mattress base having springs in positions corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of each of the users, and a rigid or semi-rigid support extending across the base between head and foot and, in a base for a double bed, lengthwise mid-way between the sides.

The supports may comprise spaced laths, and the laths may be covered with flexible boards.

Embodiments of the invention will now be desribed by wayof example and with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: Fig. 1 is a section through a mattress according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a mattress of Fig. 1, part cut away; and Fig. 3 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2 but representing a double bed.

As shown in the sectional view of Fig. 1 the centre layer of the mattress comprises a conventional assembly of spiral springs 1 encased within covers 1 a. On either side of the spring assembly is a conventional mattress insulation layer 2, whilst the upper and lower surfaces of the mattress are defined by conventional surface paddings 4 and a cover 5.

As described hitherto, the mattress is conventional, but as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the mattress further comprises a zonal strengthening layer 3 located between each insulating layer 2 and the corresponding padding layer 4.

The zonal strengthener layer comprises a sheet of resinated bonded felt-like material formed, as will be clear from Fig. 2 with cut-out portions in those areas of the mattress upon which it will be expected the hips and shoulders of the user would lie in use. It will be understood that the rigidity of the felt-like material extending along the lateral edges of the mattress and along the head and foot edges will reinforce the support given to loads by the springs 1 and so provide the mattress with firm edges without the necessity for the incorporation of springs of increased stiffness around the edges.In addition, the band of the zonal strengthener layer across the bed between the two cut-out portions reinforces the load bearing effect of the springs lying thereunder so as, without the necessity for incorporating stronger springs, reducing the tendency of the mattress to sag in the middle whilst preserving the ability of the springs immediately below the cut-out portions to yield to the load represented by the users shoulders and hips.

The zonal strengthener layer 3 shown in Fig. 1 beneath the assembly of springs 1 may or may not have much influence on the behaviour of the mattress depending on the nature of the support for the mattress but it will be understood that the provision of 9 similar zonal strengthening layer at both sides of the spring assembly enables the mattress to display similar properties when turned over. The symmetry of the cutouts shown in Fig. 2 similarly enables the mattress to be reversed head to foot whilst retaining the same properties.

Fig. 3 represents a double bed mattress in which the zonal strengthening layer 3 is provided with four cutouts in positions corresponding approximately to the position of the hips and shoulders of two users side by side. Thus not only does the strengthening layer have a transverse bar approximately mid-way between the head and the foot for the purpose mentioned in connection with the Fig. 2 embodiment but also a band'3a running from head to foot mid-way between the edges. The band 3a of the zonal strengthener layer provides an antiroll feature, that is to say it reinforces the springs along the centre line of the mattress, reduces the tendency of the mattress to sag between the two occupants and thus reduces the tendency of the lighter occupant being rolled towards the heavier.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the cut-outs are substantially rectangular with rounded corners, but it is within the scope of the invention that the cut-outs should be of other shape including an ovoid configuration, though it will still be preferable that the shape of the strengthening layer shall be symmetrical. The cut-outs may be formed by literally cutting from a full sheet but it is within the scope of the invention that the strengthening layer shall be created, by moulding or pressing or otherwise with openings as described. The zonal strengthener could also be manufactured from other materials such as polystyrene sheet, wire mesh, woven materials, bonded fibres, reconstituted polyurethane foams.

The invention may also be applied to the manufacture of sprung bases for mattresses, for example in divans.

Inasmuch as these are not generally reversible by inversion, there is need for a zonal strengthening layer only above the assembly of springs and below the top cover, so that a cross section of the upper part of a mattress base will be similar to the portion of the section of Fig. 1 from the spring assembly 1 upwards.

A plan view of the mattress base according to the invention will similarly resemble Figs. 2 and 3 depending on whether the bases are for single or double mattresses.

It will be understood that any sagging of a supporting base will promote the sagging of any mattress placed upon the base and convetrsely any reinforcing of the underlying base, for example along the edges and across the middle of the base will correspondinly reduce the tendency of the mattress to sag in the reinforced areas. However, whilst in the mattress itself the zonal strengthening layer may not be made too rigid because this would militate against comfort, the zonal strengthening layer of the base, padded as. it is by the overlying mattress, can be much more rigid if required.

Indeed, it is within the scope of the present invention that the mattress base shall domprise a rigid transverse member at least approximately midway between the head and foot and, in the case of a base for a double mattress a further rigid member from top to bottom of the base midway between the sides, with the springs of the base concentrated in those areas not occupied by the rigid member.

Claims (9)

CLIMS

1. An overlay for the springs in or for a sprung mattress or mattress base, the overlay being provided with at least one cut-out.

2. An overlay according to Claim 1, for a single or double mattress or base, wherein there are cut outs corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of the users.

3. An overlay for the springs in or for a sprung mattress or mattress base providing differential reinforcement for the underlying springs.

LI. An overlay according to Claim 3 which provides reinforcement preferentially in areas of the mattress or base other than those corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of each of the users.

5. An overlay according to Claim 4 wherein the reinforcement extends across the bed between head and foot and, in a double bed, lengthwise midway between the sides.

6. An overlay according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 of flexible or semi-rigid sheet material.

7. A mattress base having springs in positions corresponding to the approximate position of the hips and shoulders of the user or, as it were, of each of the users, and a rigid or semi-rigid support extending across the base between head and foot and, in a base for a double bed, lengthwise mid-way between the sides.

8. A mattress base according to Claim 7 wherein the supoorts comprise spaced laths.

9. A mattress base according to Claim 8 wherein the laths are covered with flexible boards.