US2118297A - Flexible mattress spring structure - Google Patents

Description

Patented May 24, 1938 UNITED STATES John A. Douglas, Trenton, N. J., assignor to Trenton Spring Products Company, Trenton,

N. 1., a corporation Application July 11, 1936, Serial No. 90,111

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a mattress structure and more especially the inner spring portion thereof.

The chief object of the invention is to provide in a mattress a spring structure which will hold the sides of the mattress straight and which will be relatively flexible and yet include therein a considerable degree of rigidity, it being recognized that normally these two features are opposed to each other.

The chief feature of the invention consists in forming the spring structure, for inclusion in a mattress, of a plurality of springs of the tied or untied type and associating therewith border Wire means whereby the sides of the mattress are held straight, the border Wire means being articulated thereby providing for flexibility in the mattress structure, the rigidity of the spring structure being obtained by reason of the border wire arrangement.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings, Fig. l is a top plan view of one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, the dotted lines therein indicating a flexed portion of the structure.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. l. and of a more complicated form of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 and of the form of the invention shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a connectic-n between adjacent coils and an extension of the border wire.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 and of a still further modified form of the invention.

In the drawings it! indicates a plurality of double cone, coil springs which have their opposite ends ll tied or knotted as at I2 to an adjacent turn i3. In knotting these ends, the immediate end I4 is turned down toward the interior of the spring structure so that the barbed or sharp end of the spring wire would not ex- 45 tend into the covering and other material that surrounds the spring structure included within the mattress.

Herein the border wire arrangement includes an end portion having two side extensions 2i connected by a radius portion 22. Each side of the mattress is similarly provided and each end of the mattress is similarly provided with the resulting U-shaped border wire member 20, 2| 22.

The two aligned end portions 2| terminate short of meeting engagement and interposed therebetween is a side border wire member also of U-shaped form for the purpose hereinafter set forth, and including the side border portion 23 and the two ends 24. The portions 2! of each unit preferably are of equal length and the two 5 extensions 2dof the U-shaped members 23-24 extend towards each other in alignment and terminate short of meeting engagement.

The springs are arranged in longitudinal and transverse rows. Encircling the entire border 10 wire portions 2 22, 2! and 23 is a helical structure and the same also encircles the end turn of the marginal coils in the two longitudinal outside rows as at 3! and encircles the end turns of each of the coils of the two transverse end rows of coils as at E2 and the corner coil common to the marginal transverse and longitudinal rows as at 33. The number of encircling engagements between the helix 3t and the adjacent turn of the coils is determinable to a large 20 extent by the diameter of the coil. As a general rule two to four engagements are provided. By this arrangement, all of the marginal coils are tied to the marginal border wire arrangements.

In view of the fact that the extensions 26 are 25 longitudinally positioned with reference to the transverse rows of coils, the adjacent coils in transverse rows have their upper turns connected together by the helices it which terminate short of the border wire or helix 3?] connection. These 30 connections are indicated by the numerals t! and the ends 42 in the present instance are not connected to the border wire or border wire encircling helix.

The extensions 24 terminate as at 25 and these are spaced apart, the center to center spacing, approximately between adjacent coils in a transverse row in the present instance. The helix 45 terminates short of border wire or border wire helix engagement as at 46 and simultaneously encircles as at d? by a plurality of turns two adjacent coils it and the extension 26.

Each end 59 of border wire side portion 2! encircles the connection between extension 24 and border wire 23 and herein the same is illustrated as of elongated character. The loop 59 thus formed is tied as at 5! to the main portion 2| of the border wire. An eye portion may be employed in place of the loop. However, an eye portion does not provide the accommodation in- 50 dicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2 but necessitates the inward bending of the frame and springs when one of the end sections is bent out of the plane of the middle section.

It will be apparent from an inspection of Figs.

1 and 2 that the border wires 2 will bend slightly at their midportions so that the mattress may be partly folded so the housewife can readily handle the same. Also, the mattress may be folded in a transverse direction and to a greater extent than in the longitudinal direction by reason of the jointed. connections of the end sections to the mid-section. The sectionalized border wire arrangement permits of this articulation and also insures that the sides of the mattress are held straight and the edges are relatively rigid, yet by reason of the construction employed, there is not only provided flexibility generally regarding various portions of the mattress but localized flexibility as Well so that the mattress will accommodate itself to the persons body thereon.

In Figs. 3, i and is illustrated a modified form of the invention, wherein certain adjacent portions are arranged in a sinuous manner for a better interlocking arrangement without destruction or reduction of the hinging character embodied in that type of connection. numerals of the one hundred series indicate like or similar parts. The differences will be briefly set out as follows: a

In this form of the invention, the coils H are of untied character and the ends i M. are pro vided with a sinuous arrangement H2. The adjacent coil approximately diametrically opposite its end 9M, is provided with a similar serpentine type portion i 52a and the two portions intert and are encircled by the helix Hill as at Ml and by a plurality of turns of said helix. In this form of the invention also-see Fig. 5-the extension !24 of the U-shaped border wire H3 is provided with a sinuous portion l2 ia and this is included between the two sinuous portions I I2 and 5 Hat and the helix encircles the three interfitting portions.

The longitudinal marginal coils MD are provided with a third and intermediate sinuous portion H21) and the border wire portions l2! and :23 at Nita and 523a, respectively, are provided with these sinuous portions that interfit with the adjacent sinuous or serpentine portion of the adjacent coil and the helix i3! encircles the same. Similarly, the border wire portion 52!] includes the sinuous portions lZiia. and the coils i adjacent thereto are provided with the sinuous portions Ha and the helix E32 encircles same when interfittingly associated together. It will be apparent in this form of the invention, the coils are of untied character.

In Fig. 6 there is illustrated a further and more complicated form of the invention wherein each coil Eli.- has a sinuous or serpentine portion in the turn immediately adjacent the end turn and end of the coil and the helix simultaneously Similar encircles the adjacent sinuous portions of the same coil. In this form of the invention, there are two adjacent serpentine portions per coil, making three or four to the two adjacent coils and when the extension 22 3 is associated therewith, this also is provided with a sinuous portion making four or five interfitting sinuous portions encircled by the helix. In this form of the invention, similar numerals of the two hundred series indicate similar or like parts, the additional sinuous portion in the second turn being indicated by numeral 269 and registering with the serpentine end.

While the invention has been described in great detail in the foregoing specification, and similarly illustrated in the drawings, the aforesaid is to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive in character. Various modifications have been thus disclosed as well as suggested hereinbefore and these, together with others which will readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in this art, are all considered to be within the scope of this invention, reference being had to the appended'claims.

The invention claimed is:-

1. A unitary articulated spring structure for incorporation in a mattress, having substantially semi-rigid parallel top and bottom frames and a plurality of parallel coil springs constituting the sole spacing means therebetween, the coils being arranged in rows, each frame being identical to and in substantial registration with the other, each frame including two U-shaped semirigid border wire members forming end borders and the arm portions thereof forming side border portions, the arms of each end member being directed toward the arms of the other member, and two intermediate U-shaped semi-rigid border wire members having similar relationship therebetween and with the midportions completing the frame sides and in alignment with the aligned arm portions of the end members, a loose hinge type connection between the ends of the aligned arm portions of the end members and the intermediate member substantially at the ends of the midportion thereof, the arms of said intermediate members being directed towards each other and aligned and terminating adjacent each other and remote from the midportions of said intermediate members, flexible helix means connecting all marginal coils to the immediate adjacent border forming portions of the wire frames, and flexible helix means connecting the end turns of adjacent coils in adjacent rows.

2. A device as defined by claim 1, characterized by the loose pivotal connections each being of elongated loop character.

7 JOHN A. DOUGLAS.

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