WO2008091196A1

WO2008091196A1 - Bed clothing

Info

Publication number: WO2008091196A1
Application number: PCT/SE2008/000049
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dagny VIKSTRÖM; Svanhild Johansson
Original assignee: Eesibed Ab
Priority date: 2007-01-24
Filing date: 2008-01-22
Publication date: 2008-07-31
Also published as: EP2124681A1; EP2124681B1; EP2124681B8; ATE551931T1; EP2124681A4

Abstract

The present invention relates to a bed clothing comprising a blanket (1) provided with a nap and preferably made of fleece, and a sheet (3), which blanket (1) and sheet (3) are permanently connected to one another, preferably by seams. The invention also relates to a method for effecting bedmaking with a folded-up bed clothing according to the present invention. Distinguishing features of the bed clothing according to the present invention are that it is provided with at least two fold indications (11), that the fold indications (11) extend in a longitudinal direction (L) of the bed clothing, that the fold indications (11) are mutually parallel and that the fold indications (11; 111) are defined by lack of nap on the blanket (1).

Description

BED CLOTHING

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to a bed clothing which comprises a blanket provided with a nap and preferably made of fleece, and to a sheet, which blanket and sheet are permanently connected to one another, preferably by seams. The invention also relates to a method for effecting bedmaking with a folded-up bed clothing according to the present invention.

State of the art

A bagsheet previously known from EP 1 078 591 is provided with a permanent filling in the form of a quilt or blanket. The bagsheet is sewn together with the filling along the longitudinal edges of the bagsheet. The bagsheet comprises in principle two bags which overlap one another on one side of the filling. The bagsheet has no fold indications . A camping mat for beach use previously known from US 4,466,516 is provided with a number of fold indications to make it possible to fold it to a compact format, but these fold indications do not seem to be configured in any special way to facilitate the folding of the mat. Nor does the mat seem to comprise a plurality of layers.

In the case of a method and device for sheet folding which are previously known from US 4,227,684, the device is mechanically complicated and uses a number of fold panels to initially achieve concertina folding of the sheet, followed by turnover folding in the longitudinal direction of the concertina-folded sheet. No specially configured fold indications seem to be provided.

Objects and features of the invention A primary object of the present invention is to propose a bed clothing configured in such a way as to facilitate bedmaking.

Another object of the present invention is that the bed clothing should comprise both a blanket and a sheet. A further object of the present invention is that washing of the bed clothing should be possible without its components being separated.

At least the primary object of the present invention is achieved by a bed clothing provided with the features defined in the independent claim 1 set out below. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims .

Brief description of the drawings

A preferred embodiment of the bed clothing according to the present invention is described below with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 depicts a plan view of a bed clothing according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 depicts a schematic sideview of the bed clothing according to Fig. 1; Fig. 3 depicts a plan view of a bed clothing according to the present invention partly folded up by concertina folding;

Fig. 4 depicts a plan view of a bed clothing according to the present invention completely folded up by concertina folding;

Fig. 5 depicts the initial step in a turnover folding of the concertina-folded bed clothing according to the present invention;

Fig. 6 depicts the final step in a turnover folding of the concertina-folded bed clothing according to the present invention; Fig. 7 depicts a detail of a first embodiment of a fold indication; Fig. 8- Fig. 11 depicts schematically a preferred method for bedmaking with the bed clothing according to the present invention;

Fig. 12 depicts a detail of an alternative embodiment of a fold indication. Detailed description of a preferred embodiment of a bed clothing according to the present invention

The bed clothing depicted in Figs. 1 and 2 thus comprises a blanket 1 preferably made of fleece. In this context it should be noted that the blanket 1 has a nap on one side. The bed clothing also comprises a sheet 3, and the fleece blanket 1 and the sheet 3 are connected to one another, preferably by a number of seams along the edges of the fleece blanket 1 and of the sheet 3. The bed clothing depicted in Fig. 1 has two longitudinal edges 5, viz. an upper transverse edge 7 (the right edge in Fig. 1) and a lower transverse edge 9 (the left edge in Fig. 1) . Fig. 1 also has a first double arrow L defining the longitudinal direction of the bed clothing, and a second double arrow T defining the transverse direction of the bed clothing.

As most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, the sheet 3 extends in principle along the whole of one side of the fleece blanket 1 (see Fig. 2) . The bed clothing according to the present invention also comprises a turnover 10 in the form of a separate piece of sheet fabric which extends from the rear side of the bed clothing, across the upper transverse edge 7 of the bed clothing and down the front side of the fleece blanket 1. In the embodiment depicted, the turnover 10 extends about 30-40 cm from the upper transverse edge 7 towards the lower transverse edge 9.

The bed clothing according to the present invention comprises two fold indications 11 represented by broken lines in Fig. 1. As depicted in Figs. 3 and 4, however, folding of the bed clothing can also be effected along a longitudinal line halfway between the two fold indications 11. This folding will take place "naturally" during handling of the bed clothing according to the present invention and it has been deemed an advantage that there be no fold indication, with associated seams, in the contact region between the bed clothing and a person/patient lying under the bed clothing.

Fig. 7 depicts a section through a fold indication 11 in the fleece blanket 1, which fold indication 11 takes the form of a number of purl stitches 12 situated alongside one another. These purl stitches 12 in the fleece blanket 1 are symbolised by quadrilaterals in Fig. 7. The portions 13 of the fleece blanket 1 situated on each side of the fold indication 11 comprise basic stitches and are symbolised by thick lines and the associated nap. The thick lines represent the bottom of the fleece blanket. Knitting of basic stitches entails the formation of loops on the side facing upwards in Fig. 7, which loops are roughened by dressing to form a nap.

Knitting the purl stitches 12 means that a number of basic stitches are replaced by purl stitches in a longitudinal portion between the portions 13 with basic stitches. In the portion 12 with purl stitches there is no nap on the side of the blanket 1 which faces away from the sheet 3. The reason for this is that the purl stitches have no loops on the side which faces away from the sheet 3. This portion 12, which thus extends in the longitudinal direction L of the bed clothing, will do excellent service as a fold indication 11 during handling of the bed clothing according to the present invention. As depicted in Fig. 7, the portions 13 and the sheet 3 are joined by seams 14 situated near to, but laterally away from, the fold indication 11. The seams 14 have an extent along the fold indication 11. As regards the width of the fold indication 11, i.e. its extent in the transverse direction T of the bed clothing, the fold indication 11 thus comprises a number of purl stitches 12 which together define a width of about 5-10 mm, preferably 6-8 mm. As regards the number of purl stitches in width which define a fold indication 11, 6-10 stitches may be cited as a non-limitative example.

Figs. 3-6 show how the bed clothing according to the present invention is preferably folded from the state depicted in Fig. 1. As illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, the bed clothing according to the present invention is first subjected to so- called concertina folding whereby the bed clothing is folded along the two fold indications 11 and also along a line situated halfway between the fold indications 11. If the user grasps the bed clothing at the intersection between the fold indications 11 and the short sides 7 and 9 and raises it from the underlay, the bed clothing will fold at the fold indications 11 and will in principle also fold automatically along a line between the fold indications 11. The bed clothing will thus have been subjected to concertina folding as in Fig. 4. Continued folding up of the bed clothing according to the present invention is effected by the portion of the bed clothing which comprises the lower transverse edge 9 and constitutes about one-third of the extent of the bed clothing in the longitudinal direction L being folded over the remainder of the bed clothing, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The turnover folding is completed by the portion of the bed clothing which comprises the upper transverse edge 7 and constitutes about one-third of the extent of the bed clothing in the longitudinal direction L being folded over the previously folded-over portion, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The resulting folded-up bed clothing is extremely compact and well suited to transport and storage.

Figs. 8-11 depict schematically how bedmaking with the bed clothing according to the present invention is effected. Fig. 8 depicts the bed clothing in a folded-up compact format, placed on the bed which is to be "made", which is already provided with an undersheet. As illustrated in Fig. 8, the bed clothing is placed close to, and approximately halfway along, a longitudinal edge of the bed. The first step is to unfold towards the head end of the bed the uppermost turnover portion of the bed clothing, resulting in the upper transverse edge 7 being in the region of the head end of the bed, as illustrated in Fig. 9. Thereafter, the remaining turnover portion of the bed clothing is unfolded in the longitudinal direction of the bed, resulting in the lower transverse edge 9 being at the foot end of the bed. The folding over is thus undone, as illustrated in Fig. 10. The final stage of bedmaking is illustrated in Fig. 11, entailing the bed clothing being unfolded about the centreline C-C which extends in its longitudinal direction L. The concertina folding is thus partly undone and the bedmaking is completed. Fig. 12 depicts a section through an alternative embodiment of a fold indication 111 in the fleece blanket 100, the fold indication 111 taking the form of a portion 112 where the fleece blanket 100 has no nap. The portion 112 thus has no nap on the side of the blanket 100 which faces away from the sheet 3. A portion with no nap is created as follows. During normal knitting of fleece, the material is flat-knitted with two yarns to form basic stitches. One yarn serves as a bottom, while the other forms loops across dividers/sinkers which are part of the knitting machine used for knitting the fleece blanket. No dividers are used in knitting the fold indications, and the two yarns are knitted together in stitches with no formation of loops. The fold indications may with advantage have a width of three stitch wales. The loops are thereafter roughened by dressing to form a nap, but no nap is formed in the fold indications, since they have no loops.

The portions 13 of the fleece blanket 100 which are situated on each side of the fold indication 111 comprise basic stitches and are symbolised by thick lines and associated nap. These portions may be identical with corresponding portions in the embodiment depicted in Fig. 7, so these portions are given the same reference numerals. The portion 112 with no nap constitutes a break between the portions 13 with basic stitches. This break portion 112, which thus extends in the longitudinal direction L of the bed clothing, will do excellent service as a fold indication 111 during handling of the bed clothing according to the present invention. As depicted in Fig. 12, the portions 13 and the sheet 3 are joined by seams 14 situated close to, but laterally away from, the fold indication 111. The seams 14 have an extent along the fold indication 111. The width of the fold indication 111, i.e. its extent in the transverse direction T of the bed clothing, is about 5-10 mm, preferably 6-8 mm. It is generally the case in both of the embodiments of fold indications described above that the blanket is thinner in the region of the fold indications.

Feasible modifications of the invention In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the bed clothing is provided with two fold indications, but it is also possible within the scope of the present invention to conceive of the bed clothing comprising three fold indications, the additional fold indication being situated between the two already existing fold indications. The additional fold indication will also be situated at equal distances from the already existing fold indications.

Claims

1. A bed clothing comprising a blanket (1) provided with a nap and preferably made of fleece, and a sheet (3) , which blanket (1) and sheet (3) are permanently connected to one another, preferably by seams, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bed clothing is provided with at least two fold indications (11; 111), that the fold indications (11; 111) extend in a longitudinal direction (L) of the bed clothing, that the fold indications (11; 111) are mutually parallel and that the fold indications (11; 111) are defined by lack of nap on the blanket (1) .

2. A bed clothing according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the fold indications (11; 111) extend along the whole bed clothing.

3. A bed clothing according to any one of the previous claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that a further fold indication is disposed halfway between the existing fold indications (11; 111) .

4. A bed clothing according to any one of the previous claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each fold indication (11) comprises a number of purl stitches (12) which define a region which has an extent both in the longitudinal direction (L) of the bed clothing and in the transverse direction (T) of the bed clothing.

5. A bed clothing according to any one of claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that each fold indication (111) comprises a region (112) where the blanket has no nap, and that the region (112) has an extent both in the longitudinal direction (L) of the bed clothing and in the transverse direction (T) of the bed clothing.

6. A bed clothing according to claim 5, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the blanket is thinner or of reduced thickness in the region (112) of the fold indications (111).

7. A bed clothing according to any one of the previous claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the blanket (1) is of reduced thickness in the region of the fold indications (11; 111) .

8. A method for effecting bedmaking with a folded-up bed clothing according to any one of claims 1-7, in which the bed clothing is subjected to both concertina folding and turnover folding, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the bed clothing is placed on the bed which is to be "made", that the turnover folding is undone so that the bed clothing in the concertina- folded state extends in the longitudinal direction of the bed, which coincides with the longitudinal direction (L) of the bed clothing, in that the concertina folding is partly undone by the bed clothing being unfolded about a centreline (C-C) of the bed clothing, and in that the centreline (C-C) extends in the longitudinal direction (L) .

9. A method according to claim 8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the folded-up bed clothing is placed close to, and approximately halfway along, a longitudinal edge of the bed.