Patent Application
20160213158
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to pillow's constructed for an anatomical support and, more particularly, to pillow's configured to support a women's anatomy.
The use of pillow's for supporting a person's head or torso while sleeping, resting, reading or any one of the variety of activities dates back to before recorded history. In recent times, a variety of specific pillow designs have been developed for particular purposes. Of particular interest to the present invention, pillows have been designed specifically for supporting a women's anatomy, and particularly for supporting a women's torso and head while the woman lies prone on a bed. While many of such pillow designs have incorporated a central void or cut-out region to accommodate the women's breasts, such designs have often not adequately accommodated the women's torso, arms, or proper head positioning.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide improved pillow designs and structures for accommodating a woman when lying prone on a bed or other surface. In particular, such pillow designs and structures should comfortably accommodate the women's breast, but also accommodate the woman's torso, arms, heads, and allow for stable support of the woman's body during use. While such pillows designs may be particularly intended for supporting a prone body, they will preferably also be suitable for use when a woman is in other positions and for other users and other purposes. At least some of these objectives will be met by the pillow designs and structures described herein below.
2. Description of the Background Art
Pillow designs intended for supporting a woman's anatomy are described in the following: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,081,948 and 7,426,762; and U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2008/0307580 and 2009/0094752.
In the first aspect of the present invention, a pillow comprises a compressible body configured for a woman's anatomy. The compressible body includes an upper surface, a lower surface, a top, a first side, a second side, a bottom, and a central recess. The compressible body may be generally formed as any conventional pillow, typically having an outer fabric or other shell filled with a compressible filling material. The filling material can be a latex or other rubber, goose or duck down, or more typically a natural fiber filling material. Presently preferred is a natural wool fiber fill. The other shell may similarly be formed from a conventional material, typically being a woven fabric, most typically being a woven cotton. Other shell materials, however, such as synthetic woven fibers, synthetic films, other natural fiber weaves, and the like, could also find use.
The present invention is characterized by a geometry which is uniquely suited for a woman's anatomy, particularly when the woman is lying prone on the pillow with her breasts received in the central recess of the compressible body. The pillow design is characterized by a top segment which extends upwardly from the central recess to the top of the pillow. The top segment has an indentation along its top edge, where the indentation is configured to accommodate the woman's head and chin while her breasts are received in the central recess. Thus, in typical use, the woman's head will extend over the top edge of the pillow and will not be supported by the pillow. Use of the pillow, of course, is not limited to this position, but the pillow design is particularly configured to accommodate such position.
The compressible body also includes a bottom segment which extends downwardly from the central recess to the bottom of the pillow. The bottom segment has a length in a downward direction which is at least three-fold greater than the length of the top segment in an upward direction. Thus, the pillow is particularly adapted to support the woman's upper body from the top segment of the compressible body and to support the woman's torso on the bottom segment of the compressible body.
In preferred aspects, the central recess will have a top edge (which lies at the bottom edge of the top segment) with a protrusion mid-center which has a similar geometry to that of the indentation in the top segment of the compressible body. The protrusion helps support the woman's chest between the breasts and helps define a semi-circular left side and a semi-circular right side of the central recess. The semi-circular configurations are particularly configured to receive the woman's left and right breasts, respectively. In still further preferred embodiments, the compressible body is further divided into a right side segment extending to the right of the central recess and a left side segment extending to the left of the central recess. The side segments are configured particularly to support the woman's shoulders as she lies prone on the pillow.
In specific embodiments, each of the four segments of the compressible body is separated from the adjacent segments by a seam that prevents filling from moving from one side to another. Typically, the seams will further define valleys or depressions in the upper and lower surfaces of the compressible body where the depressions or valleys help the pillow accommodate the woman's anatomy and allow the pillow to more readily conform and adjust to movements of the body during use.
In specific embodiments, the seams separating the segments are located along lines positioned at 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 8 o'clock, and 11 o'clock when the upward direction of the compressible body is at 12 o'clock. Such specific designs will usually have a heart-shaped periphery for the bottom segment has a semi-circular bottom periphery.
Usually, the recess will not be filled or will have minimal filling so that its thickness is much less than any of the segments surrounding the recess. In some instances, it may be possible to have the recess cut out from the compressible body, but more usually the recess will be occupied by the shell or cover material or other similar membrane, netting, or other structure to help support the breasts when they are received in the recess.
In further aspects of the invention, the different segments of the pillow will have different thicknesses. Usually, the top segment will be the least thick, typically having a thickness in the range from 0.5 inch to 2 inches. The side segments will have a greater thickness than the top segment, typically being arranged from 2 inches to 4 inches, and the bottom segment will have the greatest thickness, typically being in the range from 6 inches to 8 inches.
Overall, the pillow will have dimensions intended to accommodate a woman's anterior upper torso. Typically, the length from top to bottom of the compressible body will be the range from 24 inches to 32 inches and the width across the side segments will be in the range from 22 inches to 30 inches.
All publications, patents, and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication, patent, or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the present invention will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings of which:
Referring to
As shown in
In preferred embodiments, as illustrated in
Other preferred dimensions of the pillow 10 are provided in
While the described pillow is particularly intended for a use by a woman lying in a prone position with her head above the top of the pillow, the pillow can find many other uses such as illustrated in
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described herein, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that such embodiments are provided by way of example only. Numerous variations, changes, and substitutions will now occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the invention. It should be understood that various alternatives to the embodiments of the invention described herein may be employed in practicing the invention. It is intended that the following claims define the scope of the invention and that methods and structures within the scope of these claims and their equivalents be covered thereby.
