Personal enclosures for covering a mattress or bed are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,584 to Danaher, U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,434 to Arnold, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,598 to Griesenbeck, among others, disclose apparatus for covering a bed or mattress with a tent structure for privacy or security. These apparatus and others known in the art have several drawbacks. First, they typically use numerous parts, which may be difficult to put together, and may become lost. They are also difficult to assemble and disassemble, which serves as a disincentive to using them.
There is therefore a need for a bed tent having a single, easily collapsible enclosure and a minimum number of individual parts, and which may be easily assembled and disassembled by a user with minimal effort. These and other objects addressed by the present invention will be more fully discussed in the following Summary, Description and Claims.
A portable and collapsible bed tent includes an enclosure having two opposing side walls and a top between them designed to install on a conventionally-sized bed and contain a mattress. The side walls have peripheral edges, and each peripheral edge is equipped with a flexible and deformable ring, which may be made of wire. The rings therefore define the periphery of a side wall. Because the rings are resiliently deformable, after removing a mattress the enclosure may be collapsed by moving the rings together and in tandem folding opposite peripheral edges together. In this manner the periphery of the rings is substantially reduced into a collapsed configuration.
The bed tent may also be characterized as covering the space above a mattress by providing a pair of spaced-apart side walls, each having a periphery, and a top between the side walls. Spring-like curved rings are integrated into the periphery of each side wall, and the enclosure, in an expanded configuration is sized to house the mattress. By removing the mattress the enclosure is collapsible, the rings characterized in that by hyper-extending the curvature of a ring, smaller multiple helices of lesser circumference are formed for storing the bed tent when not in use. Since the rings are coupled to the peripheral edges of the enclosure, as the rings form a smaller, tightly coiled ring, the enclosure is collapsed into a flat disk with a circumference substantially smaller than the periphery of the side walls.
When not folded, the rings support the side walls, which are connected at the top of the enclosure. To preserve an unfolded enclosure in an open position over a mattress, one or more cross members spanning the top separate the rings. The cross members may also be deformable, but preferably are resilient enough to retain a substantially straight shape for spanning the top. The cross members may also comprise connectors at their extreme ends for engaging the rings or other material at the junction of the side walls and the top.
At a minimum, the enclosure may have only a top, and two sides. Such a configuration results in a canopy-like enclosure with open sides. Alternatively, the enclosure may include opposing end walls between the side walls, and may include a bottom on which a mattress rests, thereby forming a complete enclosure. The complete enclosure is more akin to a tent with walls on all sides. Since the side walls are adapted for placement on the sides of a bed, rather than at the head or foot, ingress and egress to and from the enclosure are accomplished through the side walls. To facilitate such ingress and egress, at least one of the sides preferably has a closable opening. Besides the closable openings, the side walls may also comprise one or more windows for viewing outside the enclosure.
To promote ease of use and an aesthetic appearance, the rings may be encased in the enclosure by hems. Also, it is anticipated that a user, when employing the bed tent, will fold a conventional mattress and insert it into the bed tent through one of the closeable openings. In this manner, the mattress preferably covers the entire bottom of the bed tent. Due to the commonality of conventionally sized mattresses, the enclosure, including the bottom, should be sized to accommodate twin, double, full, queen, and king size mattresses.
In order to use the bed tent, a user obtains a collapsed tent, which includes the enclosure collapsed around two tightly coiled metal rings. With gentle unfolding pressure, the wire rings will unfold and expand to create the sidewalls of the enclosure. Once the side walls are configured, a user may separate them and preserve them in a separated state by installing cross members spanning the top of the enclosure. In order to access the inside of the enclosure, it may be necessary to open an opening in one of the side walls.
The bed tent, may be placed in a desired location, including atop a bed frame, and a mattress, including pillows, bed linens, etc. installed in the bed tent. The assembled bed tent can be used as long as desired. In order to disassemble the bed tent, a user simply removes the mattress and any pillows or bed clothes, removes the cross members, and folds up the side walls by folding or hyper-extending the wire rings over themselves. At a certain point, the wire rings may be biased to a tightly coiled state, and the smaller, collapsed bed tent may then be stored as desired.
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One of ordinary skill in this art will readily recognize that the preceding description has been set forth in terms of description rather than limitation. While the bed tent disclosed has been shown having a generally rectangular shape, with ovoid openings, the bed tent may be formed in any desired shape. Additionally, the bed tent may have an open base for access to existing sheets, blankets or other linens on a bed supporting the tent. Still other modifications and substitutions can be made without departing from the spirit and broad scope of this invention. It is the claims which follow that define the invention, rather than the examples of various embodiments described above.
This application claims the benefit of the filing date of provisional application No. 61/598,292, filed on Feb. 13, 2012.