The present invention relates to pillow such as bedding pillow and cushion, and more particularly to a convertible pillow which is able to be converted between a bedding pillow that supports the head and neck of a user and a cushion used on couch or chair.
Pillow is a support of the body at rest for comfort, therapy or decoration, which generally comprises a pillowcase which is a fabric envelope containing a soft stuffing, such as feathers, buckwheat hull, wool, latex, cotton, and etc. or fillers such as polyester and memory foam, therein. There are generally two types of pillow, including bedding pillow sized and shaped to support the head and neck of the user and a cushion with smaller size to be used on beds, couches or chairs for decoration or supporting various portions of the body for comfort while lying down or sitting. Typical bedding pillow has a size 16-20 in×26-30 in while a cushion has a size 16-20 in×16-20 in.
Distant travelers, especially to passengers of a red eye flight or long distant train or bus trip would like to take a sleep or nap during the transportation. However, sleeping or napping while sitting, whether on a plane, bus, train, or even at a desk, can have potential hazards for the neck and lead to discomfort and stiffness. Sleeping in an awkward position or with improper neck support can lead to neck strain causing discomfort, stiffness and pain in the neck and shoulders upon waking up. Therefore, more and more travelers as well as office workers who need to have napping at a desk carry a bedding pillow with them to support the head and neck. Using a pillow can help maintain proper alignment of the neck and spine, especially for sleeping or napping while sitting. Also, traveling across time zones can disrupt sleep patterns, leading to fatigue and let lag, so that having a familiar and comfortable pillow of the user can help travelers relax and potentially get some sleep that can ease the effects of the jet lag.
In addition, airplane, bus and train seats are used by many people, and the cleanliness of these seats is a doubtful problem to the traveler to have his or her face in contact thereon while sleeping or napping. Using a personal pillow acts as a barrier between the traveler and potentially unclean surfaces. The use of a pillow can also help block out noise and light, creating a more conducive environment for rest on planes or trains.
On the other hand, long periods of sitting on a plane or at a desk can increase the risk of blood clots and deep vein thrombosis. Using a cushion to elevate the legs slightly can help improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of their health issues.
However, the bulky size of the bedding pillow also causes inconvenience for carrying or storing to the user. The bedding pillow is designed to have a longer size to support the head and neck but not to be used as a cushion to elevate the legs and support the lower back while the cushion is specially shaped to fit the natural curve of the lower back so as to distribute the pressure of the upper body evenly across the lower back, to relax the muscles around the lumbar area more effectively, and to promote better spinal alignment while sitting. To an office worker, it is acceptable to store both a pillow and a cushion, but to a traveler, it does not make sense to carry both his or her personal pillow and cushion at the same time.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a convertible pillow which can be transformed from a bedding pillow to a cushion by enveloping at least a portion of a first portion of the pillow by the user, wherein the folded first portion is retained in position by a retaining arrangement of a transforming envelope built in the convertible pillow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a convertible pillow which can be transformed from a cushion to a bedding pillow simply by releasing the folded first portion out of the holding envelope of the convertible pillow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a convertible pillow which is configured to have a skin contacting surface that can be isolated and protected from contacting with outside by converting the convertible pillow into a cushion when it is not used as a bedding pillow so as to keep clean of the skin contacting surface that is arranged to be contact with the user's face when the convertible pillow is transformed into a bedding pillow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a method of transforming a convertible pillow from a bedding pillow to a cushion, and vice versa, by the user without any assistance of external tool.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a convertible pillowcase for receiving a conventional bedding pillow to form a convertible pillow that can be transformed from a bedding pillow to a cushion by enveloping a first portion of the pillow by the user, wherein the folded first portion is retained in position by a retaining arrangement of a holding envelope built in the convertible pillow, and transformed from a cushion to a bedding pillow simply by releasing the folded first portion out of the holding envelope of the convertible pillow.
Another advantage of the invention is to provide a convertible pillowcase which is configured to have a skin contacting surface that can be isolated and protect from contacting with outside when it is not in used.
Additional advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
According to the present invention, the foregoing and other objects and advantages are attained by a convertible pillow, comprising:
In one embodiment, the transforming envelope comprises an envelope panel, preferably made of the same fabric of the pillowcase, having a top side, a bottom side integrally connected with one end side of the pillowcase, and two edge sides integrally connected to two longitudinal sides of the pillowcase, wherein the envelope panel is configured to overlap on the covering surface of the pillowcase to define the envelope cavity between an inner surface of the envelope panel and the covering surface of the pillowcase and the envelope opening between the top side of the envelop panel and the covering surface of the pillowcase.
In one embodiment, a length of each of the edge sides of the envelope panel is generally equal to or slightly less than a half length of the longitudinal side of the pillowcase.
In one embodiment, the retaining arrangement includes a resilient unit provided along the top side of the envelope panel of the transforming envelope so as to provide an elastic pressure along the top side against the bedding pillow body.
In one embodiment, the resilient unit comprises two resilient elements provided at two end portions of the top side of the envelope panel respectively so as to apply resilient stress at the two end portions of the top side of the envelope panel to render a main portion between the two end portions of the top side of the envelope panel applying the elastic pressure against the bedding pillow body.
In one embodiment, the retaining arrangement includes at least a pair of first and second fastening elements respectively affixed to the end sides of the pillowcase such that when the bedding pillow body is folded up, the first fastening element and the second fastening element are able to be fastened with each other to retain the folded condition of the first portion and the second portion of the bedding pillow body, so that the bedding pillow body is retained in form of the cushion body by holding the first portion and the second portion in the folded condition and retaining the folded first and second portions of the bedding pillow body being enveloped in the transforming envelope.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention comprises a method of transforming a convertible pillow from a bedding pillow to a cushion, which includes steps of:
In one embodiment, the method further comprises a step of fastening a first fastening element and a second fastening element provided on two end sides of the pillowcase respectively after the first portion and the second portion of the bedding pillow body are folded up with each other so as to retain the folded condition of the first portion and the second portion of the bedding pillow body.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
The following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention. Preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Referring
The bedding pillow body 10 comprises a pillow filler 11 (as shown in
The transforming envelope 20 is integrally provided on the covering surface 122 of the pillowcase 12 and has an envelope opening 21 and an envelope cavity 22. The transforming envelope 20 is shaped and sized to envelope at least a portion of the first portion 101 of the bedding pillow body 10 in the envelope cavity 22 via the envelope opening 21 after the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10 are folded up on the skin contacting surface 121 of the pillowcase 12 to form a cushion body 10′ as shown in
According to the preferred embodiment, referring to
The retaining arrangement 30 is provided on the pillowcase 12 and configured to retain the bedding pillow body 10 in form of the cushion body 10′ (as shown in
The retaining arrangement 30 includes a resilient unit 31 provided along the top side 2011 of the envelope panel 201 of the transforming envelope 20 so as to provide an elastic pressure along the top side 2011 against the bedding pillow body 10.
The resilient unit 31 can be an elongated elastic band configured along the top side 2011 of the envelope panel 201. Preferably, the resilient unit 31 comprises two resilient elements 311, 312 provided at two end portions 20111, 20112 of the top side 2011 of the envelope panel 201 respectively, as shown in
In particular, a length of each of the top side 2011 and the bottom side 2012 of the envelope panel 201 is equal to a length of the end side 1202 of the pillowcase 12 and a length of each of the edge sides 2013, 2014 of the envelope panel 201 is generally equal to or slightly less than half a length of the longitudinal side 1203, 1204 of the pillowcase 12. Preferably, the bottom side 2012 of the envelope panel 201 is sewed together with the end side 1202 of pillowcase 12 integrally, as shown in
It is worthing that the mounting of the envelope panel 201 on the pillowcase 12 can be embodied as other equivalent ways such as directly connecting the bottom side 2012 and the two edge sides 2013, 2014 to the pillowcase 12 by sewing, zippering and etc., The envelope panel 201 can be made of elastic material so as to perform the elastic ability inherently without the requirement of configuring the resilient unit 31. These equivalent alternatives and modifications are within the scope of the inventive concept of the present invention.
It is appreciated that the side surface where the envelope panel 201 provided thereon is defined as the covering surface 122 of the pillowcase 12 and the other side surface of the pillowcase 12 is defined as the skin contacting surface 121 that is the preferred surface for the user's face to be contacted therewith and should be maintained clean and hygienic. Accordingly, while the convertible pillow 1 of the present invention is not in use or being carried by the user, it is preferred to transform the convertible pillow 1 to the form of cushion 10′ that the skin contacting surface 121 is concealed and enclosed by the transforming envelope 20.
In order to further ensure the folded condition of the convertible pillow 1 such that the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10 are folded up with two halves of the skin contacting surface 121 are overlapped with each other as shown in
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, two first fastening elements 321, each being embodied as loop fastener, are connected to two corners of the end side 1201 of the pillowcase 12 and the second fastening elements 322, each being embodied as knot fastener, are connected to two corners of the end side 1202 of the pillowcase. To fasten the first fastening elements 321 with the second fastening elements 322 with each other by fastening the knot fasteners 322 by the loop fasteners 321 respectively as shown in
By means of the configuration of the convertible pillow 1 of the present invention, the bedding pillow body 10 can be transformed into a cushion body 10′ by enveloping at least a portion of the first portion 101 of the bedding pillow body 10 through the following steps:
(a) Fold up the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10, as shown in
In the preferred embodiment, the first fastener elements 321 and the second fastener elements 322 are provided for fastening with each other respectively as shown in
When folding up the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10, the skin contacting surface 121 of the pillowcase 12 is preferred to be folded overlappedly, such that the transforming envelope 20 provided on the covering surface 121 is exposed outside as shown in
(b) Envelope at least a portion of the first portion 101 of the bedding pillow body in the transforming envelope 20 through the following steps:
(c) Retain the bedding pillow body 10 in form of the cushion body 10′ by holding the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10 in a folded condition, as shown in
To transform the cushion body 10′ in folded condition back to the bedding pillow body 10′ in unfolded condition, the user may simply reverse the above transforming steps, i.e.:
Referring to
It is worth mentioning that when no skin contacting surface is required to conceal such as the convertible pillow 1 is simply used for decorative purpose, the user may also quickly convert the bedding pillow body 10 into the cushion body 10′ by inserting the first portion 101 of the bedding pillow body 10 into the envelope cavity 22 defined between the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10 and the envelope panel 21, wherein the resilient elements 311, 312 are still significantly holding and retaining the first portion 101 and the second portion 102 of the bedding pillow body 10 in the folded condition.
Referring to
One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.
It will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished. The embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles. Therefore, this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims.
This application is a Continuation application that claims the benefit of priority under 35U.S.C. § 120 to a non-provisional application, application Ser. No. 18/376,145, filed Oct. 23, 2023, which is incorporated herewith by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20250107646 A1 | Apr 2025 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 18376145 | Oct 2023 | US |
Child | 18746290 | US |