The present invention relates to pillow structures and particularly to down-fill pillow structures.
Pillow pouches are manufactured in various constructions including polyurethane foams, polyether fill, feathers, down, and hard or soft core structures whereby to provide support to a user's head and neck during bedtime. Therapeutic pillows are also known but these use materials to provide firm support to the head and neck of the user person. Non-allergenic pillow structures utilize materials which are non-allergenic.
Several problems exist with feather or down fill pillows while these provide comfort in softness and warmth which are desirable features of such pillows. One major problem is the unstability of the feathers or down disposed inside the pillow pouch wherein the feathers or down is unstable and has a tendency to migrate and clump in various areas of the pillow pouch when in use or manipulated in an attempt to obtain a more even distribution of the down inside the pouch. In others words, the feathers or down does not exhibit a constant density throughout the pillow pouch and there is therefore a constant need to shake the pillow case and tamp it with the hand to try and maintain a more constant distribution of the feathers or down inside the pouch. This can become annoying to the user person.
Another problem with feather or down pillows is that the small feathers or down can escape from its pouch and pillow case, particularly during manipulation, tamping and cleaning, and inhaled by the user person. If the person is allergic to feathers, then one has to revert to the use of pillows having non-allergic fill material which do not have the comfort and warmth equivalent to feather or down filled pillows. Feathers and down are unstable products and in the fabrication of pillows the pouches are often filled by hand or blown into the pouch. Such manufacturing methods can be hazardous to the health of the factory workers and does not ensure a constant volume of feathers or down being inserted into the pouch. Still further, the use of down is expensive although it is known to be one of the best insulating products while exhibiting softness to a user's face when sleeping and is capable of restoring its shape after having been compressed during use.
It is a feature of the present invention to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages of the use of down feathers in the fabrication of down-fill pillows.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction wherein the down is substantially evenly distributed throughout, inside the pouch of the pillow and remains so during use.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction wherein the down inside the pouch is prevented from seeping out of the pouch during use or cleaning.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction which is simple in construction and wherein down feather sheets of different thicknesses can be used in its construction to provide pillows of different softness or firmness.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction which utilizes a core body surrounded by down material of substantially even thickness and retained captive about the core body.
A still further feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction wherein the pouch is formed by a pair of down sheets each having a pouch outer fabric material sheet and sewn peripherally together to form a pouch having an open end to receive a core body therein.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide a down-fill pillow construction which is economical to construct and which is less hazardous to the health of the factory workers.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides a down-fill pillow which is comprised of a fabric pouch in which is captively retained in close fit therein one or more down feather sheet of predetermined density and of substantially even thickness and wherein the down feathers in the sheet are bound together throughout by a binding agent. The down feather sheet has a memory which exhibits rebounding properties.
From a further broad aspect of the present invention a shaped core body is retained in the fabric pouch and encapsulated by the down feather sheet(s).
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to
As shown in
It is pointed out that the opposed surface sheets 14 or at least one of the sheets 14 may be formed with fibers having heat activating properties whereby to bind to the shaped core and/or the inner surface of the pouch 12 when subjected to heat within a predetermined temperature range. The opposed surface sheets 14 may also be polyurethane aliphatic sheets having stretchable and adhesively binding properties. Still further, the opposed surface sheets may be formed of woven or non-woven fabric material but in all cases these sheets are very thin and light weight. When a peripheral stitch seam is formed, as described above, the down feather mat with its binding agent becomes trapped or encapsulated preventing the egress of down and thereby forming a non-allergic down feather pillow.
With reference now to
Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, it is pointed out that other obvious embodiments and modifications are intended to be covered, provided such fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2914878 | Dec 2015 | CA | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2016/057514 | 12/9/2016 | WO | 00 |
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WO2017/098478 | 6/15/2017 | WO | A |
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20180362329 A1 | Dec 2018 | US |