Patent Application
20240407576
This invention relates generally to fitted bed sheets, and more particularly to a fitted bed sheet having mitered corners at an acute angle rather than the market standard of a right angle.
Sheets come in two varieties: flat and fitted. A flat sheet is simply a rectangular sheet of cloth which is placed over a bed. Fitted sheets have corners which are disposed at a 90 degree angle for fitting around a mattress, and providing a firm and neat appearance and secure placement.
Customers complain of the difficulty they encounter when applying a non-stretch woven fitted sheet to a mattress, particularly to the deeper and heavier mattresses. To achieve the desired neat, snug, smooth sides, the bed sheet will usually be made smaller than the mattress dimensions. Considerable effort is required to apply this sheet, having to lift the heavy mattress at the corners to slip pockets over and secure them under the mattress.
If the sheet is cut to the exact dimensions or greater than those of the mattress and the corners mitered at the standard 90 degrees, however easier this may be to apply, the result will be an unappealing baggy, saggy appearance. The excess fabric may also bunch up under the sleeping person making for an uncomfortable experience.
The prior art teaches various forms of fitted bed sheets with a 90 degree angle at the corners. For example, Jamison, U.S. Pat. No. 3,694,832, teaches a fitted sheet that is prepared from a simple rectangular blank of textile material that includes side edges having selvages, and top and bottom edges which are raw. Isosceles triangular portions are removed from the top and bottom (raw) edges, and the blank is then folded to form fitted corners of 90 degrees (or less). As discussed in the patent, col. 5, line 16, “by employing an apex angle greater than 90 degrees and up to about 108 degrees, the portion OC of the fold line 50 (shown in
There are related bedding products that disclose constructions more similar to the fitted bed sheet of the present invention; however, these do not teach the present invention. Treece, U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,544, for example, teaches a fitted mattress pad that appears to be similar in corner construction (see
Another example is shown in Ciaglia, U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,477, which teaches a fitted top sheet that include bottom corners of the top sheet are formed of a widthwise cut edge and a lengthwise cut edge meeting at an angle of more than 90° and being attached to each other along respective lengths. This construction is unique to a top sheet, however, because it is required to form a foot pocket (as discussed in the patent) at a bottom area of the combination, for the comfort of the user while sleeping under the top sheet. This is obviously not a factor in a fitted bed sheet.
The prior art teaches fitted bed sheets with 90 degree corners, and the prior art teaches top sheets, and mattress pads, which include corners which are formed at 90 degree angles. However, the prior art does not teach a bottom fitted bed sheet that includes corners formed as discussed herein. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further advantages as described in the following summary.
The present invention teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.
The present invention provides a fitted bottom bed sheet comprising a fabric sheet; corner cutouts, from each corner of the fabric sheet, wherein the corner cutouts form side panels and end panels, which terminate in longitudinal cut edges and lateral cut edges that each converge to a point, the longitudinal cut edges and the lateral cut edges being sewn together to form mitered corner edges that are formed at an angle that is 1 or more degrees from a line extending from the point and are orthogonal to a plane of the fabric sheet.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide a fitted bottom bed sheet having advantages not taught by the prior art.
Another objective is to provide a fitted bottom bed sheet having an extra length of material that allows for greater ease of application to a bed mattress while maintaining a snug fit and a neat appearance.
A further objective is to provide a fitted bottom bed sheet that may be easily constructed from a single sheet of fabric.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention. In such drawings:
The above-described drawing figures illustrate the invention, a fitted bottom bed sheet for application on a bed mattress.
In production, the fabric sheet 20 is initially cut at each corner 26 to form corner cutouts 28. In one corner 26, for example, a longitudinal cut edge 29a is formed by cutting from the top edge 22a, and a lateral cut edge 29b is made by cutting from the left side edge 24a, the cuts meeting at a point 27 to form the cutout 28. The longitudinal cut edge 29a is formed a first distance D1 from the corner 26, and the lateral cut 29b is formed a second distance D2 from the corner 26. The longitudinal cut edge 29a and the lateral cut edge 29b converge at an acute angle A1 which is less than 90 degrees, preferably between 89 degrees or less. Similar cutouts 28 are made at each of the corners 26.
In this embodiment, the fold lines 30a and 30b are about 203 cm, and side edges 33a and 33b are about 208 cm. The lateral cut edges 29b are about 43 cm. The fold lines 32a and 32b are about 183 cm, and end edges 35a and 35b are about 188 cm. The longitudinal cut edges 29a are also about 43 cm.
While these measurements are ideal for the present embodiment, they will of course vary depending upon the size of the mattress being used, and other particular details (e.g., materials used, needs of the user, etc.), so the measurements will vary.
Each panel 30 is sewn to adjacent panels 32 in this fashion to form the mitered corner edges 36. Importantly, each mitered corner edge 36 is formed at an angle A2 that is one or more degrees, preferably 1-5 degrees, from a line O extending from point 27 orthogonal to the plane of the fabric sheet 20.
These factors result in the fitted bed sheet 10 having an outer edge 40 (combination of 33a, 33b, 35a, and 35b) that is greater in length (792 cm) than the length (772 cm) of an inner edge 42 (combination of 30a, 30b, 32a, and 32b). This greater length enables easier application of the fitted bed sheet 10 to a mattress.
As used in this application, the words “a,” “an,” and “one” are defined to include one or more of the referenced item unless specifically stated otherwise. The terms “approximately” and “about” are defined to mean +/−10%, unless otherwise stated. Also, the terms “have,” “include,” “contain,” and similar terms are defined to mean “comprising” unless specifically stated otherwise. Furthermore, the terminology used in the specification provided above is hereby defined to include similar and/or equivalent terms, and/or alternative embodiments that would be considered obvious to one skilled in the art given the teachings of the present patent application. While the invention has been described with reference to at least one particular embodiment, it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not limited to these embodiments, but rather the scope of the invention is defined by claims made to the invention.
