Patent Application
20170042338
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a mattress structure, and more particularly to a foldable mattress, which can be folded into a compact unit for storage and transportation.
Description of Related Arts
Mattresses provide a comfortable platform for a sleeper residing thereon. However, they are large and bulky for transportation. Since the mattresses are manufactured in certain standard sizes, such as from a twin size to a king size, they are often too bulky to carry into a room through a small hallway or a door of a building. In addition, it is always a problem for the mattress manufacturers to transport the mattresses from the factory to the warehouse or the retail store, and for the mattress distributors to ship the mattresses from the warehouse or the retail store to the end user.
Accordingly, a mattress generally comprises a top layer, a bottom layer, and a spring support supported between the top and bottom layers to define a center spring supporting area, such that the spring support can only support the center portion of the mattress when the user resides thereon. In other words, there is no support at the peripheral portion of the mattress. Especially when the user sits on the peripheral portion of the mattress, the peripheral portion of the mattress will be collapsed. In order to solve the problem, the mattress further includes a peripheral supporting board supported between the top and bottom layers at the peripheral portion of the mattress. The peripheral supporting board is rigid enough to retain the shape of the mattress. Therefore, it is impossible to fold up the mattress into a compact size.
The invention is advantageous in that it provides a foldable mattress, which can be folded into a compact unit for storage and transportation.
Another advantage of the invention is to a foldable mattress, wherein the mattress body is deflated to minimize the thickness of the mattress body, such that the deflated mattress body can be rolled up and packed in a box for storage and transportation.
Another advantage of the invention is to a foldable mattress, wherein the peripheral mattress support is disposed at the peripheral portion of said mattress body when the mattress body is in the unfolded state, such that the center portion and the peripheral portion of the mattress body are supported by the core mattress support and the peripheral mattress support respectively when the mattress body is in the unfolded state.
Another advantage of the invention is to a foldable mattress, wherein the mattress body is self-inflated until the mattress body is fully expanded. Therefore, the user does not require any tool to set up the foldable mattress from the folded state to the unfolded state.
Another advantage of the invention is to a foldable mattress, which does not require to alter the original structural design of the mattress, so as to minimize the manufacturing cost of the mattress with the foldable features.
Another advantage of the invention is to a foldable mattress, wherein no expensive or complicated structure is required to employ in the present invention in order to achieve the above mentioned objects. Therefore, the present invention successfully provides an economic and efficient solution for providing a rigid configuration for the foldable mattress at the unfolded state and for providing a compact configuration for the foldable mattress at the folded state.
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 foldable mattress which comprises:
a mattress body which comprises a top layer and a bottom layer, and defines a center portion and a peripheral portion;
a core mattress support disposed between the top layer and the bottom layer within the center portion of the mattress body;
an air valve operatively coupled at the mattress body for inflating the mattress body from a folded state to an unfolded state, wherein at the folded state, the mattress body is air-vacuumed via the air valve that the top layer is overlapped on the bottom layer to compress the core mattress support therebetween to minimize a thickness of the mattress body, such that the mattress body is rolled up in a compact size at the folded state, wherein at the unfolded state, the mattress body is inflated via the air valve to uncompress the core mattress support so as to fully expand the mattress body; and
a peripheral mattress support disposed at the peripheral portion of the mattress body when the mattress body is in the unfolded state.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the present invention comprises a method of manufacturing and packaging a foldable mattress, comprising the following steps.
(A) Form a mattress body which comprises a top layer and a bottom layer, and defines a center portion and a peripheral portion.
(B) Dispose a core mattress disposed between the top layer and the bottom layer within the center portion of the mattress body.
(C) Air-vacuum the mattress body at a folded state that the top layer is overlapped on the bottom layer to compress the core mattress support therebetween to minimize a thickness of the mattress body, such that the mattress body is folded into a compact size for storage and transportation.
(D) Inflate the mattress body from the folded state to an unfolded state for usage, wherein the core mattress support is uncompressed to fully expand the mattress body.
(E) Form a peripheral mattress support at the peripheral portion of the mattress body when the mattress body is in the unfolded state.
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 to
The mattress body 10 comprises a top layer 11, a bottom layer 12, and a side enclosing layer 13 extended between the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12 to define a mattress cavity 14 within the top layer 11, the bottom layer 12, and the side enclosing layer 13. Accordingly, the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12 are two mattress covers for a user residing thereon. The material and structure of the top layer 11 can be identical to that of the bottom layer 12. Preferably, the top layer 11 has a cushioning top to provide comfort and soft touch feeling. The mattress body 10 further has a center portion 101 and a peripheral portion 102 encircling around the center portion 101. In other words, the center portion 101 of the mattress body 10 is defined at a center area of each of the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12. Preferably, the mattress body 10 has a rectangular box shape and defines two longitudinal edges and two transverse edges. Accordingly, the top layer 11, the bottom layer 12, and the side enclosing layer 13 can be compressed to form a sheet-like configuration.
The support structure comprises a core mattress support 30 disposed within the mattress cavity 14 and between the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12. In particular, the core mattress support 20 is supported within the center portion 101 of the mattress body 10 to provide support a user's weight when the user residues thereon.
According to the first embodiment, the core mattress support 30 comprises a plurality of compressible spring units 31 spacedly retained between the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12 within the center portion 101 of the mattress body 10. Accordingly, each compressible spring unit 31 are individual enclosed spring units that each unit has its resilient individually, such that each compressible spring unit 31 can flex individually without affecting the adjacent compressible spring units 31 so as to enhance the comfort and support for the user.
The air valve 20 is operatively coupled at the mattress body 10 for communicating the mattress cavity 14 of the mattress body 10 with an exterior thereof. In other words, the air within the mattress cavity 14 of the mattress body 10 can be released out via the air valve 20. The air valve 20 is also arranged for inflating the mattress body 10 from a folded state to an unfolded state.
At the folded state, the mattress body is air-vacuumed via the air valve 20 to suck the air out of the mattress cavity 14 of the mattress body 10. Therefore, the top layer 11 is overlapped on the bottom layer 12 to compress the core mattress support 20 therebetween to minimize a thickness of the mattress body, as shown in
As shown in
Preferably, at least one of the top layer 11, the bottom layer 12, and the side enclosing layer 13 is made of air breathable material to allow the air penetrating therethrough. Therefore, the air valve 20 can be integrated with the mattress body 10 that at least one of the top layer 11, the bottom layer 12, and the side enclosing layer 13 can serve as the air valve 20 to release the air from the mattress cavity 14 of the mattress body 10 and to inflate the mattress body 10, as shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In order to reduce the length of the longitudinally peripheral support member 41, each longitudinally peripheral support member 41 comprises a first elongated longitudinal member 411 and a second elongated longitudinal member 412 detachably coupled end-to-end. Therefore, the first and second elongated longitudinal members 411, 412 can be detachably received at the peripheral channel 15 end-to-end along the longitudinal side of the mattress body 10 to form the longitudinally peripheral support member 41.
The support structure further comprises a fastening unit 43 for detachably fastening the peripheral mattress support 40 along the peripheral channel 15. Accordingly, the fastening unit 43 comprises a first fastener 431 provided along an inner wall of the peripheral channel 15 and a second fastener 432 provided along the peripheral mattress support 40, such that when the peripheral mattress support 40 is received in the peripheral channel 15, the second fastener 432 is detachably fastened with the first fastener 431 to retain the peripheral mattress support 40 in position. Preferably, the first fastener 431 and the second fastener 432 are hook and loop fasteners, wherein the hook fasteners are spacedly provided along the peripheral channel 15 at the outer side of the side enclosing layer 13, at the bottom side of the top layer 11, and/or the upper side of the bottom layer 12. The loop fasteners are provided along each of the longitudinally peripheral support members 41 and the transversely peripheral support members 42 at the inner side, top side, and/or the bottom side thereof. It is appreciated that the fastening unit 43 can be a button-and-buttonhole structure or tying string to retain the peripheral mattress support 40 along the peripheral channel 15 in position.
Alternatively, each of the longitudinally peripheral support members 41′ and the transversely peripheral support members 42′ of the peripheral mattress support 40′ has a plurality of spring cavities 44′, wherein a plurality of peripheral support springs 45′ are spacedly coupled within the longitudinally peripheral support members 41′ and the transversely peripheral support members 42′ at the spring cavities 43 respectively, as shown in
As shown in
In addition, the peripheral mattress support 40A comprises a plurality of resilient elements 41A spacedly disposed along the peripheral portion 102 of the mattress body 10, wherein the resilient elements 41A are rigid enough to support the user's weight and are flexible enough to be compressed by the compressing force of the pressing machine. In particular, the resilient elements 41A are built-in within the mattress cavity 14 of the mattress body 10 at the peripheral portion 102 thereof. In other words, the side enclosing layer 13 is affixed to the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12 edge-to-edge. When the core mattress support 30A is compressed, the resilient elements 41A are also compressed to minimize the thickness of the mattress body 10 at the folded state.
As shown in
Since the sliding ends 412A of the resilient elements 41A are slid at the top layer 11, the resilient elements 41A are aligned along the peripheral portion 102 of the mattress body 10 in an alternating manner to allow sliding displacements of the sliding ends 412A of the resilient elements 41A at the top layer 11, so as to prevent the sliding ends 412A of the resilient elements 41A being hit each other, as shown in
The present invention further provides a manufacturing and packaging the foldable mattress, as shown in
(1) Form the mattress body 10 to form the top layer 11, the bottom layer 12, and the side enclosing layer 13.
(2) Dispose the core mattress support 30, 30A disposed between the top layer 11 and the bottom layer 12 within the center portion 101 of the mattress body 10.
(3) Air-vacuum the mattress body 10 at the folded state that the top layer 11 is overlapped on the bottom layer 12 to compress the core mattress support 30, 30A therebetween to minimize the thickness of the mattress body 10. As shown in
(4) Inflate the mattress body 10 from the folded state to the unfolded state for usage, wherein the core mattress support 30 is uncompressed to fully expand the mattress body 10. After the user receives the rolled mattress body 10 packed inside the box 4, the user is able to remove the second sealing bag 3 to unroll the mattress body 10. Then, by removing the sealing bag 2, the mattress body 10 is automatically inflated via the air valve 20 from the folded state to the unfolded state.
(5) Form the peripheral mattress support 40, 40A at the peripheral portion 102 of the mattress body 10 when the mattress body 10 is in the unfolded state.
According to the first embodiment, the longitudinally peripheral support members 41 and the transversely peripheral support members 42 can be also packed in the box 4. Therefore, once the mattress body 10 is fully expanded at the unfolded state, the longitudinally peripheral support members 41 and the transversely peripheral support members 42 can be received along the peripheral channel 15 of the mattress body 10, such that the center portion 101 of the mattress body 10 is supported by the mattress core support 30 while the peripheral 102 of the mattress body 10 is supported by the peripheral mattress support 40.
In view of the second embodiment, the resilient elements 41A are compressed at the same time when the mattress core support 30A is compressed. Therefore, the compressed mattress body 10 can be rolled with the compressed resilient elements 41 to form the rolled mattress body 10. It is worth mentioning that once the mattress body 10 is fully expanded at the unfolded state, the resilient elements 41A will returns back to the original form to support the peripheral 102 of the mattress body 10.
It is worth mentioning that the mattress core support 30, 30A of the first and second embodiments are interchangeable, such that the mattress core support 30 with the spring-loaded feature can incorporate with the resilient elements 41A of the peripheral mattress support 40A while the mattress core support 30A with the memory foam feature can incorporate with the detachable feature of the peripheral mattress support 40.
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.
