Patent Application
20220095805
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure relates to mattress cover device and more particularly pertains to a new mattress cover device for encasing and retaining an interior cushioning system typically comprised of a plurality of layers of resiliently compressible, i.e. cushioning, panels. The panels maybe added to or replaced to alter the firmness, compressibility and/or support of a mattress. However, upon altering the cushioning panels, the height of the overall internal cushioning system may have been altered. The mattress cover device disclosed herein has a variable height construction to allow the end user to unilaterally alter the interior cushioning system and then alter the height of the outer cover to ensure that it maintains a tight, supportive encasement of the interior cushioning system. This will allow a bed manufacturer or seller to ship a cushioning panel to an end user with the understanding that the original outer cover will still function properly.
The prior art relates to mattress cover devices that are not size adjustable and therefore must be entirely replaced with a new mattress cover should an interior of the mattress require a height adjustment.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an outer cover for an interior cushioning system of a mattress. The outer cover includes an upper section including a top wall having a top perimeter edge. A upper perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends downwardly from the top perimeter edge. A lower section includes a bottom wall having a bottom perimeter edge. A lower perimeter wall is coextensive with and extends upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge. The upper and lower sections each comprising a fabric material. A coupler is attached to the upper and lower sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall and the lower perimeter wall together such that the upper and lower sections encase a plurality of cushioning panels. The coupler includes a first mating member attached to the upper perimeter wall and extending along a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall. A pair of second mating members is each releasably engageable with the first mating member and include an upper mating member and a lower mating member. The upper mating member is attached to and extends along a top edge of the lower perimeter wall while the lower mating member is attached to and extends around the lower perimeter wall. The lower mating member is positioned between the upper mating member and the bottom wall. The first mating member is securable to the upper mating member to provide a first height dimension between the top and bottom walls and is securable to the lower mating member to provide a second height dimension between the top and bottom walls. The first height dimension is greater than the second height dimension.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
To protect and hold together the cushioning panels, the mattress encasement assembly 10 is an outer cover 16 that includes an upper section 18 including a top wall 20 having a top perimeter edge 22 and an upper perimeter wall 24 is coextensive with and extends downwardly from the top perimeter edge 22. A lower section 26 includes a bottom wall 28 having a bottom perimeter edge 30 with a lower perimeter wall 32 that is coextensive with and extends upwardly from the bottom perimeter edge 30. The upper 18 and lower 26 sections each comprise any fabric material that is conventional to mattress encasements and may include natural and synthetic fibers, for example. It should be understood that the terms “upper” and “lower” as used above and in conjunction with the vertical directions otherwise spoken about herein may be reversed since the assembly 10 may be utilized as stated above or may be flipped over in an upside-down orientation and the orientations provided herein are used only for clarification purposes.
A coupler 34 is attached to the upper 18 and lower 26 sections to releasably secure the upper perimeter wall 24 and the lower perimeter wall 32 together such that the upper 18 and lower 26 sections are configured to encase the plurality of mattress cushioning panels 14. The coupler 34 includes a first mating member 36 that is attached to the upper perimeter wall 24. The first mating member 36 extends along, or adjacent to, a bottom edge of the upper perimeter wall 24 distal to the top wall 20. A pair of second mating members 38, 40 each is releasably engageable with the first mating member 36. The second mating members 38, 40 include an upper mating member 38 and a lower mating member 40. The upper mating member 38 is attached to and extends along, or adjacent to, a top edge of the lower perimeter wall 28 distal to said bottom wall 32. The lower mating member 40 is attached to and extends around the lower perimeter wall 32 and is positioned between the upper mating member 38 and the bottom wall 28.
The first mating member 36 is securable to the upper mating member 38 to provide a first height dimension between the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. The first mating member 36 is securable to the lower mating member 40 to provide a second height dimension between the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. The first height dimension is greater than the second height dimension. This structure allows the user of the assembly 10 to alter a height of the outer cover 16 depending upon the height of the interior cushioning system 12. Thus, should the user want to add to or alter the cushioning panels 14, this may be accomplished while using the same outer cover 16. Maintaining the outer cover 16 in a relatively tight configuration around the entirety of the cushioning panels 14 is important as the outer cover 16 provides lateral stability for the entire, fully formed mattress.
The coupler 34 may comprise any conventional mechanical coupler suitable for joining two edges of fabric together. Therefore, snaps, buttons, hook and loop connectors and the like may be utilized. In one preferred embodiment, as shown in
While the coupler 34 may extend around an entire periphery of the outer cover 16, there may be a section where the upper perimeter wall 24 and lower perimeter wall 32 are sewn together, such as along a portion of an end wall of the outer cover 16. In such an embodiment, the first 36 and lower 40 mating members will each still extend around the entirety of the outer cover 16 to allow for the outer cover 16 height to be decreased along its entire periphery.
In one embodiment of the invention shown in
A plurality of reinforcing panels 56 is attached to each of the top 20 and bottom 28 walls. Each of the slots 54 terminates at one of the reinforcing panels 56 and the reinforcing members 56 comprise a flexible material which may include fabrics, synthetic materials, plastics or elastomers that prevent the slots 54 from inadvertently extending by tearing either of the top 20 or bottom 28 walls as the mattresses are raised or lowered relative to each other.
In use, the outer cover 16 is used in a conventional manner as a retention and covering member for cushioning and stability elements found within a mattress. However, if an end user determines that their mattress is either too soft or too firm, they can add to or replace cushioning panels 14 as needed without having to replace the outer cover 16. This will allow a manufacturer or retailer to send the replacement cushioning panel 14 to the end user and thereafter the end user opens the outer cover 16, adds or removes cushioning panels 14, and then closes the outer cover 16 using the best fitting second mating member 38 or 40. For this reason, it should be understood that while the disclosure herein only shows upper 38 and lower 40 mating members, a second mating member defining an intermediate mating member may be added and which is positioned between the upper 38 and lower 40 mating members.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
