Mattress with adjustable massage units

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6178577
  • Patent Number
    6,178,577
  • Date Filed
    Friday, March 31, 2000
    24 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, January 30, 2001
    23 years ago
Abstract
A mattress having multiple massage units provided on a top surface thereof is provided. Each of the massage units is formed at a lower side with an open-ended space through which two long locating strips are extended. The long locating strips are sewed up onto the top surface of the mattress at points that are in front of and behind each massage unit by a predetermined distance, so that the massage units are attached to the mattress by the long locating strips while being movable between two sewed points of the long strips before and after them. The massage units are provided in their inner spaces with at least one pair of massage elements to massage different areas on a user's body.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to a mattress, and more particularly to a mattress with multiple massage units longitudinally movably attached to a top surface thereof, so that the same one mattress is adaptable to massage users of different heights.




With the quick development in the sciences of communication and information in the nowaday business society, people seem to spend more time sitting still during work and tend to get sore limbs and ached back more frequently. When lacking of adequate treatment or rehabilitation, the sore limbs and ached back would very possibly develop into worse conditions. To enable general consumers to conveniently treat their sore limbs and ached back at home, there are many types of massage devices developed and available in the market.




Among many common massage devices, there are large-sized massage lounges and massage mattresses and small-sized massage rods. Speaking of the massage mattress, it is a massage means requiring least strength to operate. A user needs only to lie on the mattress to have the whole body well massaged. Therefore, the massage mattress is most suitable for the aged and sick people and is most effective in reducing the probability of bedsore.




A conventional massage mattress usually includes several massage units that are concealed and fixedly mounted in the mattress and are therefore not movable in their position. It is therefore possible the massage mattress having fixed and concealed massage units does not match with the heights of different family members to meet everyone's need. Moreover, since the massage units are fixed to only a few predetermined points inside the mattress, they do not massage and accordingly treat all sore and ached areas on the user's body.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a mattress with adjustable massage units, so that a user may freely adjust the position of the massage units on the mattress according to his height and actual need. That is, the mattress of the present invention is adaptable to users of different heights.




Another object of the present invention is to provide a mattress with multiple position-adjustable massage units that include a shoulder massage unit, a back massage unit, a waist massage unit, a thigh massage unit, and a shank massage unit to massage almost all areas on a user's body.




To achieve the above and other objects, the mattress of the present invention mainly includes multiple massage units that are provided on a top surface of the mattress at positions generally corresponding to a man's shoulders, back, waist, thighs and shanks. Each of the massage units is formed at a lower side with an open-ended space through which two long locating strips are extended. The long locating strips are sewed up onto the top surface of the mattress at points that are in front of and behind each massage unit by a predetermined distance, so that the massage units are attached to the mattress by the long locating strips while being movable between two sewed points of the long locating strips before and after them. The massage units are provided in their inner spaces with at least one pair of massage elements to massage different areas on a user's body by means of compression or vibration. To enhance the massage effect at waist, thighs and shanks, binding loops may be added to top surfaces of the massage units particularly for these areas, so that the user's waist, thighs and shanks are enclosed in the binding loops when the massage elements act to compress or vibrate these areas.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS




The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein





FIG. 1

is an assembled perspective of a mattress with adjustable massage units according to an embodiment of the present invention;





FIG. 2

is a partially exploded perspective of the mattress of

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 3

is a top view of the mattress of

FIG. 1

;





FIG. 4

is a sectional view taken on line


4





4


of

FIG. 3

;





FIG. 5

is a sectional view taken on line


5





5


of

FIG. 3

; and





FIG. 6

is a mattress with adjustable massage units according to another embodiment of the present invention.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS




Please refer to

FIGS. 1 and 2

that are assembled and partially exploded perspective views, respectively, of a mattress according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the mattress mainly includes a main body


10


and multiple massage units movably provided on a top surface of the mattress


10


. These massage units usually sequentially include from top to bottom of the mattress


10


, as illustrated in

FIG. 1

, a shoulder massage unit


20


, a back massage unit


30


, a waist massage unit


40


, a thigh massage unit


50


, and a shank massage unit


60


. Each of these massage units


20


thru


60


is formed at a lower side facing the mattress


10


with an open-ended space


11


(see FIG.


4


). Two long locating strips


12


are adapted to sequentially extend through all the open-ended spaces


11


to locate near two lateral edges of the spaces


11


. Points on the long locating strips


12


at some distance in front of and behind each of the massage units


20


thru


60


are sewed up onto the mattress


10


to form sewed lines


121


, so that each of the massage units


20


thru


60


is attached to the top surface of the mattress


10


but allowed to move in a longitudinal direction of the mattress


10


between two sewed lines


121


before and after it.




Each of the massage units


20


thru


60


may be formed from a cloth sleeve defining a hollow space therein. Since these massage units have the same structure, only the back massage unit


30


is used as an example in the following description of the present invention. Please refer to

FIGS. 2

,


3


and


4


. The back massage unit


30


has one or two pairs of air-cell type massage elements


70


laterally symmetrically fitted in the cloth sleeve of the back massage unit


30


. An additional piece of cloth


71


is connected to the lower side of the back massage unit


30


to form the open-ended space


11


by sewing two lateral edges of the cloth


71


onto the lower side of the back massage unit


30


. As mentioned above, two long locating strips


12


may be longitudinally extended through the back massage unit


30


to locate below two lateral sides of the unit


30


, and the locating strips


12


are sewed onto the mattress


10


at two points separately before and after the unit


30


by a predetermined distance to form front and rear sewed lines


121


, so that the unit


30


is movable between the front and the rear sewed lines


121


without separating from the mattress


10


, as shown in FIG.


5


. That is, the back massage unit


30


is adjustable in its longitudinal position relative to the mattress


10


.




Similarly, the two long locating strips


12


extend through and locate in the lower open-ended spaces


11


below all other massage units


20


,


40


,


50


and


60


in the same manner, and the sewed lines


121


are provided before and after all other massage units for the latter to be position-adjustable on the mattress


10


in a longitudinal direction.




Please refer to

FIGS. 2 and 4

. Again, the back massage unit


30


is taken as an example in the following description. Each of the air-cell type massage elements


70


has a hose


72


that extends from, for example, an inner side of the massage element


70


to downward pass through holes provided at the lower side of the back massage unit


30


and the cloth


71


. The mattress


10


is provided at an area corresponding to the hoses


72


with a through hole


13


, via which the hoses


72


passed through the back massage unit


30


enter into the mattress


10


before being connected to an air source (not shown). The through hole


13


may be then closed with a cover


14


.





FIG. 6

illustrates a mattress with adjustable massage units according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the waist, the thigh, and the shank massage units


40


,


50


and


60


are respectively provided at their upper side with binding loops


41


,


51


and


61


. When the air-cell type massage elements


70


(not shown in

FIG. 6

) arranged in the thigh and the shank massage units


50


,


60


are inflated, a user's thighs and shanks (not shown) are compressed and effectively massaged separately by the binding loops


51


,


61


and the cloth sleeves of the massage units


50


,


60


enclosing them. The waist massage unit


40


is also provided at its upper side with a binding loop


41


suitable for binding around the user's waist. When the air-cell type massage elements


70


(not shown in

FIG. 6

) arranged in the waist massage unit


40


are inflated, the user's waist is subjected to a compressive force from the waist massage unit


40


and the binding loop


41


. And, when the massage elements


70


are alternately inflated and deflated, the user's waist is alternately compressed and released to achieve the same effect as doing abdomen exercise. The binding loops


41


,


51


and


61


all are made of soft material and changeable in their profiles. The binding loops


41


,


51


and


61


shown in

FIG. 6

are arch-shaped only for the purpose of illustration.




Since a distance between a man's legs and heart is large, the legs tend to suffer poor blood circulation when a man is getting old. It is known that poor blood circulation in turn causes diseases in leg blood vessels, such as varicosity, making the flow of blood returning to the heart more difficult. The binding loops


51


,


61


co-operate with the thigh and the shank massage units


50


,


60


to alternately compress and release the legs and would therefore be helpful in improving the blood circulation of the user's legs to reduce the probability of leg diseases.




It is understood that the massage elements


70


arranged in the massage units


20


thru


60


are not necessarily in the form of an air cell that is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The massage elements


70


may be otherwise in the form of a vibrator. In the case of a vibrator-type massage element


70


, a wire is used to substitute for the hose


72


.




The following are some of the advantages of the mattress of the present invention:




1. The numbers of massage units


20


thru


60


provided on the mattress


10


may be changed depending on the actual need of a user.




2. The massage units


20


thru


60


may be adjusted in their longitudinal position on the mattress


10


depending on the user's height.




3. The air-cell type massage elements


70


may be inflated and deflated in an operation manner preset for the mattress


10


.




4. The inflated air-cell type massage elements


70


co-operate with the user's weight to press or squeeze and therefore massage muscles at two sides of the spine and on the legs.




The mattress with adjustable massage units according to the present invention can therefore meet the requirements of more people and is highly practical for use.



Claims
  • 1. A mattress with adjustable massage units, comprising a mattress and multiple massage units attached to a top surface of said mattress; said massage units being in the form of cloth sleeves each defining a hollow space, into which at least one pair of massage elements are symmetrically arranged; said mattress being characterized in that:each of said massage units is formed at a lower side with an open-ended space, through which two long locating strips are extended to locate near two lateral edges of said open-ended spaces, and that said two long locating strips are sewed up onto said mattress at points at a predetermined distance in front of and behind each said massage units to provide multiple sewed lines on said mattress, such that each of said massage units is longitudinally movable between two of said sewed lines before and after said particular massage unit, allowing adjustment of said massage units in their longitudinal positions relative to said mattress.
  • 2. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said multiple massage units are so located on said mattress that they are separately suitable for massaging a user's shoulders, back, waist, thighs, and shanks.
  • 3. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said open-ended space below each said massage unit is formed by sewing two lateral edges of an additional piece of cloth onto the lower side of said massage unit.
  • 4. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said massage elements are air cells.
  • 5. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said massage elements are vibrators.
  • 6. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said massage units for massaging a user's thighs and shanks are provided at their upper sides with binding loops suitable for respectively enclosing the user's thighs and shanks therein.
  • 7. A mattress with adjustable massage units as claimed in claim 1, wherein said massage unit for massaging a user's waist is provided at an upper side with a binding loop suitable for enclosing the user's waist therein.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Number Name Date Kind
2425655 Tompkins Aug 1947
4326506 Kawabata Apr 1982
5007410 DeLaney Apr 1991
5437607 Taylor Aug 1995
5437608 Cutler Aug 1995
5606754 Hand et al. Mar 1997