This invention relates generally to bedding products and, more particularly, to a modular bedding system, including a knock down modular bed base or foundation for supporting non-adjustable, as well as adjustable, mattresses.
Prior to the advent of the bed base disclosed in the above-identified parent patent application, of which this application is a Continuation-in-Part, there existed in the marketplace bed bases or foundations for non-adjustable mattresses and bed bases or foundations for supporting adjustable mattresses. Those two different types of bed bases had nothing in common, either structurally or in terms of cost. The bed bases for adjustable mattresses were much more complex in structure and much more expensive than bed bases used to support non-adjustable mattresses. The bed bases for adjustable mattresses were generally manufactured and sold fully assembled, but sometimes were sold in pieces. Irrespective of whether sold fully assembled or in pieces, when applied to a queen size bed, those pieces were heavy and large, oftentimes so large that they were very difficult to transport to and through doorways, stairs, etc., of small apartments or homes.
In the above-identified parent patent application, there is disclosed a modular bedding system having a bed base which includes removable head and foot deck panels. The bed base there disclosed is so constructed that the removable head deck panel may be replaced by an articulating head section module, such that the bed, including the original base, may then function as a headrest adjustable bed. The foot removable deck panel of the bed base there disclosed may also be removed and replaced by an articulating adjustable foot section module, such that the foot section of the bed, still including the original base, is adjustable. According to the disclosure of this parent patent application, the adjustment of the headrest and footrest adjustable modules may be as simple as a ratchet mechanism for raising or tilting the head section or the foot section of the bed, or the modules may be independently motorized and controlled by a conventional hardwired hand wand or by a wireless remote.
The modular bedding system disclosed in the above-identified parent patent application has the advantage of enabling a bedding retailer to sell the modular bed base to a customer with a non-adjustable fixed mattress and then later upgrade that modular bed base by selling relatively inexpensive headrest or footrest adjusting modules at prices which are substantially lower than the current differential in price between non-adjustable beds and adjustable beds. That bedding system and bed base also had the advantage of enabling a bedding retailer to sell both adjustable and non-adjustable beds while maintaining a substantially lower inventory of products needed to serve both markets.
That bedding system and bed base also has the advantage, because the whole bedding system is modular, to be easily transported from a sale site to the customer and moved into and through stairways and doorways with minimal space clearance requirements.
But that bedding system still required the transport of a large bed base of assembled side boards and end boards which, in at least the queen or king size beds, could be unwieldy and expensive to ship. Accordingly, it has been an objective of this invention to provide a modular bedding system having a bed base suitable for supporting either a non-adjustable flat mattress or an adjustable mattress, but which incorporates a knock down base which is more easily and less expensively shipped than the bed base disclosed in the above-identified parent patent application.
Still another objective of this invention has been to provide a modular bedding system, including a modular bed base, which has all of the advantages of the modular bedding system disclosed in the above-identified parent patent application, but which includes a base which may be shipped disassembled, and then later assembled, preferably without the use of any tools.
The knock down bedding base of this invention which accomplishes these objectives comprises two oppositely facing side boards and two oppositely facing end boards, all of which have inside surfaces, outside surfaces and top and bottom edges. Fittings are fixedly attached to the inside surface of the side boards and end boards which enable the end boards to be removably secured to the side boards without the use of any tools. Additionally, there are side board support rails attached to the inside surfaces of the side boards, the top surfaces of which are located beneath the top edge of the side boards. A center deck board extends between the side boards and rests atop the top surface of the side board support rails. Additionally, there are two cross rails having fittings secured to the opposite ends thereof which fit into fittings on the inside surface of the side boards so as to enable the cross rails to be removably attached to the side boards, again without the use of any tools. Removable head and deck panels rest atop the top surface of the side board rails so that these panels may be replaced by an adjustable head section module and an adjustable foot section module, respectively.
There are four feet which may be attached to the cross rails of the knock down bedding base, again without use of any tools.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is a fabric loop which fits around the exterior of the side and end boards of the bedding base and which may be removably attached thereto by means of strips of Velcro® hook and loop material extending around at least the top of the inside surface of the side and end boards.
The advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent from the following description of the drawings, in which:
With reference first to
As shown in
As shown in
In one preferred embodiment of this invention, the perimeter frame comprising the side boards and end boards are made of 7½″ high by ¾″ thick solid wood panels, or wood comprise materials, such as plywood or particle board, or MDF (medium density fiberboard). A wooden or metal support rail 30 having a lip 34 extends around the inside periphery of the rectangular frame 32 approximately 1″ beneath the top edge of the side boards 14, 16 and end boards 18 and 20. The lip 34 of this support 30 forms a lip upon which the center deck board or panel 22 rests and is secured and upon which the head deck board 24 and foot deck board 26 rest.
The components heretofore described, other than the mattress, are all preferably made of metal, wood or wood composite materials, but they need not always be made of these materials, as other materials, such as plastic, will often suffice. As used in the specification and claims of this application, the term “wood” or “wooden” is intended to include not only solid wood materials or wood panels, but also wood composite materials, such as plywood or particle board or MDF.
With reference now to
The frame 42 is preferably a metal frame made from angle iron. It comprises a front bar 48, a rear bar 50, and a pair of side bars 52, 54, all welded together, or otherwise fixedly secured together so as to create a rectangular frame. The front and rear bars 48 and 50 have a top horizontal flange 56, 58, respectively, which rests upon the top surface 30 of the lips 34 so as to support the module 40 in the base 10 after removal of the head deck board 24 from that panel.
In order to accommodate articulated or pivotal movement of the head deck board or panel 44 relative to the frame 42, the head deck panel 44 is pivotally connected by conventional hinges 60, 62 secured to the top flange 56 of the front bar 48 and the forward underside surface of the head deck panel 44 near the head end of that board. These hinges 60, 62 may be conventional piano hinges or any other conventional type of hinge which permits articulated pivotal movement between the head deck panel 44 and the front bar 48.
Extending between the underside surface of the head deck board or panel and the side bars 52, 54, there are a pair of conventional ratchet mechanisms 64, 66. Each of these ratchet mechanisms 64, 66 comprises two pivotally interconnected bars 64′, 64″, 66′, 66″, which are pivotally connected to the underside of the head deck board or panel 44 and to the side bars 52, 54, respectively. These pivotally interconnected bars 64′, 64″ and 66′, 66″ function as a ratchet mechanism to enable the head board or panel 44 to be manually lifted upwardly from a position resting atop the side bars 52, 54 to an angled position and then maintained in that position by the ratchet part of the mechanism 64, 66. Two such conventional articulating ratchet mechanisms suitable for this application are manufactured by Hettich/Franke Company and identified as that company's “Multiflex F” mechanism and “Rasto S” mechanism.
In order to convert the bed frame 10 from one for supporting a flat, non-adjustable mattress to one for supporting an adjustable mattress, all that is required is to remove the head deck board 24 from its position resting atop the supports 30 and replacing that head deck board or panel 24 with the head section adjustable module 42 shown in
With reference now to
The adjustable head section module 70 utilizes an electric motor 72 attached to the rear frame bar 50. This motor 72 activates a worm gear (not shown) contained internally of the motor housing which in turn controls a push-pull rod 74. The push-pull rod 74 is hingedly or pivotally connected to a lever arm 76 which is, in turn, fixedly secured to a torque rod or torque tube 78. This torque tube 78 is rotatably mounted and extends between the side bars 52, 54. There are two arms 80, 82 fixed to the torque tube 78 extending beneath the underside of the head deck panel or board 44. Rollers 84, 86 are rotatably mounted on the ends of these arms 80, 82 and engage the underside of the head deck board 44. Upon activation of the electric motor 72, the push-pull rod 74 moves inwardly so as to cause the arms to move upwardly and push the head deck panel 44 upwardly. To return the head deck panel 44 to its horizontal position, the motor 72 is activated so as to push the push-pull rod 74 outwardly from the motor 72 and thereby lower the arms 80, 82 and the head deck panel 44. As is conventional in motorized adjustable beds, the motor 72 is operated and controlled either from a wired hand wand or control unit (not shown), or a wireless hand control unit or remote (also not shown). Since those controls are conventional in motorized adjustable beds, they have not been illustrated in this application.
As with the manual articulated adjustable head section module 40 of
With reference now to
In this module 100, a leg support board 112 is hingedly supported and connected at its forwardmost edge 114 to the center bar 110 by hinges 116, 118. Again, these hinges may be piano-type-style hinges or any conventional hinge which enables the leg support board or panel 112 to pivot and move relative to the center bar 110.
The rearward edge 120 of the leg support board 112 is hingedly connected by hinges (not shown) to the forward edge 122 of a foot support board or panel 124. A pair of pivoted links 126, 128 connect the underside of the foot support board 124 to the rear bar 104 of the frame 102. The links 126 are pivotally connected at their opposite or forward ends to the underside of the deck 124. These links 126, 128 function to control the elevation of the foot board or deck 124 when the foot support board 124 is moved upwardly and downwardly by a motor 130.
As shown in
Control of the motor 130 is via a conventional wired hand wand or control unit, or a wireless remote or control unit, as is conventional with motorized adjustable beds.
In order to convert the bed base 10 from one which supports a non-adjustable flat mattress to one which supports a mattress having a foot and leg rest which may be elevated, all that is required is to remove the removable deck panel 26 from the frame 10 and replace it with the adjustable foot section module 100. Assuming that the mattress 12 is an adjustable mattress, the bed will thereby be converted from one having a non-adjustable foot section to one having an adjustable leg and foot section.
When the motorized foot section module 100 is used to replace the removable deck panel or board 26, the electric motor 130 of the module 100 is plugged into a control box (not shown) which also controls the motor of the head section module 70 and the same common hand wand (wired or wireless) is used to control operation of the foot section module 130, as well as the motor 72 of the adjustable head section module.
Another option which could be utilized with the modular bed system described hereinabove would be to add a massage unit, including an electric motor with an eccentric load on the motor attached to the underside of the articulating or adjustable deck boards 44, 124. Such a massage unit would presumably be controlled by the same remote as is used to control the motors 72, 130 of the articulating head and foot section modules. One such massage unit is described in applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/108,995 which is fully incorporated herein.
Knock Down Bed Base
With reference now to
Each cross rail 19, 21 comprises an angle iron body, the length of which is approximately the width of the bed frame. A wedge-shaped fitting 154 is welded, riveted or otherwise secured to each end of the angle iron body 152. As may be seen most clearly in
Again with reference to
The flat central portion of the brackets 164 are secured to the inside surface 170 of the side rails 14, 16 by conventional wooden screws 168.
As may be seen most clearly in
With particular reference now to
With reference now to
After the feet 5 of the frame are assembled to the cross rails 19 and 21 of the base frame, the cross rails 19, 21 are attached to the side rails 14, 16 and the end boards 18, 20 are attached to the side boards 14, 16, the assembly of the frame is completed by attachment of the fabric loop or ring 150 around the exterior of the base frame. To effect this attachment (see
The loop of fabric material 150 is sized so as to extend completely around the outside surface of the assembled end boards and foot boards and is of a height approximately four inches greater than the height of the boards 14, 16, 18 and 20. To enable this loop of fabric material to be attached to the outside surface of these boards, there is a strip 204 of Velcro® hook and loop material sewn or otherwise secured to the top inside surface of the fabric loop 150 and similarly, another strip 206 of Velcro® hook and loop material located adjacent the bottom inside edge of the loop of fabric material 150 is sewn or otherwise secured to the inside surface of the loop of fabric material. As may be seen most clearly in
As an alternative to the placement of a strip 204 of Velcro® hook and loop material completely around the top inside edge of the loop of fabric material, in some instances, the strip 204 of Velcro® material may be omitted if the strip 200 of Velcro® material on the inside upper edge of the side and end boards is Velcro® hook material. In that case, the fabric material itself may function as the loop portion of the Velcro® material and stick to the strip 200 of Velcro® hook material with sufficient tenacity to maintain the upper edge of the loop of fabric material in contact with the strip 200 of Velcro® hook material.
The completion of the assembly of the base frame then requires only the attachment of the center panel 22 to the otherwise completely assembled base frame. This requires only placement of the center panel 22 onto the support rails 30 of the side boards. To secure the center panel to the side rails, there is an L-shaped bracket 208 secured to the inside surface of each side rail. This L-shaped bracket has the vertical portion of the bracket attached as by wood screws (not shown) to the inside surface of the cross rail and an inwardly extending horizontal section 210. The inwardly extending horizontal section 210 has a slot 212 therein through which the wing bolt 148 may extend upwardly and be threaded into a captured threaded nut (not shown) secured to the underside of the center panel 22. When this wing bolt is pushed upwardly through the slot of the horizontal portion of the bracket and threaded into the captured bolt in the underside of the center panel, the center panel is locked into position on the base frame, and the base frame is now ready for reception of either the flat panels 24, 26 or the adjustable modules 40 and 70.
In the event that the bed base 10 is utilized to support a flat mattress 12 with the head panel 24 and foot panel 26 in place on the assembled frame, a slip cover-style of covering material (not shown) may be used in lieu of the loop of fabric material 150. In that event, the slip cover fabric material will fit over the complete top surface of the bed base and have ruffles or a dust cover extending downwardly on the sides of the cover over the outer surface of the head boards and side boards. In such event, an anti-skid surface covering is generally placed over the top of the covering material to prevent the mattress from sliding on the bed base.
It will be appreciated that the knock down base frame described hereinabove may be easily assembled without the use of any tools and has the advantage of being capable of being shipped in knock down condition ready for assembly by a customer with ease and without the need for complex instructions to effect the complete assembly of the base and the complete modular bed.
While we have described preferred embodiments of this invention, persons skilled in this art will appreciate changes and modifications which may be made without departing from the spirit of our invention. Therefore, we do not intend to be limited except by the scope of the following claims.
This application is a Continuation-in-Part application of application Ser. No. 11/329,998, filed Jan. 11, 2006 and entitled “Modular Bedding System Including Modular Bed Base”.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11329998 | Jan 2006 | US |
Child | 11421199 | May 2006 | US |