This invention relates generally to bedding products and more particularly, to a modular bedding system, including a modular bed base or foundation for supporting non-adjustable, as well as adjustable, mattresses.
At the present time, there exists in the marketplace bed bases or foundations for non-adjustable mattresses and bed bases or foundations for supporting adjustable mattresses. Presently, though, those bed bases have nothing in common, either structurally or in terms of cost. The bed bases for adjustable mattresses are much more complex in structure and much more expensive than bed bases used to support non-adjustable mattresses.
Commonly, the bed bases for adjustable mattresses are manufactured and sold fully assembled or, sometimes in pieces, but irrespective of whether fully assembled or in pieces, if applied to a queen size bed, those pieces are heavy and large, oftentimes so large that they are very difficult to transport to and through doorways, stairs, etc., of small apartments or homes.
In most cases, adjustable beds are now sold with a large fixed base which supports an adjustable head section and an adjustable footrest section. As such, these adjustable beds are sold at a price substantially higher than non-adjustable beds for supporting flat, non-adjustable mattresses. The price difference between the two, non-adjustable or adjustable beds, is now very substantial. It would be desirable to minimize this price difference. To date, however, that has not been possible because of the differing complexity of the two products.
It is therefore one objective of this invention to provide a modular bedding base or foundation which may be used to either support a fixed non-adjustable mattress or with minimum modification and addition to support an adjustable mattress.
Still another objective of this invention is to provide a modular bedding system which includes a modular bed base, a modular adjustable headrest supporting module, another modular adjustable footrest supporting module, so constructed that the headrest supporting module may be utilized with the modular base, either with or without the modular footrest adjustable module and similarly, the adjustable footrest adjustable module may be used with or without the adjustable headrest supporting module.
Still another objective of this invention is to provide a modular bedding system particularly designed for the after market, such that it may be sold as a fixed non-adjustable bed with a non-adjustable mattress, but may be, at minimum expense, upgraded to a bed base for supporting a headrest adjustable mattress and/or a headrest and footrest adjustable mattress.
To achieve these objectives, the invention of this application comprises a modular bedding system having a bed base which includes removable head and foot deck panels. The bed base is so constructed that the removable head deck panel may be removed and 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 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, may now be adjustable. 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.
A primary advantage of this modular bedding system is that it enables a bedding retailer to sell this modular bed base to a customer with a non-adjustable fixed mattress and then later upgrade that modular bed 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. It also enables a bedding retailer who sells both adjustable and non-adjustable beds to substantially lower the inventory of products needed to serve both markets.
Yet another advantage of this invention is that it enables customers to pick and choose the features which they desire on a bed, i.e., adjustability or non-adjustability, manual adjustment of the headrest or footrest, or motorized adjustment of the headrest or footrest, attached vibrator for vibrating the headrest or footrest panels, etc., in much the same manner as customers are now accustomed to ordering computers with customized features. It also facilitates ordering a customized bed either from a retail bedding establishment or from a website.
Still another advantage of this invention resides in the fact that because the whole bedding system is modular, it may be easily transported from a sale site to the customer and moved into and through stairways and doorways with minimal space clearance requirements.
These and other 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 these side boards and end boards are made of 7½″ high by ¾″ thick solid wood panels, or wood composite materials, such as plywood or particle board, or MDF (medium density fiberboard). A wooden or metal support 30 having a lip 34 extends around the inside periphery of the rectangular frame 32 approximately 1 inch 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. Generally, the center deck board, or panel 22, will be braced on the underside to avoid sagging when the load of a mattress and persons lying on the mattress 12 is applied to the bed.
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.
While I 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 my invention. Therefore, I do not intend to be limited except by the scope of the following claims.
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