PILLOW COVER WITH EXPANDABLE AND ADJUSTABLE NECK SUPPORTING INSERT

Abstract

A pillow cover assembly includes a casing formed from a first sheet and a second sheet fastened together to provide a pouch, the pouch having an internal space defined therein and an open end for inserting a pillow into the internal space; an expandable neck insert removably insertable through a sleeve member attached to an inner surface of the first sheet; and attachment means for fixing a horizontal position of the expandable neck insert relative to the open end of the casing. The pillow cover assembly may be provided as a kit including the pillow cover assembly and instructions for use or adjustment of the pillow cover assembly, packaged with the pillow cover assembly.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a pillow cover and, more particularly, to a pillow cover including an expandable and adjustable neck supporting insert.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of an internal face of a pillow cover assembly according to embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a top view of a casing of the pillow cover assembly according to embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a top view of an internal face of the casing of the pillow cover assembly according to embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a view of an internal face of the casing of the pillow cover assembly according to embodiments.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are top views of an example neck supporting insert for the pillow cover according to embodiments.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are side views of an example neck supporting inserts for the pillow cover according to embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a cross-section of the pillow cover including a pillow.

FIG. 8 is an example of an instruction sheet for inclusion in a kit with the components of the pillow cover assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure provides a pillow cover assembly and a kit including the pillow cover assembly. The pillow cover assembly provides benefits of cervical support particularly for side-sleeping and back-sleeping with ability to adjust the amount of support.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a pillow cover assembly 100 according to embodiments includes a casing 200 and an expandable neck insert 300. The casing 200 is formed from a first sheet 10 and a second sheet 12 fastened together to define a pouch, the pouch having an internal space 18 defined therein and an open end 258 for inserting a pillow (400; FIG. 7) into the internal space 18. The expandable neck insert 300 is removably insertable through a sleeve member 20 attached to an inner surface 15 of the first sheet 10. The pillow cover assembly 100 further includes attachment means 30, 40 for fixing a horizontal position of the expandable neck insert 300 relative to the open end 258 of the casing 200.

The casing 200 may be made of any material customarily used in the art for pillow cases in general. The first sheet 10 and the second sheet 12 may be fastened together by any customary method for preparing a pillow case, such as by sewing, stitching, or an adhesive, particularly along three closed edges 252, 254, 256. The internal space 18 may be configured to accommodate any desired size of pillow, including king size, queen size, standard sizes, and non-standard sizes. The attachment means 30, 40 will be described in detail below with respect to the expandable neck insert 300.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the casing 200 has a length 1 and a width w1, both of which may be selected according to the desired size of pillow that will be accommodated within the internal space 18. The sleeve member 20 is attached to the inner surface 15 of the first sheet. The sleeve member 20 may be of any type of material having suitable characteristics for holding the expandable neck insert 300 in place. In some embodiments, the sleeve member 20 is made of the same material as the first sheet 10. The sleeve member 20 may be attached to the first surface 15 by any suitable method. For example, the sleeve member 20 may be attached to the first surface 15 by two horizontal seams 22, 24. Vertical edges 26, 28 of the sleeve member 20 remain unimpeded, so as to permit insertion of the expandable neck insert 300 through the sleeve member 20.

The sleeve member 20 is essentially centered horizontally on the inner surface 15 of the first sheet 10, such that 2 is approximately one half of 1. In the vertical direction, the sleeve member 20 may be positioned such that width w2 is approximately 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% of width w1, or any value between these exemplary values. The length 3 of the sleeve member 20 is generally substantially less than the length 1 of the first sheet 10, such as approximately 20%, 30%, 40%, or 50% of the length 1. The width w3 of the sleeve member 20 is substantially wide to accommodate the expandable neck insert 300. In example embodiments, the width w3 of the sleeve member 20 is approximately 20%, 30%, or 40% the width w1 of the first sheet 10.

The attachment means 30, 40 are vertically centered relative to the sleeve member 20 to enable fixing of the horizontal position of the expandable neck insert 300. Example attachment means 30, 40 include buttons, Velcro, hooks, or loops. When the attachment means 30, 40 are buttons, for example, the buttons may be stitched to the first sheet 10 and may slip into corresponding slots of the expandable neck insert 300. Alternatively, the buttons may be fixed to the expandable neck insert 300 and slip through slots on the first sheet 10.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the expandable neck insert 300 includes a jacket 310 and an expandable foam member 320 inside the jacket 310. The expandable neck insert 300 may include a first end 314 and a second end 312 that is sealed air-tight against the jacket 310. The expandable neck insert may include a first tab 350a and a second tab 350b on opposite ends of the expandable neck insert 300. If buttons are the attachment means 30, 40, for example, the first tab 350a may include a first slot 355a that accommodates a button and the second tab 350b may include a second slot 355b that also accommodates a button. The expandable neck insert 300 may include a valve stem 330 and a rotatable valve cap 340. The rotatable valve cap 340 is operable to open the internal space inside the jacket 310 to airflow both into and out of the jacket 310.

The expandable foam member 320 may be a material such as a soft foam that is compressible and also suitable for supporting the neck of a person lying on the pillow cover assembly 100. The expandable foam member 320 may be in an expanded state, a compressed state, or a partially expanded state. When the rotatable valve cap 340 is open to enable airflow into and out of the jacket 310, the expandable foam member 320 may be compressed while in the expanded state, such that air is forced out of the soft foam and out of the jacket 310. Thereby, when the rotatable valve cap 340 is closed, the expandable foam member 320 will remain in its compressed state. When the rotatable valve cap 340 is open to enable airflow into and out of the jacket 310, the expandable foam member 320 may naturally expand while in the compressed state, such that air is enters into the jacket 310 and expands the soft foam. At any time, the rotatable valve cap 340 may be opened to enable full expansion of the expandable foam member 320 or partial expansion or compression of the expandable foam member 320 to attain a desired level of firmness.

Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6B as exemplary, the expandable foam member 320 may have any suitable cross section that facilitates neck support. The example of FIG. 6A is an oval. The example of FIG. 6B is a rounded rectangle.

FIG. 7 illustrates a pillow device 500, namely, the pillow cover assembly (the casing 200 and the expandable neck insert 300 inserted through the sleeve member 20). A pillow 400 is included within the internal space 18 of the casing 200. The pillow device 500 includes a first surface 530, a second surface 520, and a raised surface 510 adjacent to the second surface 520 and over the expandable foam member 320. The pillow device 500 may be used by a user in any desired orientation for comfort. For example, the user my lie upon the second surface 520 and the raised surface 510, with the raised surface 510 being positioned under the curvature of the user's neck. Alternatively, the user may lie upon the first surface 520 with the raised surface 510 facing downward, to still attain some degree of neck support.

Further embodiments of this disclosure include a kit including the pillow cover assembly 100 as described herein and instructions for use or adjustment of the pillow cover assembly, packaged with the pillow cover assembly. Example instructions 600 are illustrated in FIG. 8.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs. The terminology used in the description herein is for describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used in the specification and appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

As used herein, the terms “horizontal” and “vertical” are relative terms only, are indicative of a general relative orientation only, and do not necessarily indicate perpendicularity. These terms also may be used for convenience to refer to orientations used in the figures, which orientations are used as a matter of convention only and are not intended as characteristic of the devices shown. The present invention and the embodiments thereof to be described herein may be used in any desired orientation. Moreover, horizontal and vertical walls need generally only be intersecting walls, and need not be perpendicular.

It should be understood that any two quantitative values assigned to a property or measurement may constitute a range of that property or measurement, and all combinations of ranges formed from all stated quantitative values of a given property or measurement are contemplated in this disclosure.

While particular embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be understood that various other changes and modifications may be made without departing from scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, although various aspects of the claimed subject matter have been described herein, such aspects need not be utilized in combination. It is therefore intended that the appended claims cover all such changes and modifications that are within the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Claims

1. A pillow cover assembly, comprising: a casing formed from a first sheet and a second sheet fastened together to provide a pouch, the pouch having an internal space defined therein and an open end for inserting a pillow into the internal space;an expandable neck insert removably insertable through a sleeve member attached to an inner surface of the first sheet; andattachment means for fixing a horizontal position of the expandable neck insert relative to the open end of the casing.

2. A kit, comprising: a pillow cover assembly according to claim 1; andinstructions for use or adjustment of the pillow cover assembly, packaged with the pillow cover assembly.