Claims
- 1. A body supporting container capable of being filled with a liquid, said container having a substantially open celled foam disposed therein, said foam extending substantially along the horizontal dimensions of said container and occupying 20 to 80 percent of the depth of the container when said container is filled, said foam having a material of low specific gravity disposed throughout its body, said material of low specific gravity causing the foam to float in the liquid, above the bottom wall of the container, close to the top wall of the container, whereby wave motion in said filled container is dampened while the desirable qualities of the liquid-filled body supporting container are retained.
- 2. The container of claim 1 wherein the thickness of said substantially open celled foam is 40 to 60 percent of the depth of said container when it is filled.
- 3. The container of claim 1 wherein said open celled foam has a specific gravity less than that of said liquid.
- 4. The container of claim 1 wherein said open celled foam has a specific gravity equal to that of said liquid.
- 5. The container of claim 1 wherein said open celled foam has a specific gravity greater than that of said liquid.
- 6. The container of claim 1 wherein said low specific gravity material is ground cork.
- 7. The container of claim 1 wherein said low specific gravity material is comprised of glass beads.
- 8. The container of claim 1 wherein said low specific gravity material is comprised of phenolic beads.
- 9. The container of claim 1 wherein said low specific gravity material is comprised of expandable polystyrene beads.
- 10. The container of claim 1 wherein said liquid is water and said substantially open celled foam has a specific gravity in the range of about 0.85 to 1.
- 11. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is chiefly open celled vinyl foam.
- 12. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is chiefly open celled polyurethane foam.
- 13. The container of claim 12 wherein said substantially open celled foam has an ILD number between about 8 and about 24.
- 14. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is chiefly open celled foam rubber.
- 15. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is chiefly open celled neoprene foam.
- 16. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is a single foam slab.
- 17. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam disposed in said container is a plurality of foam particles.
- 18. The container of claim 17, wherein said plurality of foam particles is held in an inner enclosure.
- 19. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam disposed in said container is a plurality of foam pieces.
- 20. The container of claim 19 wherein said plurality of foam pieces is held in a gauge-like inner enclosure.
- 21. The container of claim 1 wherein said substantially open celled foam is a single foam slab comprising a base with projections extending upwards therefrom.
- 22. The container of claim 1 wherein said foam is a single foam slab of egg crate design.
- 23. The container of claim 22 wherein the teats of said slab of egg crate design extend upwards from said slab.
- 24. The container of claim 23 wherein said teats comprise about 50% of the thickness of said slab.
- 25. The container of claim 1 wherein said foam is in contact with the top wall of said container.
- 26. A waterbed mattress having dampened wave motion characteristics, said mattress comprising a watertight container and a slab of substantially open celled foam having a material of low specific gravity disposed throughout its body, said material of low specific gravity causing the foam slab to float in the water, above the bottom wall of the mattress, close to the top wall of the mattress, said slab comprising a base with tapered projections extending vertically therefrom, said projections comprising at least 50 percent of the vertical height of the slab said slab extending substantially along the horizontal dimensions of the container and occupying 20 to 80 percent of the depth of the container.
- 27. The water bed mattress of claim 26 wherein said projections extend upwards.
- 28. The waterbed mattress of claim 27, said slab of open celled foam having an egg crate design, the teats of said egg crate design being said projections.
- 29. The waterbed mattress of claim 26 wherein said projections extend downwards.
- 30. A body supporting container capable of being filled with a liquid, said container having a plurality of substantially open celled foam pieces disposed therein, said foam extending substantially along the horizontal dimensions of said container, said foam having low specific gravity material disposed therein so that the specific gravity of said substantially open celled foam is less than the specific gravity of said liquid, said plurality of foam pieces being held in an inner enclosure, said inner enclosure comprising a gauze-like material completely enclosing said plurality of foam pieces while permitting liquid transfer into and out of the inner enclosure, whereby wave motion in said filled container is dampened.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 06/059,783, filed July 23, 1979 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (24)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2431431 |
Jan 1976 |
DEX |
608951 |
Feb 1979 |
CHX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
59783 |
Jul 1979 |
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