AU658398B2 - Innerspring mattresses - Google Patents

Description

658398 P/00/011 Regulation 3.2 COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: Actual Inventors: Address for Service: Invention Title: Details of Associated Provisional Applications: MATTRESS MAKERS PTY. LTD.

KEITH ALLAN VELLNAGEL and DAVID LLOYD PETERS

AHEARNS

Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, GPO Box 185, Brisbane, 4001 "INNERSPRING MATTRESSES" No. PK5450, Filed 5 April 1991 The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: I C K\ THIS INVENTION relates to innerspring mattresses, and it has more particular reference to novel forms of innerspring mattress spring assemblies and to mattresses and beds incorporating same.

For at least the last thirty years, manufacturers of innerspring mattresses have been devising constructions which are adapted to conform to body contours so as to be "form fitting" while building additional firmness into the central third of the mattress where the firm area supports the heavier trunk portion of the body. Examples of such innerspring mattresses are to be found in United States patent specification No. 3,166,768 of C.C. Cunningham, issued 26 January, 1965, which discusses the most desirable *characteristics of innerspring mattresses and wherein the 15 invention particularly provides such a mattress which 00*09: includes relatively yeildable support surfaces positioned to receive the shoulders and hips and posterior of a reclining body and a relatively firm support surface therebetween positioned to receive the small of the back. In the aforementioned U.S. patent specification, use is made of normal coil springs in conjunction with springs of greater resiliency, as well as the use of rectangular inserts of foam rubber or the like. The same basic structures are to be found in Australian patent specification No. 511,996, while another construction, put out by Restonic Corporation, of uses high density foam posture bars arranged transversely of the mattress between the rows of coils in the central tnird of the mattress to give firmer lower back support.

The present invention is based on the need to provide an innerspring mattress which will exhibit the best advantages of the prior mattresses of the aforementioned general type, while providing additional comfort and health features, and at the same time being desirably simple and inexpensive to make. In particular, the invention aims to provide a mattress construction of the innerspring type of which will be as conventional as possible except fcr the provision of novel spring assemblies which can be easily incorporated during manufacture to provide firmer support areas where desired and particularly at the locations of the longitudinal extremities of the central third of the mattress, Further objects and particular advantages of constructions according to this invention will be clearer from the later descriptions herein.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention resides broadly in a spring assembly for an innerspring mattress of the type having therein coil springs mounted with their axes vertical and in transverse rows between longitudinal structural wires at the longitudinal sides of the mattress, said spring assembly having a pair of parallel spring wires interconnected by a plurality of rhomboid spring members disposed to lie in the plane of the spring wires, the spring assembly being adapted to be installed in operative disposition to exte".d across the mattress between opposite longitudinal sides thereof in a space between adjacent transverse rows of coil springs and with the spring wires constituting upper and lower spring wires one above the other in a substantially 4\ 1 d vertical plane, and wherein each rhomboid spring member is connected to the upper and lower spring wires by clip means permitting rotation of the respective spring wire about its longitudinal axis; each spring wire has at each end an attachment end portion extending transversely from the respective spring wire and adapted to be brought to and secured in desired operative disposition to said structural wires along the respective side of the mattress upon rotation of the respective spring wire; the attachment end portions at each end of a spring wire extend parallel to one another in the same plane and on the same side of the spring wire axis, and the four attachment end portions of the two spring wires are of such length that in conjunction witt the two spring wires they may, prior to installation of the spring assembly in the mattress, be arranged in rectangular formation around the rhomboid spring members, with adjacent attachment end portions at a respective end of the spring assembly brought to overlapping parallel relationship in storage or pre-assemb'y disposition.

According to another aspect of the invention, there may be provided a mattress having two or more such spring assemblies at each end of the central third section, while the invention also embraces beds utilising such spring assemblies or formed as an ensemble of an innerspring mattress having the novel assemblies and mounted on top of a spring base. Other features of the invention will be hereinafter apparent.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood and put into practical effect, reference will now be made to i2T 4a the accompanying drawings wherein:- Fig. I shows in perspective view the simplest form of spring assembly according to the invention, having a pair of rhomboid springs, the assembly being shown in stored or preusage disposition; Fig. 2 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the spring assembly in installed or operative disposition; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view of a mattress fitted with four spring assemblies; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic sectional end view i* /V i J J assemblies can be made to desired length and with a suitable number of rhomboid springs according to the proposed bed size. The manner of installing the spring assemblies will be clear from Figs. 3, 4 and 6, the latter showing a mattress 22 of conventional or desired construction on a bed base 23, with the positions of four spring assemblies 10a indicated by the dotted lines 24, the same positions being indicated diagramatically by the lines 25 in Figs, 3 and 4.

It will be noted from Figs. 3 and 4 that the spring assemblies can be conveniently located between the spaced parallel transverse rows of coil springs 26, preferably as a eoto pair at each side of a row of coil springs at the locations indicated by the arrows 27 and 28 in Fig. 3. These positions can be varied within certain limits so that they are not necessarily within the central third of the mattress, variations of location being simply obtained because of the ease in fitting the spring assemblies between any adjacent rows of coil springs.

While the embodiments described and illustrated will 20 thus be seen to be very effective in achieving the objects for which the invention has been devised, it will be clear that ancillary design components may be as required, while the particular forms may be subject to considerable modification of constructional detail and design as will be readily apparent to persons skilled in the mattress and bed trades, without departing from the broad scope and ambit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

corresponding to Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows in elevational view a modified spring assembly having five rhomboid springs, and Fig. 6 shows in perspective view a bed ensemble of spring bare supporting a mattress as in Pig. 3, with the spring assemblies denoted diagrammatically.

Referring initially to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the spring assembly 10 in this instance is of minimum size for a single bed and has two rhomboid springs 11 and 12 of known type, each having coiled sections 13 at each end, an upper length 14, and a lower terminal length 15 where the free ends 16 are secured. The other components are an upper spring wire 17 to which the sections 14 are each secured pivotally by a pair of spaced clips 18, and a lower parallel spring wire 19 to which the sections 15 are each secured pivotally by a clip 20. A large number of such spring assemblies 10 can be stored together because of the single- 6 piece construction, but when required for use and installation, the wires 17 and 19 can be turned rotatably ':'620 about their longitudinal axes to the dispositions shown in Fig. 2, each end of each wire 17 and 19 having end wire portions 21 at right angles to the wires themselves and adapted to be brought into line with longitudinal mattress wires (not shown) to which they can be secured by tie-wires.

In the modified spring assembly 10a shown in Fig. all components are the same as in Figs, 1 and 2 except that there are five rhomboid springs lla, making it suitable for a large bed such as a queen-size bed. Thus, the spring

Claims (3)

1. 2. An innerspring mattress having two pairs of spring assemblies according to Claim 1 and assembled respectively therein at equal distances on either side of the medial transverse line of the mattress, the spring assemblies of each pair being separated by a transverse row of coil springs.
2. 3. An innerspring mattress according to Claim 2, wherein the two pairs of spring assemblies are so located in the mattress as to the disposed a distance apart substantially equal to the distance from either pair of spring assemblies to the respective nearer end of the mattress.
3. 4. A spring assembly for an innerspring mattress, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, or Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings. An innerspring mattress substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 3 to 6 of the accompanying drawings. Dated this 8th day of February, 1995. MATTRESS MAKERS PTY. LTD. By its Patent Attorneys AHEARNS ABSTRACT There is provided a spring assembly (10) for an innerspring mattress including upper and lower parallel spring wires (17,19) interconnected by a plurality of rhomboid spring members (11,12) so disposed as to lie in the plane of the spring wires, each end of each spring wire (17,19) being adapted to be secured to respective longitudinal sitructural wires of a basic innerspring mattress (22) when the spring assembly (10) is operatively disposed to extend across the mattress in a space between transverse rows of coil springs (26) contained within the se mattress, the said plane of the spring wires being substantially vertical.