US2192601A - Rubber mattress - Google Patents

Description

March 5, 1940. l N. D. MA'r'rlsoN RUBBER MATTRESS Filed June 8; 19.39

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ATTORNEY March 5, N. D.' MAT-rlsN RUBBER MATTRESS .A

Filed June 8. 1959 Iall. IuIlII ATTORNEY Patented Mar.'5, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFrcE RUBBER MATTRESS Norman D. Mattison, Montclair, N. J. Application June 8, 1939, Serial No. 278,025

3 Claims. (Cl. 5355) This invention relates to rubber mattresses and more particularly to mattresses made of spongelike rubber. Rubber of this sort made from liquid latex is at the present time offered as a 5 commercial product for use as a cushioning material for mattresses, cushions, pads and the like.

An object of the present invention is to utilize a rubber mattress of the type described which will fulfill the requirements necessary to comfortable and restful sleep and winch will require but little change in standard methods of manufacturing a mattress of this type.

Rubber mattresses as commercially offered to the trade are of cellular structure, the cells all being of substantially equal capacity and are distributed substantially uniformly throughout the mattress. These cells are open at the bottom of the mattress but do not extend completely through it, there being a layer of sponge-like rubber between the upper portions of the cells and the top surface of the mattress. Such a mattress is therefore a one surface mattress and is not intended to be turned bottom side up. As described in my application, Serial No. 269,834 filed April 25, 1939, for Spring mattress, the factor of softness or yield of a mattress is only one of the factors which are conducive to comfort in sleeping. The other factor, as I have found bynumerous experiments, is the ease with which the individual may turn over or change position. Considered solely from the viewpoint of facilitating changes in position, a hard fiat surface seems to be the best. Such a surface, however, is not comfortable and in the manufacture of mattresses heretofore as far as I am aware, efforts to increase the softness have been made while neglecting the other factor, namely the ease in changing position or turning over. In the rubber mattresses such as are offered to the trade at the present time, insofar as I am aware, the supporting surface of the mattress has approximately a uniform degree of resilience, "since the cells are of the same capacity throughout and are substantially equally distributed.

With such a. mattress the resistance to depression is substantially the same for a given weight or-load per square footof area throughout approximately the entire surface of the mattress. 60 However, since a relatively large proportion of the weight of the body is located in the midsection, that is, in the region of the hips, the central part of a rubber mattress of the present commercial type is depressed to a greater degree 55 in mid-section than in adjacent sections. The

result is a tendency of the mattress to sag in the middle which sagging induces a condition which many users find uncomfortable due to the fact that it throws the spinal column-out of line. It also increases the effort to turn over in bed. i

In .my application above referred to, I have disclosed a construction of spring mattress in which greater resistance is oil'ered to the body in the mid-section of the mattress.

The present invention seeks to provide for a 10 similark condition in rubber mattresses.

In the accompanying drawings several forms, whereby the desired result may be accomplished, are shown. In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a top plan view with a portionof the upper surface broken away to more clearly show the cellular structure;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure Figure 3 is a somewhat enlarged view of one 20 of the plugs used in connection with this form of construction;

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 but showing a different form which the invention may take; 5

Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing still another form which the invention may take; and 3 Figure 7 is a section on the line 1-1 of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings, the mattress 2, is

formed of sponge-like rubber and preferably of rubber made from liquid latex, and made spongy 35' in any desired manner, preferably by mixing air with the latex before molding. The rubber forming the mattress is of substantially equal unit density. In order that such a mattress may have the resilience usually desired, a number of cells 40 4 are formed during the molding process. These cells are open at the bottom and extend to a distance near the upper surface of the mattress but leaving a layer indicated at B between the upper portions of the cells and the upper face 45 of the'mattress.

In the form of mattress illustrated in Figure 1, I increase the resistance of the mid-portion of the mattress by inserting a number of plugs 8 in the cells composing this mid-portion. One of these plugs is shown in Figure 3. In the Figure 1 construction, all of the cells may be of the same dimensions and may be equally distributed since this construction conforms to the standard methods of manufacture. The plugs 8, however, Il

may be inserted in all of the cells of the ber of cells. By the use of these plugs, therefore, I provide a means whereby the resistance, especially that which the mid-section of the mattress oilers, may be varied in a standard mattress. The mid-section is not necessarily inthe middle of the mattress, but is nearer to the head than to the foot and may extend a distance between 16 and 22 inches, although I have found 18 inches to be a practical dimension and I have shown this dimension on the drawings. With this dimension for the mid-section, the head section would be 23 inches and the foot section 31 inches, in a standard mattress of 'l2 inches in length. This mid-section extends transversely the entire width of the mattress but is of limited longitudinal extent.

While the construction shown in Figure 1 enables the resistance to be varied, at will to suit individuals of different weights, the invention may nevertheless rind utilityin a mattress of denite resistance in its mid-section and in Figures 4 and 5 I have shown a construction in which the cells are all of th'e same size or capacity but are more widely separated in the mid-section than in the adjacent sections.

Still another way in which the same result can be produced as in the Figures 4 and 5 construction, is illustrated in Figures 6 and 'l wherein the cells in the mid-section are smaller than in the adjacent sections. Preferably all of the cells are of the same depth but are of smaller diameter in the mid-section.

InV all of the forms it will be observed that the quantity of rubber in the mid-section is greater than in the adjacent sections. In other words, portions of the mattress of equal external dimensions have different quantities of rubber therein.

In order to augment the resistance especially in a direction transverse of the mattress, I may embed a fabric Ill between the upper surface of midsection or they may be inserted in any less numthe mattress and the upper portions of the cells., This fabric may extend across the mattress only in the mid-section, as shown, or it may extend throughout the mattress or may be omitted entirely. l

A rubber mattress constructed as above described, provides a substantially level surface when deformed by the weight of a person lying upon it in sleeping position and in the form of the invention as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, the resistance especially in the mid-section may be Varied as desired to adapt the resistance of such mid-section to persons of different weights.

What I claim is:

1. A mattress of cellular structure made of sponge-like rubber of substantially equal unit density, the cells of which are of substantially the same dimensions, a portion of the mattress extending transversely the width of the same but occupying a limited longitudinal area near the central portion thereof having removable plugs carried by the cells thereof, said plugs being com- Aposed of rubber susbtantially like that of the mattress.

2. A mattress of cellular structure made of sponge-like rubber of substantially equal unit density, the cells of which are all substantially of the same dimensions, a portion of the mattress extending transversely the width of the same but occupying a limited longitudinal area near the central portion thereof having cells more widely spaced than the cells in other portions of the mattress of equal external dimensions.

3. A mattress of cellular structure made of sponge-like rubber of substantially equal unit density, the cells of which are of substantially the same dimensions, removable plugs adapted to be inserted in the cells of said mattress whereby different portions of the same may be given different resistances to pressure.

NORMAN' D. MA'I'I'ISON.

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