US3243827A

US3243827A - Bedding securing structure

Info

Publication number: US3243827A
Application number: US283189A
Authority: US
Inventors: Mildred M Kintner
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-05-27
Filing date: 1963-05-27
Publication date: 1966-04-05
Anticipated expiration: 1983-04-05

Description

April 5, 1966 M. M. KINTNER 3,243,827

BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE Filed May 27, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. I

INVENTOR.

F| 3 MILDRED M. KINTNER BY 74%;; *Zim ATTORNEYS April 5, 1966 M. M. KINTNER 3,243,827

BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE Filed May 27, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

BY 7% W ATTORNEYS April 5, 1966 M. M. KINTNER BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed May 27, 1963 FIG. 6

INVENTOR.

MILDRED M. KINTNER BY 76% @4299 FIG. 5

ATTORNEYS April 5, 1966 M. M. KINTNER 3,243,827

BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE Filed May 27, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 9

FIG. IO

INVENTOR.

MILDRED M. Kl NTNER M YJZZ ATTORNEYS April 1966 M. M. KINTNER 3,243,827

BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE Filed May 2'7, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 F l G. l I F I6. I 2

FIG. l3

INVENTOR.

MILDRED M. KINTNER BY; if q ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,243,827 BEDDING SECURING STRUCTURE Mildred M. Kintner, 3624 Vistula Road, Mishawaka, Ind. Filed May 27, 1963, Ser. No. 283,189 9 Claims. (Cl. 334) The present invention relates to bedding and more particularly to a construction and design for securing bedding in place on the mattress.

A substantial amount of work and effort have been given in recent years to the development of bedding construction for retaining the bedding in place on the mattress without having to fold the ends and sides and tuck them firmly under the mattress, often involving lifting a corner, end or side of the mattress several times in making the bed. One such recent development has been the contour sheet which is provided with permanently formed pockets adapted to slip over the ends or corners of the mattress and to hold the sheet taut over the upper side of the mattress. This type, however, has the inherent disadvantage of requiring the ends or corners of the mattress to be lifted when the sheets are being changed, and further, interfering with laundering, particularly ironing, since the preformed pockets can not be satisfactorily ironed on a mangle or similar ironing machine. A more recent development consisting in the use of Velcro-tyne securing means has overcome most of the disadvantages of the contour sheet-type bedding, while at the same time providing all of the advantages. Bedding structures having this type of retaining means are now covered by applicants US. Patents Nos. 3,066,321 and 3,066,323, and the present invention is an improvement on those prior structures, which generally required one of the two securing members or means to be secured to the sheet or mattress cover, for example, and the other to the mattress. In the use of the securing means disclosed in the two patents, one member thereof, consisting of felt material, is attached to the sheet or mattress cover, and the other member, consisting of numerous plastic hooks which adhere readily and firmly to the felt when pressed against it, is attached to the mattress, usually permanently. The felt material when attached to the sheet or mattress cover is flexible and relatively thin and does not interfere with laundering and ironing on mangles and other ironing machines. However, the member of plastic hook material is relatively stiff and bulky and tends to adhere to other pieces of bedding material laundered at the same time and interferes with satisfactory laundering and ironing. It is, therefore,'one of the principal objects of the present invention to provide a bedding structure and design utilizing the felt and hook material ty-pe securing means, which is more versatile than and as easily laundered and ironed as my prior bedding, and which can still be easily and quickly secured to the bed without lifting any portion of the mattress.

With the previous securing means of theaforesaid felt and hook type, it was usually necessary to attain one part of the securing means permanently to the side of the mattress by sewing, cementing or gluing. While this method of attaching the parts to the mattress in no way damaged the mattress fabric or structure, some reluctance was encountered in permanently disfiguring the mattress even though the parts applied thereto did not interfere with the use of conventional bedding and could not be seen when the bed was fully made. It is, therefore, another principal object of the invention to provide a bedding securing means of the aforesaid felt and hook type which eliminates or minimizes the need for permanently attaching either of the two securing parts directly on the mattress.

Still another object of the invention is 'to provide a ice simplified construction and design for sheets, blankets and the like embodying the present securing means, which can easily be made on automatic machinery, and which can be as readily and effectively ironed with standard ironing equipment as the conventional fiat sheet or blanket.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a mattress cover or sheet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of a mattress showing the present mattress cover of FIGURE 1 secured thereto;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of a mattress cover or sheet, embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the bottom of a mattress showing the modified form of the cover of FIGURE 3 secured thereto;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of a device for securing the bedding embodying the present invention to a mattress;

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of the device shown in FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of the device shown in FIGURES 5 and 6;

' FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the device shown in FIGURES 5, 6 and 7, showing the device mounted on'a mattress;

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of sheet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary plan view of a further modified form of the sheet involving the present invention;

FIGURE 11 is a plan view of a sheet used for the top sheet in bedding, showing a means for securing it to the mattress or mattress cover;

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of a blanket showing the means for securing it to the mattress or mattress cover over the top sheet of FIGURE 11; and

FIGURE 13 illustrates the manner in which the sheet and blanket of FIGURES Il and 12 are secured to a mattress or mattress cover.

Referring more specifically to the drawings and to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIG-

URES

1 and 2, numeral 20 designates a mattress cover or sheet for a standard double bed having a conventional innerspring mattress 21, The cover is provided with

securing means

22, 24, 26 and 28 at the corners, each securing means consisting of a notched portion 30, the sides of which are parallel with the sides and ends of the sheet and having two angularly projecting

members

32 and 34 extending laterally from the respective side and 'end of the sheet or cover. One of the two

members

32 or 34 contains on the under side, as shown at numeral 32, one element 36 of the securing means, and the other member, for example 34, contains on the upper side the other element 38 of the securing means. Along the two edegs of the slots are

similar elements

40 and 42 for securing the sheets and blanket thereto after cover 20 has been applied to the mattress, using

elements

36 and 38 of

members

32 and 34, respectively, in the manner to be de scribed more fully hereinafter.

FIGURE 2 illustrates the manner in which

members

32 and 34 with

elements

36 and 38 applied thereto are I used to secure the mattress cover or sheet to the mattress.

When the mattress cover is placed on the bed, the two sides and the two ends extend downwardly over the edge of the mattress with the two edges of'slot 30 coming together at the respective corner of the mattress. With the sides and ends of the cover in this position, memberst32 and 34 of each securing means are placed beneath the corners of the mattress with the two

elements

36 and 38 engaging one another and securing the two members together, and hence securing the corner of the cover firmly on the mattress. The cover can be drawn tightly over the bed by adjusting the position of

members

32 and 34 relative to one another. After the mattress cover has been placed on the bed in the foregoing manner, the sheets and blanket of a construction similar to that shown in FIGURES 9 through 12 are then secured to the cover, using the same type of securing means,

sheets

50 and 64 or 66 and blanket 52 secured to cover 20 at

elements

40 and 42, using

elements

54 and 56 on the sheets and elements 58 and 60 on the blanket in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 13.

While

members

32 and 34 are placed beneath the corner of the mattress, they are only approximately the length of the fingers, and hence can be placed under the corner of the mattress by merely slipping the members lengthwise thereunder by passing the fingers between the mattress and the springs. Thus, no actual lifting of the mattress is required to firmly and effectively secure the two members together with

elements

36 and 38.

The type of securing device'used in the present invention consists of two elements, one of felt-like material and the other of a plastic material of numerous hooklike parts. The individual plastic strands of the hook material are resilient and flexible and are provided with a hook-like configuration at the free end, and the felt-like material consists of numerous small loops which can readily be engaged and interlocked with the hooks when the two elements are pressed firmly together. The two cooperating elements or strips are available on the market under the trade name Velcro, and one form of this type of securing means is disclosed in US. Patent No. 2,717,- 437, issued to G. De Mestral. Other types of securing means may be used in place of the Velcro type, provided the two opposing strips or parts are capable of being laundered, or otherwise cleaned, and can be firmly secured together by merely placing the strips in face to face contact and then applying a moderate amount of pressure, and thereafter easily separated by merely pulling the two engaging surfaces apart. Further details of the present securing means are described in my two patents, previously mentioned herein.

A further modified form of the present invention is illustrated in FIGURES 9 and suitable for use as a bottom sheet in combination with mattress cover or with a securing device illustrated in FIGURES 5, 6, 7 and 8. The securing device 70 in FIGURES 5, 6, 7 and 8 consists of a side wall 72 curved to the approximate shape of the corner of the mattress, a bottom member 74 connected to the two parts of the side wall and an upwardly extending member 76. The side wall is provided with one element 78 of the securing means, preferably the hooked portion, which has an extension 80 projecting up along the external surface of member 76. When the

sheet

64 or 66 is secured to the device,

elements

82 and 84, preferably of felt, on the sheet are secured to member 78 which extends around the corner of side wall 72. When the sheet 64, for example, is placed on the bed, the

elements

82 and 84 face downwardly and inwardly and are pressed against the external surface of member 78. The material between the two elements is then tucked inwardly to form a neat, non-protruding corner on the sheet. Top sheet 50 and blanket 52 can then be secured to the device 70 in the same manner in which they were secured to mattress cover 20 in the previous embodiment.

In using

bottom sheets

64 and 66 with mattress cover 20, elements 82 can be secured to section 90 of elements 40 and elements 84 to section 92 of elements 42.

elements

54 and 56 of top sheet 50 can then be secured to

sections

94 and 96 of

elements

40 and 42 at both sides of the foot of the mattress cover, and elements 58 and 60 of blanket 52 to

sections

98 and 100.

While the device 70 will often hold itself firmly to the mattress, in some instances it may be desirable to secure it more firmly to the mattress. This can be done by the use of pressure sensitive tape 86 adhering to the upper side of member 74 and to the under side of the mattress at the corner. When the device 70 is removed, the tape likewise can be readily removed from the mattress without injuring the fabric.

The modification shown in FIGURE 3 is. similar to that shown in FIGURE 1, the primary difference being that the felt material only is applied to the mattress cover or sheet and the two ends of

members

32 and 34 containing the felt are placed beneath the mattress and a separate element of the plastic hooked material 102 is placed on the two felt elements 36 and 38' of

members

32 and 34, thus securing the two members firmly under the corner of the mattress, thereby retaining the sheet in a taut condition on the mattress.

While several embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail herein, various further modifications and changes may be made to satisfy requirements without departing from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a fiat generally rectangular panel of fabric, each corner of said panel having a notch of a right angle shape, a member at each external corner of said notch projecting outwardly beyond the edges of the panel defining the respective notch and beyond the respective edges of the panel joining each notch, securing means of felt material on one side of one of said members and securing means of plastic hooked elements on the side of the other of said members opposite the side on which the securing means of the other member is attached, for engagement with said first mentioned securing means, and securing means of felt material secured along each side of each of said notches adjacent said members on the same side of said panel.

2. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch, a member at each external corner of said notch projecting outwardly beyond the edges of the panel defining the respective notch and beyond the respective edges of the panel joining each notch, securing means on one side of one of said members and securing means on the side of the other of said members opposite the side on which the securing means of the other member is attached, for engagement with said first mentioned securing means, and securing means of felt material secured along each side of each of said notches adjacent said members on the same side of said panel.

3. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch, a member at each external corner of said notch projecting outwardly beyond the edges of the panel defining the respective notch and beyond the respective edges of the panel joining each notch, securing means on one side of one of said members, and securing means on the side of the other of said members opposite the side on which the securing means of the other member is attached, for engagement with said first mentioned securing means.

4. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of fabric, each corner of said panel having a notch of a right angle shape, a member at each external corner of said notch projecting outwardly beyond the edges of the panel defining the respective notch and beyond the respective edges of the panel joining each notch, securing means of felt material secured along each side of each of said notches adjacent said members on the same side of said panel, securing means of felt material secured to the same side of each of said projecting members, and a means having numerous hooked elements thereon engaging and inter connecting the members at each corner. I

5; A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch, a member at each external corner of said notch projecting outwardly beyond the edges of the panel defining the respective notch and beyond the respective edges of the panel joining each notch, securing means of felt material secured to the same side of each of said projecting members, and a means having numerous hooked elements thereon engaging and interconnecting the members at each corner.

6. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch of a right angle shape, securing means of felt material secured along each side of each of said notches on the same side of said panel, a retaining device for each corner of said panel having a horizontal positioned side wall extending around the corner of the mattress, a member connected to the bottom of said side wall near the ends thereof and being adapted to fit beneath the mattress, a vertical extension on said Wall near the center thereof, and securing means of plastic hook elements on the external surface of said wall on both sides of the respective corner and on said extension for receiving the securing means on said panel.

7. A bedding structure for use with a mat-tress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch, securing means of felt material at each external corner of each of said notches, a retaining device for each corner of said panel having a horizontal positioned side Wall extending around the corner of the mattress, a member connected to the bottom of said side wall near the ends thereof and being adapted to fit beneath the mattress, securing means on the external surface of said wall on both sides of the respective corner for receiving the-securing means on said panel, and means on said last mentioned member for attaching said member to the underside of the mattress.

S. A bedding structure for use with a mattress, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, each corner of said panel having a notch, securing means of felt material at each external corner of each of said notches, a retaining device for each corner of said panel having a horizontally positioned side wall extending around the corner of the mattress, a member connected to the bottom of said side wall near the ends thereof and being adapted to fit beneath the mattress, and securing means on the external surface of said wall for receiving the securing means on said panel.

9. A bedding structure, comprising a generally rectangular panel of flexible material, securing means of felt material at one end of said panel, a retaining device for said panel having a horizontally positioned side wall extending around the corner of the mattress, a member connected to the bottom of said side Wall near the ends thereof and being adapted to fit beneath the mattress, and securing means of plastic hook elements on the external surface of said wall for receiving the securing means on said panel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 738,674 9/1903 Grattan 297219 X 2,516,363 7/1950 Block et al. 5334 3,066,323 12/1962 Kintner 5-334 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

A. M. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A BEDDING STRUCTURE FOR USE WITH A MATTRESS, COMPRISING A FLAT GENERALLY RECTANGULAR PANEL OF FABRIC, EACH CORNER OF SAID PANEL HAVING A NOTCH OF A RIGHT ANGLE SHAPE, A MEMBER AT EACH EXTERNAL CORNER OF SAID NOTCH PROJECTING OUTWARDLY BEYOND THE EDGES OF THE PANEL DEFINING THE RESPECTIVE NOTCH AND BEYOND THE RESPECTIVE EDGES OF THE PANEL JOINING EACH NOTCH, SECURING MEANS OF FELT MATERIAL ON ONE SIDE OF ONE OF SAID MEMBERS AND SECUR-