US1579074A - Mattress - Google Patents

Description

March 30 1926.

O. M. BURTON MATTRESS Filed August '7, 1922 Inventor 0250 MWV/ Patented Mar. 30, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OLIVERM. BURTON, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. ASSIGNOR TO BURTON-DIXIE CORPORA- TION, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

MATTRESS.

Application filed August 7, 1922- Serial No. 580,059.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OLIVER M. BURTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certaimnew and useful Improvements in Mattresses, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to mattresses in which the upper and lower walls of the tick or cover are connected by strips of ticking to form compartments extending from edge to edge of the mattress and usually crosswise, and which compartments are separately filled or stuffed with a compressed body of cotton batting or like fibrous material. Such mattresses will not widen or get out of shape readily but, as usually constructed, each compartment is filled with a compressed body comprising a number of superposed layers of cotton batting or the like and the filling is apt to pack down and present a hard flat surface. The present invention seeks to remedy this defect and provide a compartment mattress in which the filling is so arranged that it will not readily become hard and compact and so that the separate compartments will present attractive rounded surfaces at the opposite sides of the mattress and better maintain the tautness of the tick.

The invention consists in the features of improvement hereinafter set forth, illustrated in the preferred form in the accompanying drawings and more articularly pointed out in the appended claims.

On the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a mattress constructed in accordance with my invention, and partially unfinished;

40 Fig. 2 an enlarged fragmentary sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1

Fig. 3 a detail view showing the manner of preparing the filling material for the various compartments; and

Fig. 4 a perspective view of the filling material for a compartment, compressed in a holder ready to be inserted in a compartment of the mattress.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numerals 1 and 2 represent the top and bottom walls of the mattress which are composed of a suitable fabric, and 3 the end walls and 4 the side walls. Transverse partitions or strips 5 of the fabric extend between the upper and lower walls of the mattress and from side to side thereof preferably in substantially the same manner as in the structure shown in Patent No. 1,021,971, granted April 2, 1912, to Benjamin D. Courts, these strips 5 being stitched to the inner surfaces of the top and bottom walls 1 and 2 respectively of the mattress. Preferably the strips 5'are so arranged that in the finished mattress, the width of each compartment is substantially the same as the thickness of the mattress.

Each of the compartments is filled with a I charge of cotton batting or felt, or like fibrous material, which is first formed into. a hat or layer of substantially uniform thickness with practically all of the fiber disposed in or parallel to the plane of the hat or layer. A continuous length or strip of the felted cotton or fiber bat is then formed into a spirally wound roll of substantially cylindrical cross section and of a length equal to the width of the mattress, so that each roll is adapted to be inserted in and fill one of the compartments. Each compartment charge is thus formed into a solid spirally wound roll having convolutions extending fromthe center to the periphery thereof with the fibers of its convolutions in direct contact, and these rolls are considerably larger in cross sectional area than the comartments and are first radially compressed 0th vertically and horizontally so that when inserted, they will expand sufiiciently to properly fill the compartments. Any suitable means may be employed for compressing the rolls and holding them compressed as they are inserted, as for example, a two part holder like that shown in the Courts patent above referred to. This holder comprises trough-like pans 6 and 7 that fit together to form a long tubular housing of rectangular cross section in which the roll of fillin material is sufliciently compressed and hel as shown in Fig. 4, so that the filling together with the enclosing holder may be readily inserted in the compartment, and the holder then removed one section at a time leaving the filling in position.

One of the side flaps forming the wall 4 of the mattress is left open, as shown in Fig. 1, so that thevarious compartments may be filled, and this flap is then sewed in position to close the ends of the compartments or charging spaces. The charging rolls are retained in position side by sideby the walls of the casing and the division strips and are thus confined and vertically and laterally compressed; but otherwise, the rolls are free to expand to compactly fill all portions of the compartments. The tendency of each spirally wound roll of cotton batting is to expand uniformly in all radial directions and assume its original cylmdrrcal form. But, since it is confined by the casing walls and division strips and the adjacent rolls, to some extent against vertical expansion and to a greater extent against lateral expansion, each roll conforms to and compactly fills the substantially rectangular section of one of the compartments, lncludmg the corners thereof. Also, because of the radial expansive tendency and the arrangement of the fibers in the spirally wound cotton bats and the manner in which they are com ressed and confined in position, the ten ency of the separate charges to work away from one another is overcome, the t ck is maintained taut and presents attractive rounded surfaces upon opposite sides of the mattress, and the latter is very resilient, maintains its shape and resiliency in use, and will not readily become fiat and hard.

As the central portion of the mattress ordinarily sustains a greater portion of the weight of the occupant than the ends and hence has a greater tendency to become packed, the middle compartments are more compactly filled than those at the ends 1n order to retain uniformity of thickness of the mattress when in use. The compartments are of the same size and larger quantities of filling material are placed in the central compartments and progressively smaller quantities in the other compartments. This difierence in the quantity of filling material is secured by making the layers or bats uniform in thickness but of different lengths, as shown at 8, 9 and 10 in Fig. 3, so that they form rolls of progressively lar er size, as shown at 11, 12 and 13 respective y.

In practice I have found it advisable to graduate the quantity of material in the compartments from the middle of the mat-- tress to both ends, and preferably construct mate the mattress with twelve compartments of a uniform size, as shown in Fig. 1, filling each of the four intermediate compartments 14 with rolls 13 of filling material, each consisting of approximately ten (10) per cent of the entire quantit of filling material in the mattress, and filing the next two compartments 15 at each side of the series of intermediate compartments with rolls 12 of filling material, eachconsisting of approximents 1 6 at each end of the mattress" with eight 8) per cent of the total amount of filling material, and the two compart' rolls 11 of fillingmaterial, each .comprising approximately seven 57) per cent of the total amount of the fil ing material, and as the compartments are all of the same size, it will be understood that the compartments 14 are filled somewhat more compactly than the compartments 15, and the compartments 15 somewhat more compactly than the end compartments 16.

While I have shown and described my invention in' a preferred form, I am aware that various changes and modifications may be'made without departing from the principles of my invention, the scope of which is to be determined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A mattress consisting of a fabric casing havin spaced upper and lower walls connecte at intervals by vertical division strips to form a row of narrow, transverse compartments extending throughout the length.

thereof, and separate filling charges in the compartments each, comprising a bat of felted cotton spirally wound into a solid cylindrical roll of sufiicient cross section to fill compactly one of said compartments when compressed and confined therein, each charging roll being confined in position between the upper and lower casing walls and the adjacent division strips and vertically and laterally compressed thereby and by the adjacent rolls into substantially square cross section with flattened sides and rounded upper and lower surfaces, substantially as described.

2. A mattress consisting of a fabric casing having spaced upper and lower walls connected at intervals by vertical division strips to form a row of narrow, transverse compartments extending throughout the length thereof, and separate solid filling charges in the compartments comprising bats of felted cotton spirally wound into substantially cylindrical rolls eachof sulficient cross section to compactly fill the cross section of one of said compartments when compressed and confined therein and having the fibers of its superposed convolutions in direct contact, each charging roll being confined in position between the upper and lower casing walls and the adjacent division strips and vertically and laterally compressed thereby and by the adjacent rolls into substantially rectangular section with flattened sides and rounded upper and lower surfaces, substantially as described.

3. A mattress consistin of a fabric casing having spaced upper an lower walls connected at intervals, uniformly spaced throughout the length thereof, by vertical division strips to orm a row of narrow, transverse compartments, and separate solid fillingcharges in the compartments comprising bats of felted cotton spirally wound fibers of their superposed convolutions in direct contact, the charging rolls being confined in position between the upper and lower casing Walls and the adjacent division strips and being so relatively proportioned that the are vertically and laterally compressed y the casing walls and strips and by the adjacent charges into substantially rectangularcross section" with flattened sides 19 and outwardly rounded faces atthe upper 4; A mattress as set forth in claim 2 in which I the lengths of bats of felted cotton are proportioned to progressively increase the density of the separatecharges from the ends to thecentral portion of the mattress, substantiallyas described.

if OLIVER MoBURTON.

and lower surfaces of eachcompartment, substantially'as described.

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