Beds – Bedsteads – Having bottom
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-17
2002-11-12
Trettel, Michael F. (Department: 3628)
Beds
Bedsteads
Having bottom
C005S253000, C005S263000, C005S255000, C005S719000, C005S239000, C267S081000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06477727
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a bearing element produced as an injection-moulded part made of an elastomer, which is a bearing element for upholstery in particular for rear-ventilated upholstery supports such as upholstery, mattresses or the like for seat or bed systems.
Upholstery supports serve as supports for upholstery, on which the human body (hereafter referred to as a “body”) can be placed in an ergonomically appropriate manner. Such type of upholstery is known from EP 0401 712, where the entire area of the support is covered with elastic elements, which is supported in U-profiles to avoid overloading and to limit the available spring deflection, so that for the placing of seats or bed systems the bearing surface for an upholstery support such as a mattress—as is already known from DE 36 12 603 A1—is divided into subareas, which are arranged in a regular patterns and where each individual one of these spring elements is designed to be spring-loaded.
Upholstery resting on surfaces absorbs body moisture and during a sitting or resting period gets wet, in particular in areas where people are resting in a humid atmosphere for lengthy periods and where the bearing surface is impermeable to moisture—such as for instance in caravans and in boats. To allow rear ventilation, EP 0 653 174 suggests to provide the bearing plate with openings. An unsatisfactory aspect of these proposals is that the height of the individual bearing elements must be (relatively) great, since the available range of spring deflection is only a fraction of the height of the unloaded bearing element.
A frame for seat or bed systems, whose longitudinal and transverse bars are provided with easily mountable spring elements is described in DE 196 37 933 C: where these spring elements have bearing plates on which the mattress or upholstery rests. The spring elements are defined by leaf spring elements in a lying arrangement, which leaf spring elements are almost C-shaped and are arranged mirror-symmetrically to one another in such a manner that the centre of the lower leaf spring is supported on the bar and the upper leaf spring supports the centre of the bearing plate.
GB 2 143 123 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,688,893) describes a support for upholstery or the like, which support is movable within itself, and where a number of ring-shaped connecting members are connected with one another by means of clamping bodies. Such a support is stable within itself due to these interconnections and does not require an additional support, however the movability of the support within itself does not permit a force-related supporting adjustment. A different mattress support with an elastic top surface, made up of a plurality of foam rubber blocks is described in DE 196 00 434, which proposes the use of foam rubber blocks of varying degrees of hardness to achieve the hardness adjusted to the respective supported body region. Both these documents do not describe a support consisting of individual bearing elements with at least base and bearing plate.
Finally, DE 295 05 052 U (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,533) describes a bearing element, where a grid is formed of crossing pieces and webs, wherein, onto the crossing pieces and/or the webs, spring bodies are clipped, which spring bodies have bearing plates attached to their heads. In this instance the locking parts have different designs, a mere placing of the bearing plate onto the base is not possible.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to further develop the known bearing elements in such a way that the range of spring deflection consists of a substantial proportion of the total height, whereby with the rear ventilation maintained, the bearing elements are easy and economical to produce and have a wide range of applications; in addition, a bed system with such bearing elements shall be proposed which can be easily and economically produced and is of versatile use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to achieve the spring action in a first embodiment, at least three or four bearing arms are provided which are directed outwardly from a base, which bearing arms are defined as leaf springs with a spring deflection aimed in the direction of the bearing pressure. Each of these bearing arms is provided with a terminal bearing surface; these bearing surfaces of a bearing element together form the bearing plate holding the upholstery, to which bearing plate they are fastened between the bearing surfaces in the region of bridging connections. When the springs are compressed, the bearing surfaces are forced outwardly. These bearing surfaces are coupled with further spring elements in such a manner that the outward movement loads these further spring elements. In this case, both springs act in the same direction. When the springs of the bearing arms are being loaded by being pressed down, the bearing plates moving outwardly cause a loading of the further spring element, so that ultimately the spring load-deflection curve of the bearing element can be set as required or as desired by the combination of both curves. The deflection of the bearing surfaces being possible down to the base, it is possible to achieve spring deflections which—up to material thickness—corresponds to the height of the bearing element itself.
These bearing arms have a rotationally symmetric arrangement, so that the angular distance of three bearing arms is 120° and that of four bearing arms 90°. When the leaf springs forming the bearing arms are designed in such a way that their spring constants are equal, there results, also in lateral force components, a deflection without the “canting” (known from other upholstery supports) so that a correct upholstery is obtained; it is however obvious that the spring constants are selected independently of this consideration. If, furthermore, by a corresponding design of the bearing surfaces, the bearing plate contains a free inner space, at least of the size of the base area, ranges of spring deflections can be achieved which—apart from the material thickness—correspond to the height of the bearing element itself, so that this deflection can even occur down to the plane of the base. In this case it is advantageous if the bearing arms supplying the spring force are made of a correspondingly high-quality elastomer and the bearing surfaces of an economical plastic material, which plastic parts can be produced by way of the two-component-injection moulding process or in separate production processes.
One advantageous embodiment proposes the use of undulated springs as spring elements in the bearing arms. The stretching of the bearing arms in this case leads to a compression of the undulated spring, resulting in counteracting the change of position of the bearing surface. The coupling spring elements in this embodiment are designed as Omega-type springs between the bearing surfaces which are divided, linking them. In particular the Omega design allows a spring deflection which is not reduced by undulations. By means of these further spring elements these bearing surfaces are coupled in such a manner that the outward movement results in a loading of these further spring elements. Both springs work in the same direction. If the springs of the bearing arms are loaded by downward pressure, the bearing plates moving outwardly cause a loading of the further spring elements so that ultimately the spring load-deflection curve of the bearing elements can be set by means of the combination of both spring load-deflection curves in such a way as is necessary or desirable.
In order to fasten these bearing elements on a support, the base is designed accordingly. If differences in height in the installation are to be adjusted in such a manner that all bearing plates are positioned in a plane, the base is advantageously defamed as a base plate or as a base body of corresponding height. In one embodiment the base plate/the base body is provided with a central hole. The fastening is performed by means of a screw or a dowel pin wherein the screw
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
FROLI Kunststoffwerk Heinrich Fromme OHG
Trettel Michael F.
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