Beds – Receptacle or support for use with bed
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-20
2002-02-19
Grosz, Alexander (Department: 3628)
Beds
Receptacle or support for use with bed
C110S219000, C110S219000, C206S373000, C206S579000, C220S475000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06347419
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to bedside storage devices, specifically to such a device designed for use with and attached to a sleeping cot.
2. Description of Prior Art
Storage of articles within easy reach of a sleeping bed is an important aspect of daily home life many people take for granted. For obvious reasons, many people prefer to have ready access to articles such as eyeglasses, flashlights, medicines, books, magazines, clocks, lights, radios, small self-defense weapons, and a variety of other articles while in bed at home or elsewhere, Articles of furniture such as nightstands or storage headboards usually provide bedside storage of such articles in the home or other permanent facility. Because they are more closely associated with the concept of the present invention, examples of prior-art storage bed headboards follow:
Kemp, III, et al., U.S. Pat. No. D273,260 discloses a combined headboard and hutch unit
Lenger, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. D266,806 discloses a bed headboard or similar article
Keller, U.S. Pat. No. D262,332 discloses a headboard
The use of devices for attaching headboards to sleeping beds is also known in the prior art. The following patents are representative:
Cline, U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,672 discloses a headboard attaching bracket
Lafferty, U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,968 discloses headboard mounting hardware
Yeh, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,354 discloses a headboard connecting device
Schatz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,467,486 discloses a headboard bracket
Although non-storage related, a few examples of bed endboards exist in the prior art. By way of example,
Nail, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,771 discloses an endboard for supporting a child's bed having moveable pieces slidably mounted thereon
Churchman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,751 discloses an endboard auxiliary device for beds
Brunner, et al., U.S. Pat. No. D370,143 discloses an endboard for a bed
Turner, U.S. Pat. No. D353,733 discloses a bed endboard
Alternative methods of bedside storage are also found in the prior art. The following patents are representative:
Mack, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,972 discloses an assisted sundries caddy bed based holding system
Ritchie, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,152 discloses a storage organizer for hospital bed
Dreyer Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,173 discloses a bedstead storage box
Winckler U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,673 discloses an apparatus for holding articles to a bed
Hill U.S. Pat. No. D358,284 discloses a bed storage compartment
Riehl U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,909 discloses a bed storage article
Wallace U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,258 discloses a mobile under-bed storage container
These devices may fulfill their respective objectives of bedside storage of articles in a bed-based sleeping environment such as that found in most homes, lodging facilities, and medical treatment facilities. They do not however, address a similar need in a cot-based sleeping environment such as that found where people are quartered under field conditions. In environments like this, such storage takes on even greater importance.
In an environment where people are quartered under field conditions such as camping, military bivouac, or temporary emergency sheltering, personal comfort issues figure prominently in the overall quality of the experience. Important among these issues are sleeping conditions and personal storage space immediately adjacent the sleeping area. Typically, such environments are characterized by cramped sleeping quarters inside a shelter such as a tent, cabin, lean-to, or crowded emergency shelter facility where sleeping conditions are marginal and personal space is extremely limited.
To improve sleeping conditions, many private individuals, as well as emergency management authorities, have taken to employing sleeping cots including the types shown in prior-art
FIGS. 8
,
14
, and
20
of the drawings annexed herein. Although made of lightweight materials such as wood and aluminum, these folding cots are sturdy enough to support most adults and break down into compact packages for easy transport and storage making them perfectly suited for the aforementioned applications.
Regarding storage space in a cot-based sleeping environment, a beneficial by-product of the use of these cots is the area directly beneath the cot itself, henceforth “underspace,” which provides a relatively large amount of space suitable for storing many miscellaneous articles such as luggage and articles of clothing. However, this underspace does not lend itself to the storage of certain types of articles, such as those that are fragile, valuable, and which, especially in a cot-based sleeping environment under field conditions, must be kept readily accessible. Among others, these articles may include eyeglasses, flashlights, wallets, money clips, watches, jewelry, keys, medicines, cellular phones, cameras, pagers, and, in some cases, small personal defense weapons.
Few examples of devices specifically designed to provide storage of articles on a sleeping cot are known in the prior art. One is the development of a canvas fabric organizer, Trademark “Field Pockets”, Owner: Darlene Webster, Reg. No., 2187104. Reg. Date: Sep. 8, 1998, shown in
FIG. 1
“for draping over a military cot or camp cot.” This contrivance does not lend itself to storage of fragile and/or valuable articles because it stores articles in either an exposed or unsecured manner in thin fabric or fabric mesh pockets. Stored articles can thus be easily stolen, or damaged by accidental impact with people and or objects moving or being moved about cramped sleeping quarters. Also, the contrivance itself may interfere with the fluid mounting and dismounting of the cot's sleeping surface, or entry into or exit from a sleeping bag thereon. Most importantly however, the organizer's low-slung hanging position along the entire length of the cot renders the cot's valuable underspace storage area virtually inaccessible on the side of the cot from which the organizer hangs. This may necessitate placing the cot away from the wall of a tent, where cots are normally located, to facilitate access to its underspace on the side opposite that from which the organizer is hung. This would further reduce the already limited overall space found in most camping, bivouac, and sheltering situations. Another example of prior art is the development of a cot rack, sold as “Cot-Tree,” shown in FIG.
2
. This contrivance comprises two vertical poles attached to opposite corners of one end of a sleeping cot by hook and loop straps with their upper ends joined and stabilized by a horizontal pole. Hooks spaced intermittently on these vertical poles allow for storage by hanging of slinged rifles, backpacks, articles of clothing, and other hangable accoutrements. This contrivance also does not lend itself to storage of certain articles because it is limited by design to storing only those articles that may be hung on a hook in an exposed position where they can be easily stolen or damaged. Moreover, because of its height, use of this contrivance is limited to areas with considerable headroom thereby precluding its use within smaller and sharply sloping shelters such as many camping tents. Use of this contrivance may necessitate placing the cot away from the wall of a tent, where cots are normally located, to accommodate its additional height. This would further reduce the already limited overall space found in most camping, bivouac, and sheltering situations.
The utility of both these contrivances is further limited in that they can function as storage devices only in a static state and must first be emptied of articles before they can be moved. They can not be used to transport articles to and from a cot-based sleeping environment and therefore lack true functional portability.
Shortcomings notwithstanding, these contrivances evidence the need for a device that will protectively store on a sleeping cot articles that are fragile, valuable, and of potentially immediate need in a cot-based sleeping environment and do so without
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