US20170340131A1

US20170340131A1 - Foam filling elements

Info

Publication number: US20170340131A1
Application number: US15/208,631
Authority: US
Inventors: Hans Erik Schmidt
Original assignee: Healthcare Co Ltd
Current assignee: Healthcare Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-05-24
Filing date: 2016-07-13
Publication date: 2017-11-30
Also published as: WO2017202435A1; JP2019516537A; EP3462993B1; US20190231086A1; JP6898437B2; ES2818618T3; EP3462993A1; CN109475235A; PL3462993T3; DK3462993T3; KR20190015356A

Abstract

A foam piece for filling a comfort item, includes a body part and several foam arms having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the body part, and the second end protrudes away from the body part, and a plurality of contour recesses between the foam arms. The invention further relates to a plurality of foam pieces to be used as filling for a comfort item, and it relates to a comfort item with such filling. Thereby, foam pieces are supplied which are better at retaining elastic expansion and elastic deformation characteristics than the foam solutions of the art by retaining at least some air between pieces in the uncompressed state. A filling is thereby obtained having good filling properties and adding air to the comfort item.

Description

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to foam pieces, for example, for filling a comfort item, and to comfort items having such filling.
When making comfort items such as pillows and duvets, various filling materials are possible having different advantages and disadvantages.
Down, feathers, fibre and foam are possible conventional materials.
Down is the softest of the conventional options, while foam has a good supporting ability that allows maintaining a good posture throughout a sleep cycle or a rest period.
Combination solutions have also been seen in the art striving to combine the softness of the down and the support of the foam.
Foam is typically either supplied as a single piece having the size and shape thought to be desirable or alternatively, it is shredded and supplied in a shape that allows a larger degree of compression thus making it a softer choice.
However, the predefined shape of a single piece of foam may become uncomfortable during the sleep period, while shredded foam will collapse over a longer period.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the invention, it relates to a foam piece for filling a comfort item, the foam piece comprising a body part and a plurality of foam arms having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the body part, and the second end protrudes away from the body part, and a plurality of contour recesses between the foam arms.
Thereby, foam pieces are supplied which are better at retaining elastic deformation characteristics than the foam solutions of the art by retaining at least some air between pieces in the uncompressed state. When using a plurality of such foam pieces for filling e.g. a comfort item such as a pillow or a mattress, a filling is obtained having good filling properties and adding air to the comfort item.
In an embodiment of the invention, the distance between the body part and at least a part of the contour recess is smaller than the distance between the body part and the second end of the foam arms. Thereby the foam arms are present along the body parts.
In an embodiment of the invention, the foam piece is planar.
Thereby, it is easy to produce, e.g. by making a shaped foam beam and slicing the foam elements from the foam beam.
In an embodiment of the invention, the foam piece extends in three dimensions from the body part.
Thereby, it is even more effective at retaining free air between foam pieces.
In an embodiment of the invention, the foam piece may comprise at least one through-going hole or blind cavity.
Thereby, it is even more effective at retaining free air between foam pieces. The holes and/or cavities may be arranged according to any angle relative to the foam pieces, such as perpendicular to the plane of the planar piece or parallel to the plane, or even angular relative to the plane.
In an embodiment, the contour recesses between the foam arms have a depth being longer than the length of the foam arms. Thereby, even if a foam arm enters a recess, the entire recess will not be filled, and air will still be present.
In an embodiment, the contour recesses between the foam arms have a width being smaller than the width of the foam arms. Thereby, the foam arms cannot fit into the recesses ensuring that the air in the recesses is maintained.
In an embodiment, the contour recesses between the foam arms have a width being wider than the width of the foam arms. Thereby, even if the arms enter the recesses, air is still present and further, the arm does not lock in the recess.
The various embodiments of the present invention further relates to a plurality of foam pieces to be used as filling for a comfort item, wherein the plurality of foam pieces comprises a plurality of foam pieces according to the above. Such plurality of foam pieces would be suitable as filling for a comfort item and would ensure a filling material introducing air into the comfort item.
In an aspect of the invention, it relates to a comfort item comprising a first volume delimited by an outer boundary, where the first volume comprises a plurality of foam pieces.
In an embodiment of the invention, the outer boundary further delimits at least one second volume, the second volume comprising a comfort filling. By comfort filling is meant down, feather, buckwheat, latex, foam including memory foam, micro beads, polyester fibre or other biological or synthetic material generally being elastically compressible. In an embodiment of the invention, the comfort filling may be water, whereby the water allows at least the second volume to change shape reversibly.
Thereby, the benefits of other materials may be combined with the benefits of foam according to the invention.
In an embodiment of the invention, the outer boundary delimits at least two second volumes comprising a comfort filling, where the first volume is placed between the second volumes.
Thereby, the user may turn over the comfort item and retain the softness of the comfort filling between the foam and the skin.
In an embodiment of the invention, the comfort filling is chosen from a list of down, feathers and synthetic fibres.
By comfort item is meant pillows, mattresses and duvets. The outer boundary and divider sheet are most often made of cotton, wool or synthetic fibres.
In an embodiment of the invention, it has at least two arms, at least three arms, at least four arms, at least five arms, at least six arms, at least seven arms or at least eight arms.
In another embodiment of the invention, it has at most three arms, at most four arms, at most five arms, at most six arms, at most seven arms, or at most eight arms.
In an embodiment of the invention, the foam pieces are made of any type of foam such as open-celled or closed-celled foam. In a preferable embodiment of the invention, the foam pieces are made of open-celled foam.

LIST OF FIGURES

In the following, example embodiments are described according to the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates different foam piece embodiments according to the invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates foam pieces used in different comfort items.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention is described through a series of embodiments, none of which are to be thought of as limiting the invention.
FIG. 1 illustrates a number of foam pieces 100 according to the invention. The foam pieces 100 may take a variety of different shapes as illustrated by the embodiments shown in FIG. 1. Foam piece 100A is a rectangular plus-shaped foam piece. Foam piece 100B is a substantially rectangular plus-shaped foam piece having rounded corners closest to the centre of the piece. Foam piece 100C is flower-shaped. Foam piece 100D comprises eight arms protruding from a centre. These arms are placed with equal radial distance between each other in the plane. Foam piece 100E is like 100D having thinner arms. Foam piece 100F is star-shaped.
Each foam piece according to the invention has a body part 101 and a number of foam arms 102 extending away from the body part 101. Between two neighbouring foam arms 102, the foam piece forms a recess contour 103, where the distance between the contour and the body part 101 is lower than between the outer edge of a foam arm 102 and the body part 101. The recess may be shaped by straight edges as in the embodiment 100A, as a concave recess as in the embodiment 100B, and as an angle between two diverging lines as in 100C.
In the art, shredded foam is blown into for example pillows and duvets. These arbitrarily formed pieces of foam will eventually settle against each other in a way, where there is substantially no free air between the foam pieces. This corresponds to the pillow becoming compressed. Shaking, beating and washing the pillows may then be performed to disband the shredded foam. However, this only achieves moderate success of separation and expansion of the pillow.
By having the shapes disclosed herein and exemplified in embodiments 100A, 100B, 100 C 100D, 100E and 100F, it is ensured that the pieces may never engage each other completely, but instead there will always be free air between them. Further, by compressing the pieces such as by placing a head onto the pillow, the arms of the pieces may easily bend and compress out of their preferred shapes thus affording comfort. Removing the head again restores the previous and preferred state at least partially. Since the shape of the pieces are known and controlled, and since the non-deformed shapes do not engage each other effectively, it is ensured that during compression, the foam pieces do not fasten to each other. Instead, on decompression, the pieces return at least substantially or partially to their natural and preferred shapes. Thereby, a pillow filled with foam pieces according to the invention will retain its capacity of elastic expansion for longer than solutions in the art.
In another embodiment of the invention, the foam piece is star-shaped, has an uneven number of arms, is a sphere and/or is elongated.
Embodiments 100G and 100H are two variations of embodiment 100A. Embodiment 100G is a planar foam piece, whereby the foam arms 102 all extend from the body part 101 in a single plane. Then, only the thickness of the piece protrudes in the third dimension. Thereby, foam pieces may easily be produced from foam sheets or rolls or other convenient planar foam shapes.
In another embodiment 100H, the arms of the foam piece extend from the centre in all three dimensions. Thereby, pockets of air are secured even better between foam pieces.
The principles behind embodiments 100G and 100H being that 100H is a version of 100G extended into three dimensions are extendable to the other shown planar embodiments.
Three-dimensional foam pieces may also take the basic shape of 100D but instead having arms distributed in three dimensions according to the same distribution of 45 degrees between neighbouring arms.
Further, star-shaped foam piece 100F may have any number of arms extending symmetrically in three dimensions, such as conveniently 4, 6, 8, 12 or 20.
In another embodiment of the invention, the foam piece further comprises holes or cavities.
FIG. 2 illustrates various embodiments of comfort items according to the invention.
FIG. 2A illustrates a pillow 200A according to the invention, with a first volume 202 and a multitude of foam pieces 100 filling up this first volume 202.
FIG. 2B illustrates a pillow 200B according to the invention, being a combination pillow, where a first volume is filled with foam pieces according to the invention, and where a second volume 203 is filled with another type of comfort fill, such as feathers, down or fibres. The volumes are separated by divider sheets 204. Thereby, the shape stability of foam is achieved in combination with other product features, such as the softness of down, feathers or fibre.
FIG. 2C illustrates a pillow 200C according to the invention, much like embodiment 200B in that it is a combination pillow. Importantly, 200C comprises two second volumes filled with another type of filling such as down or feathers. Thereby, the pillow retains its comfort in both orientations, and the user may turn it over during use.
FIG. 2D illustrates a mattress according to the invention, the mattress being a combination mattress, where a first volume is filled with foam pieces according to the invention, and where a second volume 203 is filled with another type of filling, preferably feathers or down. Thereby, the shape stability of foam is achieved, while the comfort of down or feathers is also achieved.
When a multitude of foam pieces according to the invention is placed together, the recesses then geometrically hinder the foam pieces from taking up the full space of the comfort item. Instead, air pockets among the foam pieces remain. These are then compressible by a user on use. Thereby, the total compression range remains greater for a longer period of time.
Further, because the foam pieces are not shredded, their edges are significantly smoother, whereby even if they settle into a somewhat clumped position, a shake of the comfort item will release the foam pieces much better than will be possible with shredded foam pieces which may easily fasten strongly together. In an embodiment of the invention, this allows the pillow not to experience fatigue like normal shredded foam-filled comfort items.

REFERENCE NUMBERS

100A-H—foam pieces
101—body part
102—foam arm
103—contour recess
200A-D—comfort items
202—first volume
203—second volume
204—divider sheet

Claims

1. A foam piece (100) for filling a comfort item, the foam piece (100) comprising:

a body part (101);

a plurality of foam arms (102) having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the body part (101) and the second end protrudes away from the body part (101); and

a plurality of contour recesses (103) between the foam arms (102).

2. A foam piece according to claim 1, wherein the distance between the body part (101) and at least a part of the contour recesses (103) is smaller than the distance between the body part (101) and the second end of the foam arms (101).

3. A foam piece according to claim 1, where the foam piece (100) is planar.

4. A foam piece according to claim 1, where the foam arms (102) extend in three dimensions from the body part (101).

5. A foam piece according to claim 1, wherein the foam piece may comprise at least one through-going hole or blind cavity.

6. A foam piece according to claim 1, wherein the contour recesses between the foam arms have a depth being longer than the length of the foam arms.

7. A foam piece according to claim 1, wherein the contour recesses between the foam arms have a width being smaller than the width of the foam arms.

8. A foam piece according to claim 1, wherein the contour recesses between the foam arms have a width being wider than the width of the foam arms.

9. A plurality of foam pieces to be used as filling for a comfort item, wherein the plurality of foam pieces comprises a plurality of foam pieces according to claim 1.

10. A comfort item (200) comprising:

a first volume (202) delimited by an outer boundary, where the first volume (202) comprise

a plurality of foam pieces (100); the foam pieces comprising

a body part (101);

a plurality of foam arms (102) having a first end and a second end, where the first end is attached to the body part (101), and the second end protrudes away from the body part (101); and

a plurality of contour recesses (103) between the foam arms (102).

11. A comfort item (200) according to claim 5, wherein the outer boundary further delimits at least one second volume (203), where the first volume (202) and the second volume (203) are separated by a divider sheet (204), wherein the second volume comprises a comfort filling.

12. A comfort item (200) according to claim 5, wherein the outer boundary delimits at least two second volumes (203) comprising a comfort filling, where the first volume (202) is placed between at least two second volumes (203).

13. A comfort item (200) according to claim 6, wherein the comfort filling is chosen from a list of down, feather, buckwheat, latex, foam, memory foam, micro beads, polyester fibre or water.