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(11) | EP 1 138 225 A2 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Support leg for spring mattress and the like |
| (57) Based on a cylindrical tube (1), of those typically used as legs, provided on its
top end with means of attachment (2) to any type of conventional foundation box spring,
upholstered board or other support base for a mattress, said tube (1) is open on its
bottom and connected to a lower corner plate (3) through which the leg as a whole
rests on the floor, by an interposed helical spring (5), which on its top is attached
to tube (1) while on its bottom is attached to corner plate (6), so that said helical
spring (4), which maintains the elements which it connects at a substantial separation,
comprises a shock absorbing device which provides the leg with the ability to axially
retract under the load supported by the bed. |
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to a new support leg particularly designed for bed foundations, box springs, upholstered boards and other support elements for mattresses, which provides an elastic connection of the element and the ground which substantially improves the comfort of the bed while extending the mattress lifespan, particularly for spring mattresses.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The field of beds has undergone great changes over the years, so that the old wool mattresses which rested on "coarse mattresses" which consisted of a high angled frame inside which biconical springs were placed linked by plates or straps, with the wool mattress resting on it allowing greater comfort as wool would not restore its shape elastically, eventually led to elastic English mesh bed foundations which consisted of a spirally wound mesh of thin wire with a high angled frame as well, on which was placed wither the traditional wool mattress or the modern spring mattress. The disadvantage of this foundation, despite its comfort, was that it deformed unevenly, forming large recesses in the areas which supported greater weight, in addition to not being outstanding from a health point of view as its springs did not operate vertically.
[0003] Later, when the spring mattress was already popular, the American mesh foundation appeared, which consists of a flat tubular frame with a galvanized wire mesh attached to it along its entire perimeter by hooks and staples, in a grid arrangement, which showed the same disadvantages as the English mesh mentioned above, as it would sag in the middle due to the person's weight.
[0004] More recently, bed foundations have tended towards employing wooden slats or planks, which particularly for wide beds are not too practical as due to the length of said slats and to their span length, they will sag excessively and present the same problems as those mentioned above, so that this solution is only acceptable for narrow beds, and for wide beds one or more longitudinal bars are placed, welded to the frame, providing intermediate support for the slats to prevent them from yielding excessively. However, the short length of these slats makes the foundation lose practically all its elasticity, so that these are only acceptable, in accordance with its designed purpose, when using special fiber or steel slats, which are naturally very expensive.
[0005] This problem of stiffness and lack of comfort is worsened by upholstered boards with legs supporting it , which are used as a base for the mattress so that the comfort of the bed depends exclusively on the properties of said mattress.
[0006] Thus, in beds hitherto known the foundation is either completely rigid or its elasticity is obtained from a greater or lesser deformation of its operational surface, which loses its evenness where the weight is borne.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The support leg for bed foundations disclosed by the invention solves the above described problems in a fully satisfactory manner, providing the bed with a high elasticity which allows to use a completely stiff foundation, which remains completely flat regardless of the weight it bears.
[0008] For this purpose and more specifically, said support leg centers its characteristics on its construction with a functional combination of two elements, a bar which makes up the leg itself and an end corner plate which comprises the support element on the ground, considerably separated from each other and connected to each other by an elastic element, preferably a helical spring.
[0009] In accordance with said structure and regardless of the properties of the foundation, the comfort of the bed derives from the combination of the elasticity provided by both the mattress and the legs which support its foundation, which as mentioned before allow the functional surface of the foundation to remain fully flat at all times, in accordance with the optimum configuration for an ideal bodily rest, as indicated by medical regulations.
[0010] Additionally, said elasticity of the foundation spring legs absorbs part of the excess loads which would be borne by the mattress with the conventional legs, aiding said mattress and assuring a longer lifespan for it.
[0011] Naturally, said springs may adopt several configurations and may be provided with various means of attachment to both the upper bar and the bottom corner plate, without the solution chosen for this affecting the essence of the invention at all. Thus, in the way of example, a further solution based on a helical spring is to provide the bottom corner plate with a bushing which extends towards the bar which comprises the leg and is partially housed longitudinally inside it, in order to prevent possible transverse displacements of the helical spring during its oscillation.
[0012] A further alternative involves the bottom corner plate being attached to a tube of considerable length, which in its majority forms part of the support leg and which within it telescopically receives the smaller diameter tube which complements said leg and which bears the means of attachment to the foundation, with the latter tube provided on its bottom end with a plug which fulfils two functions: on one hand, to provide the support base for the helical spring ; and on the other to guide one tube along the other without friction, for which purpose said plug would extend axially from the corresponding tube enough to prevent the latter from contacting the other tube.
[0013] Another possible example of a preferred embodiment of the invention would consist of employing a helical coil with a divergent truncated cone shaped lower sector, associated to the corresponding bottom corner plate, and a cylindrical top sector on which the tube which comprises the leg may be attached whether externally or internally, in the former case with the aid of the second corner plate acting as a stop and in the latter case simply by resting the tube on the part of the helical coil where the diameter begins to increase, in which case a corner plate may also be present but only with an ornamental function.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] As a complement of the description being made and in order to aid a better comprehension of the characteristics of the invention, according to an example of a preferred embodiment, the present descriptive memory is accompanied by a set of drawings where, for purposes of illustration only and in a non-limiting sense the following is shown:
[0015] Figure 1.- Shows a schematic representation of a side elevation cross section of a support leg for bed foundations and the like according to the object of the present invention.
[0016] Figure 2.- Shows, in a similar representation as in figure 1, an alternative embodiment for said leg with the same basic components.
[0017] Figure 3.- Shows, also in a similar representation to the above figures, a further example of an embodiment for the same device.
[0019] Figure 5.- Shows, finally, a further embodiment of the device also in a side elevation cross section as in the previous figures.
PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
[0020] In view of these figures it can be seen that the leg disclosed comprises a tubular body (1), preferably metallic, which forms the leg itself, from whose upper end emerges axially the typical threaded rod (2) for attachment to the foundation frame, board or element concerned, a body (1) of a length suited to the height meant for the foundation and which is complemented by a bottom corner late (3), preferably plastic, which forms the support element on the floor, such that these elements are connected by means of an interposed spring (4), which also acts as a distancer between tube (1) of the corner plate and corner plate (3) and which provides the leg as a whole with the elastic properties on which the invention is basically centered.
[0021] Based on these basic characteristics, the functional sector of spring (4), which is labeled as (4), may have a barrel-like or bi-conical shape, in either case with end coils (5 - 5') of said functional sector slightly greater in diameter that the mouths of tube (1) and corner plate (3), so that it may rest on said mouths as shown in the embodiment of figure 1, in which case the end, non-operational sectors (6 - 6') of the spring are the means of its attachment to tube (1) and corner plate (3), being housed inside these elements with a coil diameter matching their inner diameter and with a clearly greater thread. In this embodiment tube (1) which makes up the main part of the leg is provided internally with a sleeve (7), preferably plastic, in order to prevent the direct metal-metal contact between the spring and tube (1), with said sleeve (7) provided with a perimetral lip (8) which on one hand acts as a stop for the sleeves motion inside the tube (1) and on the other as a support for end coil and corresponding coil (5) of spring (4).
[0022] Furthermore, and according to an alternative embodiment shown in figure 2, based on a basic structure similar to the previous example, within tube (1) may be provided a considerably shorter sleeve (7'), with a closed end, with the same perimetral lip (8) as a stop on the mouth of tube (1), with the latter provided with notches or recesses (9), extending inwards, which are also present in sleeve (7') and which act as the means of attachment of spring (4'), which here may be a conventional constant-section spring, with said spring (4') having its coils mainly closed inside both sleeve (7') and corner plate (3), while the operational sector of said spring, corresponding to the label (4'), has its coils open in order to allow the elastic deformation of the leg, that is its contraction in an axial sense with the loads supported by the bed as a whole.
[0023] This structure may be complemented by a bushing fitted statically between the lateral inner face of corner plate (3) and spring (4'), and which emerges towards the inside of tube (1), which may be housed within said tube (1), with spring (4') inside said bushing in order to prevent any lateral oscillations of said spring with respect to tube (1).
[0024] In accordance with the embodiment shown in figure 3 corner plate (3') may be considerably shorter, provided with a neck (10) for attachment to it, fitted under pressure, of an inner nucleus (11) made from a soft material which as an option may form a single element with corner plate (3'), and which in any event is meant to attach to said corner plate (3') a bottom tube (12), whose inner diameter is greater than the outer diameter of upper tube (1), which is to be attached to the foundation, which in turn has in its bottom end a second nucleus (11), similar to bottom nucleus (11) and meant as the support or base for the top end of spring (4'), similar to the one used in the embodiment of figure 2 and meant to be placed between the nuclei (11-11'), within tube (12) which hides it, with upper nucleus (11') having an outer diameter equal to that of tube (12) so that it may slide on it, and with top opening of tube (12) ending in an auxiliary corner plate (13) for ornamental purposes.
[0025] A further embodiment alternative to figure 2 is that shown in figure 4, where most of helical spring (4") is visible, with a bottom sector clearly diverging in a downwards sense, which on its lower end receives corner plate (3"), while its upper cylindrical sector is meant to be externally fitted to upper tube (1), now with the aid of a corner plate (7") mounted external to tube (1) and provided in its upper part with a perimetral lip (14) which acts as a seat or support for spring (4") on a perimetral ring (14) conveniently attached to tube (1).
[0026] Finally, and according to figure 5, spring (4"'), similar to that of figure 4, i.e. with a lower conical sector which diverges downwards and an upper cylindrical sector, may be inserted by its upper cylindrical sector inside tube (1), which here ends in a corner plate (15), spring (4''') resting on its lower end on a corner plate (3") similar to that of the previous case, so that here the lower opening of tube (1) rests on the coil of spring (4''') where the diameter begins to increase, with corner plate (15) interposed.
1. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, from among those provided with means
of attachment to the frame of any conventional type of box spring, upholstered board
or any other support base for a mattress, characterized in that it consists of the
functional combination of a tube (1) comprising the main part of the leg itself, a
lower corner plate (3-3'-3"), comprising the support end for the leg as a whole, and
an intermediate spring (4-4'-4''), which keeps the aforementioned elements well separated
and which acts as a shock absorbing element, providing the leg with the capacity to
retract axially under loads supported by the bed.
2. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that said spring (4) shows a functional mid sector (4), established between tube
(1) and corner plate (3), and two end segments (6-6') by which it is attached to said
elements, which are respectively housed inside tube (1) and inside corner plate (3).
3. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 2, characterized
in that the functional segment (4) of the spring has a barrel-like or truncated-cone
shape, with its outer coils of a diameter so that it may rest on the mouths of tube
(1) and corner plate (3), while its end segments (6-6') have a smaller diameter and
a greater thread, pressing against the inner wall of (1) and corner plate (3), so
that tube (1) is provided with an inner sleeve (7) which physically makes the corresponding
segment (6) of spring (4) independent, sleeve (7) provided in its lower opening with
a perimetral lip (8) which acts as a stop against the opening of tube (1) and which
in turn is the support means for the corresponding end coil of the mid functional
segment (4) of the spring.
4. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 2, characterized
in that el spring (4') has a constant diameter, is tightly fitted inside corner plate
(3), in a closed position for its coils, with a functional mid segment with substantially
more open coils, coupled by its upper end to the lower end of tube (1), with an interposed
sleeve (7), preferably made of plastic, with a closed end, provided in its mouth with
a perimetral lip (8) for support against the mouth of (1), and provided on its side
wall, as is said tube, with inner recesses (9) for retaining the coils of spring (4').
5. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that spring (4'), which rests on the lower corner plate (3'), is hidden by a second
(12), with an inner diameter clearly larger than the outer diameter of tube (1), which
telescopically moves within the former, with said upper tube (1) ending on its lower
end in a plug (11') with a maximum diameter equal to that of the inner diameter of
enveloping tube (12), forming both a seating for spring (4') and the means for a telescopic
sliding of the two tubes, additionally lower enveloping tube (12) ending on its top
part with an ornamental corner plate (13).
6. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that spring (4") has a truncated cone shaped lower segment, diverging in a downwards
sense, which ends in the corresponding (3"), and a top cylindrical segment by which
it is externally fitted on tube (1), with an interposed corner plate or bushing (7")
which rests on its top end on a perimetral ring (14) operationally defined in tube
(1), with said corner plate (7") acting to eliminate friction between spring (4")
and tube (1).
7. Support leg for bed foundations and the like, as claimed in claim 1, characterized
in that helical spring (4"') has a truncated cone shaped bottom segment, markedly
diverging in a downwards sense which on the bottom ends in a corresponding corner
plate (3"), and a top cylindrical segment which is tightly fitted inside the lower
end of tube (1), so that the opening of said tube rests directly on the coil of spring
(4"') where the diameter starts to increase, with the opening of tube (1) ending in
a corner plate (15) with ornamental purposes which is interpose between said opening
and said coil of spring (4''').