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(11) | EP 4 129 119 A1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCT FOR MAKING A SPRING MATTRESS, MATTRESS COMPRISING SAID SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCT AND RELATED METHOD |
| (57) Described is a semi-finished product (1) for making a spring mattress, comprising
a pack (2) of springs substantially having the shape of a parallelepiped and having
a lower face (3), an upper face (4) and four side faces (5), four longitudinal members
(6) each shaped to be positioned close to a respective said side face (5) of said
pack (2) of springs, said four longitudinal members (6) each being glued in a stable
fashion with a relative inner surface (7) to said respective side face (5) of said
pack (2) of springs.
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[0002] The invention also relates to a mattress comprising the above-mentioned semi-finished product.
[0003] The invention also relates to a method for making a semi-finished product for making a spring mattress and for making a spring mattress.
[0004] The term "spring mattress" means a mattress which comprises inside it a plurality of springs, also called a pack of springs, generally held together, for example, by a textile casing or by connecting elements.
[0005] As well as comprising the pack of springs the spring mattress also comprises at least one lower sheet made of resilient material, an upper sheet made of resilient material and a plurality of side faces, called longitudinal members, which are also made of resilient material.
[0006] Currently, the spring mattresses are made with strictly manual or semi-automatic procedures which consist in the following series of operating steps.
[0007] Firstly, the lower sheet is prepared and the pack of springs is positioned centrally on this.
[0008] The lower sheet extends for a greater area than the pack of springs in such a way as to leave free a peripheral strip on the lower sheet and allow the subsequent positioning of the above-mentioned longitudinal members on the strip.
[0009] The longitudinal members are glued on the lower sheet and are positioned only resting on the pack of springs. At this point, the upper sheet is positioned for closing the mattress with any overlapping of any further sheets with different resilience or other characteristics, known as "comfort layers".
[0011] A first major drawback is the fact that the operation for positioning the longitudinal members on the lower sheet can only be performed manually or with robotized arms or similar systems which are highly complex and expensive.
[0012] A further drawback is due to the fact that the step of pressing the longitudinal members on the lower sheet, since the glued surface has quite reduced dimensions (that is to say, the lower surface of just the longitudinal members), is more difficult to apply and the possibility of varying the position or the lack of glue on them is not uncommon.
[0013] The aim of the invention is therefore to provide a semi-finished product for making a spring mattress which is able to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art.
[0014] In particular, the aim of the invention is to provide a semi-finished product for making a spring mattress which allows the process for producing any spring mattress to be made automated, advantageously using the systems suitable for making mattresses of the superposed sheet type.
[0015] A further aim of the invention is to provide a spring mattress which is at the same time practical to use and simple and inexpensive to make.
[0016] According to the invention, these aims and others are achieved by a semi-finished product for making a spring mattress and a mattress comprising said semi-finished product having the technical features described in the appended claims.
[0017] The technical features of the invention, with reference to the above-mentioned aims, are clearly described in the appended claims and its advantages are apparent from the detailed description which follows, with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate purely non-limiting example embodiments of the invention, in which:
- Figure 1 is a schematic axonometric view of an embodiment of the semi-finished product for making a spring mattress according to the invention and
- Figure 2 is a schematic axonometric view of an embodiment of the mattress comprising the semi-finished product of Figure 1.
[0018] With reference to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 1 denotes in its entirety a semi-finished product for making a spring mattress 100 made in accordance with the invention, hereinafter also referred to simply as the semi-finished product 1.
[0019] The term semi-finished product 1 means a part or component designed to constitute a mattress 100 with the addition of a lower sheet and an upper sheet.
[0020] The semi-finished product 1 according to the invention comprises a pack 2 of springs substantially having the shape of a parallelepiped and having a lower face, an upper face and four side faces and four longitudinal members 6 each shaped to be positioned close to a respective side face of the pack 2 of springs. Depending on the dimensions of the mattress, the longitudinal members 6 have different lengths in pairs, in detail two for the side faces of the pack 2 of springs and two for its heads.
[0021] The four longitudinal members 6 are each glued stably with a relative inner surface, that is to say, facing towards the pack 2 of springs, to the respective side face of the pack 2 of springs.
[0022] Advantageously, the four longitudinal members 6 define in their entirety a rectangular frame of the pack 2 of springs, as shown in Figure 1.
[0023] The longitudinal members 6 are glued to the pack 2 of springs for example using acrylic water-based adhesives or polychloroprene, with or without pressing.
[0025] As shown in Figure 1, the longitudinal members 6 and the pack 2 of springs form, once the gluing operations have been performed, a single body having a sheet-like shape. The single body can be easily moved as a whole. Advantageously, each of the longitudinal members 6 also comprises at least one respective end portion which is glued to the adjacent longitudinal member in the frame. According to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the end portion is glued to the inner surface of an adjacent longitudinal member.
[0026] Further solutions are possible, for example, by making the longitudinal members 6 with their ends cut at 45°. The single body formed by the pack 2 of springs and by the four longitudinal members 6 therefore has each single element glued on all the elements adjacent to it and this makes it possible to obtain an optimised structural strength.
[0027] This strength is particularly useful when, once the semi-finished product 1 has been joined with a respective upper and/or lower sheet to form a mattress 100, the user sits on the edge of the bed engaging that specific area of the mattress 100.
[0028] The gluing of the longitudinal member to the corresponding face of the pack 2 of springs gives a much greater stability and drastically reduces the mechanical stress of the upper sheet of the mattress 100.
[0029] The pack 2 of springs has a main plane of extension with the extension perpendicular to the plane (the height of the pack 2 of springs) substantially equal to the extension of the longitudinal members 6 in the same direction (the height of the longitudinal members 6). Further embodiments also possible in which the pack 2 of springs is higher than the height of the longitudinal members in order to create a sort of "convexity" of the surface in the central zone of the mattress.
[0030] The pack 2 of springs may be both of the type comprising bagged springs and of the type with non-bagged springs. If the pack 2 comprises springs contained in respective bags the inner surface of the longitudinal members 6 (that is, the one facing towards the pack 2) is glued on the bags of springs.
[0031] If, on the other hand, the pack 2 of springs comprises springs made of wire-like material without these being inserted inside respective bags, the inner surface of the longitudinal members 6 is glued directly on the springs, that is to say, on the wire-like material of the springs.
[0032] Also in the case of a pack 2 of springs comprising faux springs made of resilient materials similar to expanded polyurethane, the longitudinal members 6 can be glued directly on their surface.
[0033] With reference to Figure 2, the invention relates to a mattress 100 comprising at least one lower sheet 101, at least an upper sheet 102 and a semi-finished product 1 according to the invention and glued to the lower sheet 101 and to the upper sheet 102.
[0034] Advantageously, the lower sheet 101 and the upper sheet 102 have a main plane of extension and on it a surface of the same area as the semi-finished product 1 (that is to say, the sum of the area of the pack 2 of springs and that of the four longitudinal members 6 joined together with the pack 2).
[0035] In order to obtain an adequate structural strength of the mattress 100 the semi-finished product 1 is glued to the lower sheet 101 and to the upper sheet 102 at least by means, respectively, of the lower and upper surface of the longitudinal members 6.
[0036] Another object of the invention is a method for making a semi-finished product 1 for making a spring mattress 100 and a spring mattress 100 comprising the above-mentioned semi-finished product.
[0037] The method comprises the following steps, in the precise order:
- preparing a pack 2 of springs substantially having the shape of a parallelepiped and having a lower face, an upper face and four side faces;
- preparing four longitudinal members 6 each shaped to be positioned close to a respective said side face of said pack 2 of springs;
- gluing each of said four longitudinal members 6 in a stable fashion with a relative inner surface to said respective side face 5 of the pack 2 of springs to form a single body with a sheet-like shape.
[0038] The method also comprises the step of gluing at least one respective end portion of each of the four longitudinal members 6 to the adjacent longitudinal member.
[0039] This further gluing allows an increase in the mechanical strength of the semi-finished product 1 in its entirety. The method also relates to the making of a mattress 100 starting from a semi-finished product 1 according to the invention.
[0040] The method for making a mattress 100 therefore comprises the following steps, in the precise order:
- preparing a semi-finished product 1 comprising four longitudinal members 6 stably glued to the respective side walls of a pack 2 of springs, that is to say, to form a single sheet-like body,
- preparing a lower sheet 101 and an upper sheet 102,
- gluing the semi-finished product 1 to the lower sheet 101 and to the upper sheet 102.
[0041] The semi-finished product 1 and the mattress 100 as well as the method according to the invention achieve the preset aims, overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and achieve important advantages.
[0042] A first advantage consists in the fact that a mattress 100 made from a semi-finished product 1 according to the invention can be achieved by using a traditional system for making mattresses with superposed sheets.
[0043] In fact, from a point of view of production process, the semi-finished product 1 can be managed as a single sheet. This is very advantageous in terms of productivity since with a single type of production plant (machines designed for processing sheets) it is possible to produce both the main types of mattresses (with springs and sheets). This is made possible mainly by the fact that a semi-finished product 1 according to the invention can be manipulated as if it were an actual sheet.
[0044] In detail, the pack 2 of springs and the respective four side longitudinal members 6 once glued together form a single body with a sheet-like shape, and therefore, which can be processed and manipulated as if it were an actual sheet of foamy material (memory or the like).
[0045] A further advantage consists in the fact that the operations for pressing (and therefore finalising the gluing) the individual longitudinal members 6 (and the pack 2 of springs) on the lower sheet 101 of the mattress is much more practical and efficient than that of the prior art.
[0046] This in particular is due to the fact that when the longitudinal members 6 are glued and pressed on the lower sheet 101 they are not single elements (and for this reason they are very mobile relative to their position, as in the prior art) but are all constrained together with the pack 2 of springs, thus resulting in, to all intents and purposes, a single sheet-like body.
[0047] A further advantage of the invention consists in the fact that once a semi-finished product 1 has been made it is possible to associate various types of lower and/or upper sheets by gluing.
[0048] From a production point of view, this advantage is very important since the manufacturer can decide whether to produce and store a plurality of semi-finished products 1 all having the same mechanical properties and associating on each of them, depending on the requirements of the individual mattress 100 being produced, different types of lower and/or upper sheets each time.
[0049] In short, the semi-finished product 1 according to the invention constitutes the central element around which the manufacturer then decides to make a multiplicity of mattresses 100 having strength characteristics (overall hardness and softness) which are variable as a function of the mechanical characteristics of the lower and/or upper sheet which is subsequently glued to the semi-finished product 1.
1. A semi-finished product (1) for the subsequent making of a spring mattress, comprising:
- a pack (2) of springs substantially having the shape of a parallelepiped and having a lower face, an upper face and four side faces;
- four longitudinal members (6) each shaped to be positioned close to a respective said side face of said pack (2) of springs;
said four longitudinal members (6) each being glued stably with a relative inner surface to said respective side face (5) of said pack (2) of springs to form a single and sheet-like body.2. The semi-finished product (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein said four
longitudinal members (6) define in their entirety a rectangular frame of said pack
(2) of springs.
3. The semi-finished product (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein each of said
longitudinal members (6) has at least one respective end portion which is glued to
the adjacent longitudinal member in said frame.
4. The semi-finished product (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein said at least
one end portion is glued to said inner surface of an adjacent longitudinal member.
5. The semi-finished product (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein
said pack of springs has a main plane of extension characterised in that the extension of said pack of springs in a direction perpendicular to said plane
is substantially equal to the extension of the longitudinal members in the same direction.
6. The semi-finished product (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein
said pack (2) of springs comprises springs contained in respective bags characterised in that the inner surface of said longitudinal members (6) is glued on said bags of said
springs.
7. The semi-finished product (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said
pack (2) of springs comprises springs made of wire-like material characterised in that said inner surface of said longitudinal members (6) is glued on said wire-like material
of the springs.
8. A mattress (100) comprising:
- at least one lower sheet (101),
- at least one upper sheet (102) and
- a semi-finished product (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, said semi-finished product (1) being glued to said lower sheet (101) and to said upper sheet (102).
9. The mattress (100) according to claim 8, wherein said lower sheet (101) and said upper
sheet (102) have a main plane of extension characterised in that said sheets (101, 102) have a surface of the same area as said semi-finished product
(1).
10. The mattress (100) according to claim 8 or 9, wherein said semi-finished product (1)
is glued to said lower (101) and upper (102) sheets at least by respectively lower
and upper surfaces of said longitudinal members (6).
11. A method for making a semi-finished product (1) for making a spring mattress (100)
comprising the following steps, in the precise order:
- preparing a pack (2) of springs substantially having the shape of a parallelepiped and having a lower face, an upper face and four side faces;
- preparing four longitudinal members (6) each shaped to be positioned close to a respective said side face of said pack (2) of springs;
- gluing each of said four longitudinal members (6) in a stable fashion with a relative inner surface to said respective side face (5) of the pack (2) of springs to form a single body having a sheet-like shape.
12. The method according to claim 11, also comprising the step of gluing at least one
respective end portion of each of said four longitudinal members (6) to the adjacent
longitudinal member.
13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, also comprising the steps of
- preparing said semi-finished product (1) comprising said pack (2) of springs and said four longitudinal members (6),
- preparing a lower sheet (101) and an upper sheet (102),
- gluing said semi-finished product (1) to said lower sheet (101) and to said upper sheet (102) to form a mattress (100).