BOX SPRING COVER

A box spring cover comprising a piece of fabric having a top portion, a bottom portion and a center portion extending between the top portion and the bottom portion, the fabric sized to extend around the periphery of a box spring; a first band of elastic secured to and extending along the top portion of the fabric; and a second band of elastic secured to and extending along the bottom portion of the fabric.

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Description
REFERENCE TO PENDING PRIOR PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims benefit of:

(1) pending prior U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/381,273, filed Sep. 9, 2010 by Katherine Kelly and Renee Fiore for BOX SPRING COVERING AND PILLOW KEEPER (Attorney's Docket No. KR-1 PROV);

(2) pending prior U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/507,875, filed Jul. 14, 2011 by Katherine Kelly and Renee Fiore for BOX SPRING COVERING AND PILLOW KEEPER (Attorney's Docket No. KR-2 PROV); and

(3) pending prior U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/524,681, filed Aug. 17, 2011 by Katherine Kelly and Renee Fiore for BOX SPRING COVER (Attorney's Docket No. KR-7 PROV).

The above-identified patent applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to bedding in general, and more particularly to a box spring cover.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional bed skirts are made from a flat piece of fabric which extends across and completely covers the top of a box spring (or other type of mattress foundation) and a skirt which is attached to the flat piece of fabric and extends approximately from the top of the box spring downward toward the floor.

In order to place a conventional bed skirt on a box spring, it is necessary to remove the mattress from the box spring so that the flat panel portion of the bed skirt can be properly positioned on the box spring with the skirt depending from the flat panel portion of the conventional bed skirt to cover the sides of the box spring and a portion or all of the space between the bottom of the box spring and the floor.

Removing a mattress from a box spring can be very difficult, especially for one person, because of the large size and weight of the mattress.

Maintaining a conventional bed skirt in a desired position between a mattress and a bed skirt can also be a challenge. Conventional bed skirts tend to move from the desired position, especially when the bedding is being adjusted. During bed making, for example, when sheets and blankets are tucked between a mattress and a box spring, all or a portion of the conventional bed skirt may be tucked between the mattress and the box spring along with the portion of the sheets or blankets that is being tucked between the mattress and the box spring. This can sometimes lead to an uneven appearance of the bed skirt, with some portions of the bed skirt being closer to the supporting floor surface (or further below the bottom of the box spring) than other portions of the bed skirt. Consequently, the person making the bed often has to readjust the bed skirt to ensure that the bottom of the bed skirt displays a more even appearance while simultaneously ensuring that the sheets and/or blankets do not become untucked.

Various modifications to the conventional bed skirt have been designed, however, none of these modifications have resulted in a decorative box spring cover that is easy enough for one person to position on a box spring without having to remove the mattress from the box spring, and that does not need to be readjusted each time the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

An example of such a modification is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,112 to Bible et al. (“Bible”). Bible discloses a bed ruffle which can be installed on a mattress foundation, such as a box spring, without removing an upper mattress from the mattress foundation. The Bible bed ruffle comprises a single band of elastically stretchable material to which a separate decorative skirt is attached in overlapping relation therewith. The single band of elastically stretchable material forms a closed loop adapted to be stretched to pass over the upper mattress and be grippingly retained on the sides of the mattress foundation with a top edge portion of the single band of elastically stretchable material extending over and elastically gripping a top edge of the mattress foundation, a lower edge portion of the single band of elastically stretchable material extending under and elastically gripping a bottom edge of the mattress foundation, and a central portion of the single band of elastically stretchable material covering and elastically gripping the sides of the mattress foundation. The attached decorative skirt covers at least a portion of the central portion of the single band of elastically stretchable material and extends downwardly beyond the central portion of the single band of elastically stretchable material to at least partially cover the space between the mattress foundation and a supporting floor surface.

The Bible design facilitates the installation and removal of the bed ruffle without having to remove the mattress from the box spring, however, a number of shortcomings remain.

In particular, the Bible bed ruffle is designed to stretch to fit a range of bed sizes, e.g., from twin to full or from queen to king. Since the elastically stretchable material must stretch enough to fit larger sized beds, that same band of elastically stretchable material when positioned on a smaller sized bed, will inherently have a looser fit than when the bed ruffle is positioned on a larger sized bed. This in turn could lead to a significant amount of fabric loosely, unevenly and undesirably, hanging from the side of a smaller sized bed. Not only could such looser fit be less aesthetically pleasing, but any loosely hanging fabric would be more likely to require readjustment each time the bed is made or the bed sheets or blankets are changed.

Thus there is still a need for a decorative box spring cover that is easy enough for one person to position on a box spring without having to remove the mattress from the box spring, and that does not need to be readjusted each time the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention are addressed by the provision and use of a new and improved box spring cover.

Among other things, this new and improved box spring cover performs the functions of a conventional bed skirt while being easy enough for one person to position on a box spring without having to remove the mattress from the box spring, and which does not need to be readjusted each time that the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

In one form of the present invention, there is provided a box spring cover comprising:

a piece of fabric having a top portion, a bottom portion and a center portion extending between the top portion and the bottom portion, the fabric sized to extend around the periphery of a box spring;

a first band of elastic secured to and extending along the top portion of the fabric; and

a second band of elastic secured to and extending along the bottom portion of the fabric.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects and features of the present invention will be more fully disclosed or rendered obvious by the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, which is to be considered together with the accompanying drawings wherein like numbers refer to like parts, and further wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of box spring cover formed in accordance with the present invention wherein the box spring cover is shown as it would appear when installed on a box spring but with the box spring removed for clarity;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of a mattress and the box spring cover of FIG. 1 installed on a box spring;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the box spring cover of FIG. 1 installed on a box spring with a mattress and bed frame;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an alternative box spring cover formed in accordance with the present invention wherein the box spring cover is shown as it would appear when installed on a box spring but with the box spring removed for clarity;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the box spring cover of FIG. 4 installed on a box spring with a mattress and bed frame;

FIG. 6 is a side view of an additional box spring cover formed in accordance with the present invention wherein the box spring cover is installed on a box spring with a mattress;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an additional box spring cover formed in accordance with the present invention wherein the box spring cover is installed on a box spring with a mattress and bed frame;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the box spring cover of FIG. 7 with the top and bottom portions of the box spring cover pulled away from the box spring to show additional details of the box spring cover of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an additional box spring cover formed in accordance with the present invention wherein the box spring cover is shown installed on a box spring with a mattress and a bed frame; and

FIG. 10 is an additional view of the box spring cover of FIG. 9.

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides a new and improved box spring cover which performs the functions of a conventional bed skirt while being easy enough for one person to position on a box spring without having to remove the mattress from the box spring, and which does not need to be readjusted each time that the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

Looking now at FIGS. 1-3, there is shown one embodiment of a box spring cover 5. Box spring cover 5 comprises a decorative fabric 10 sized to extend around the sides of a box spring, a top band of elastic 15 secured to and extending along the top portion of fabric 10, and a bottom band of elastic 20 secured to and extending along the bottom portion of fabric 10. The size of box spring cover 5 is specifically designed to fit a particular bed size, (e.g., California king, king (two box springs), queen, twin (one box spring), etc.) so that elastic bands 15 and 20 will always fit snugly around the top and bottom portions, respectively, of the box spring when box spring cover 5 is positioned on a box spring. Preferably, the amount of fabric positioned between top elastic band 15 and bottom elastic band 20 is selected to accommodate standard sized box springs and is approximately 15 inches in width. However, if desired, the width may be varied during the manufacturing process to accommodate box springs of different or varying heights.

In use, box spring cover 5 may preferably be positioned on a box spring as follows.

Place one corner of box spring cover 5 around one corner of the mattress, slide that corner of box spring cover 5 down that corner of the mattress and continue sliding box spring cover 5 down to, and over, the box spring so that bottom elastic band 20 is positioned under the bottom portion of the box spring. Next, proceed to an adjacent corner of the mattress, position a second corner of box spring cover 5 around that corner of the mattress, slide that second corner of box spring cover 5 down that corner of the mattress and continue sliding box spring cover 5 down, until bottom elastic band 20 is positioned under the bottom portion of the box spring. At this time, fabric 10 covers the side of the box spring and top band 15 is positioned above the top portion of the box spring. The user may then simply slide the remaining corners of box spring cover 5 over the remaining two corners of the box spring in the same manner as the first two corners.

Once box spring cover 5 is properly positioned, elastic bands 15 and 20 of box spring cover 5 will fit snugly around the box spring with elastic band 15 gripping the top portion of the box spring and secured between the bottom of the mattress and the top of the box spring, and elastic band 20 gripping the bottom portion of the box spring and secured between the bottom of the box spring and the bed foundation and/or bed frame.

Box spring cover 5 of the present invention allows a single user to simply slip box spring cover 5 over the mattress so that box spring cover 5 can be fit onto the box spring, thus avoiding the need to lift the mattress. Additionally, since the size of the box spring cover is specifically designed to fit a particular bed size, (e.g., California king, king (two box springs), queen, twin (one box spring), etc.), rather than to be a “one size fits all” box spring cover, elastic bands 15 and 20 will always fit snugly and will grippingly retain box spring cover 5 around the top and bottom portions of the box spring when box spring cover 5 is positioned on a box spring. This construction eliminates the need to tuck in any extra fabric that might hang from the side of the bed if the box spring cover was designed to stretch to a size which was large enough to fit all bed sizes. Additionally, since box spring cover 5 fits snugly around the top and bottom portions of a box spring, box spring cover 5 will remain in place when the bedding is adjusted. Accordingly, box spring cover 5 provides a box spring cover which does not need to be readjusted each time the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

In another form of the present invention, and looking now at FIGS. 4 and 5, a pocket 25 may be attached to box spring cover 5. Pocket 25 may be formed by attaching, such as by stitching, an additional piece or pieces of fabric onto box spring cover 5 so as to create a pouch on the side of box spring cover 5. If desired, one or more pockets may be sewn on to one or more sides of box spring cover 5. Pocket 25 may be useful for holding items that are sometimes used while lying in bed, such as a television remote control, book or portable or mobile telephone.

Furthermore, if desired, pocket 25 may also be formed with an elastic band running along its top periphery so as to create a more enclosed pouch that can better contain the contents of pocket 25 and decrease the likelihood of the contents falling out.

In another form of the present invention, a skirt may be attached along some portion of fabric 10 in such a manner that the skirt extends down from box spring cover 5 to at least partially cover the space between the box spring and the floor.

Looking now at FIG. 6, there is shown another embodiment of box spring cover 5 also formed in accordance with the present invention. The box spring cover shown in FIG. 6 is similar to the box spring cover shown in FIGS. 1-3 except that the length of fabric 10 extending around the sides of the box spring is sized to create a “pleated” look when the box spring cover is properly positioned on a box spring. More particularly, in this embodiment, the length of fabric 10 may be made longer than is required to fit around the sides of the box spring on which box spring cover 5 is to be installed, while top elastic band 15 and bottom elastic band 20 are still of a length appropriate to allow box spring cover 5 to be grippingly retained on the box spring. Since elastic bands 15 and 20 of box spring cover 5 fit snugly around the box spring once box spring cover 5 has been properly positioned on a box spring, with elastic band 15 gripping the top portion of the box spring and secured between the bottom of the mattress and the top of the box spring, and elastic band 20 gripping the bottom of the box spring and secured between the bottom of the box spring and the bed foundation and/or bed frame, the additional length of fabric 10 will be pulled against itself to create a “pleated” look to box spring cover 5.

Looking now at FIGS. 7 and 8, there is shown another embodiment of box spring cover 5 also formed in accordance with the present invention. The box spring cover shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is similar to the box spring cover shown in FIGS. 1-3 except that the amount of fabric 10 between top elastic band 15 and bottom elastic band 20 is sized such that when top elastic band 15 is positioned around the top portion of the box spring and bottom elastic band 20 is positioned around the bottom portion of the box spring, the fabric between the two elastic bands will “cascade” from top elastic band 15 over bottom elastic band 20 and toward the floor. This allows box spring cover 5 to cover not only the sides of the box spring itself, but also the frame of the bed and all or some of the area between the bed and the floor. The length of fabric 10 cascading from top elastic band 15 over bottom elastic band 20 can be varied by moving top elastic band 15 towards or away from the center of the box spring so as to lengthen or shorten the drop of box spring cover 5. Preferably, the amount of fabric positioned between the top elastic band and the bottom elastic band is selected to accommodate standard sized box springs and is approximately 32 inches in width. However, if desired, the width may be varied during the manufacturing process to accommodate box springs of different or varying heights.

As shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, one or more pockets 25 may also be attached to the box spring cover 5 shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 in the same manner discussed above.

Each of the foregoing constructions provides a box spring cover 5 which allows a single user to simply slip box spring cover 5 over the mattress so that box spring cover 5 can be fit onto the box spring, thus avoiding the need to lift the mattress. Additionally, since the size of box spring cover 5 is specifically designed to fit a particular bed size, (e.g., California king, king (two box springs), queen, twin (one box spring), etc.) rather than as a “one size fits all” box spring cover, elastic bands 15 and 20 will always fit snugly and be grippingly retained on box spring cover 5 around the top and bottom portions of the box spring when box spring cover 5 is positioned on a box spring. This construction eliminates the need to tuck in any extra fabric that might hang from the side of the bed if the box spring cover was designed to stretch to a size which was large enough to fit all bed sizes. Additionally, since box spring cover 5 fits snugly around the top and bottom portions of a box spring, box spring cover 5 will remain in place when the bedding is adjusted (e.g., changing the sheets, making the bed, etc.).

Furthermore, the simple, yet novel design of the box spring cover of the present invention, which requires a band of elastic secured to the top of a piece of fabric and a band of elastic secured to the bottom of the same piece of fabric, provides a number of different configurations (e.g., a relatively flat panel of fabric such as that shown in FIGS. 1-3, a “pleated” panel of fabric such as that shown in FIG. 6, a “cascading” panel of fabric such as that shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, etc.) all by altering the size of the fabric between the two bands of elastic. Furthermore, since the fabric between the two bands of elastic does not need to be formed out of an elastically stretchable material, the fabric may be of any number of colors or materials, without the need to select a material that would grip the sides of the box spring, as is the case in the prior art. Thus, the box spring cover of the present invention has the added benefit of providing a decorative function that cannot be realized from the prior art.

General Construction

Box spring cover 5 can be used with a variety of bed frames, including but not limited to, metal frames, wood frames, platform frames and sleigh beds.

Similarly, box spring cover 5 is designed to fit all standard box spring heights between approximately 8 inches and 10 inches. Box spring cover 5 can be fitted to accommodate variations in box spring height by sliding or otherwise positioning top elastic band 15 further between the mattress and box spring and/or bottom elastic band 20 further between the box spring and the bed frame.

Preferably, top elastic band 15 and bottom elastic band 20 are made of a heavy duty, waistband-like elastic material which is approximately ¾ inch to approximately 1 inch thick.

The fabric and elastic bands of box spring cover 5 may be designed to allow the box spring cover to be machine washable or dry cleanable, and to make it durable enough to undergo repeated washings without comprising the materials. This is a significant improvement over conventional bed skirts that use hook and loop attachment mechanisms, such as VELCRO®, to secure the conventional bed skirt to the box spring because such mechanisms often lose their retention capabilities after being subjected to repeated washing and drying (or dry cleaning), thus requiring the replacement of such bed skirts. If desired, the fabric of box spring cover 5 may also be made of a wrinkle-resistant material so that it does not need to be ironed, and may be manufactured in a variety of colors and fabric types.

If desired, weights or snaps may be added to the corners of the box spring cover to further secure the box spring cover to the box spring and/or to improve the aesthetic qualities of box spring cover 5.

Modifications of the Preferred Embodiments

It should be understood that many additional changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts, which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of the present invention, may be made by those skilled in the art while still remaining within the principles and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A box spring cover comprising:

a piece of fabric having a top portion, a bottom portion and a center portion extending between the top portion and the bottom portion, the fabric sized to extend around the periphery of a box spring;
a first band of elastic secured to and extending along the top portion of the fabric; and
a second band of elastic secured to and extending along the bottom portion of the fabric.

2. The box spring cover of claim 1 further comprising at least one pocket positioned on the fabric.

3. The box spring cover of claim 1 wherein the fabric is sized to lay flat along the periphery of the box spring.

4. The box spring cover of claim 1 wherein the fabric is sized to be pleated along the periphery of the box spring.

5. The box spring cover of claim 1 wherein the fabric is sized to cascade from the first band of elastic and over the second band of elastic.

Patent History
Publication number: 20120066835
Type: Application
Filed: Sep 9, 2011
Publication Date: Mar 22, 2012
Inventors: Katherine Kelly (Smithtown, NY), Renee Fiore (Lighthouse Point, FL)
Application Number: 13/229,366
Classifications
Current U.S. Class: Valance (5/493); Adapted To Contact Mattress (5/499)
International Classification: A47C 21/00 (20060101); A47G 9/00 (20060101);