Height adjustable pillow

Abstract

A height adjustable pillow includes an extendable and resilient pillow body and an air cushion installed in a chamber inside the pillow body. The pillow body is made of soft plastic, rubber or foam products of plastic and rubber. The air cushion can be charged or discharged to adjust the thickness of the pillow, providing comfort with firm support and enhancing sleep quality.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

I. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to a height adjustable pillow and, more specifically, to a pillow having an extendable and resilient pillow body, inside which installed an air cushion that can be charged or discharged. By adjusting the amount of air filled in the air cushion, the thickness of the pillow can be manipulated.

II. Description of the Prior Art

For a good night's sleep, a soft and fluffy pillow with flexibility is provided with build in head and neck support. A pillow of such construction is typically made of soft plastic, soft rubber, or foam products of plastic and rubber. It is also known to construct a pillow ergonomically designed to have a curved contour, with one higher hump and one lower hump. A pillow of this kind is typically made of special foams to provide pressure relief and is called “memory form”.

Such kind of pillow typically has limited sizes available, which means the shape and thickness can't be freely modified to fulfill different sleep needs. To manufacturers, providing multiple sizes of pillows is not economical since it inevitably increases cost for production and still may not suit all consumers' need. Although some adjustable pillows are available on the market, they are not well-design to meet the needs of consumers.

The present invention improves on the heretofore known pillow by providing an adjustable air cushion inside the pillow so that users can freely modify the thickness to suit their special needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a height adjustable pillow having a pillow body and an air cushion. The pillow body is extendable and resilient, made of soft plastic, rubber, or foam products of plastic and rubber. Inside the pillow body is a chamber for accommodating the air cushion. By charging or discharging air through a valve, the thickness of the pillow can be easily modified.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a height adjustable pillow, of which the air cushion can be freely charged and discharged so that users can modify the thickness of the pillow to create sleep comfort.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an explosive view of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an embodiment shown in FIG. 1 while being adjusted height;

FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of the cross sectional view of an embodiment in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 in which the air cushion is being charged;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an air cushion of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic drawing of an embodiment in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the present invention discloses a height adjustable pillow 1, comprising a pillow body 10 and an air cushion 20. The pillow body 10 is made of soft plastic, rubber or foam products of plastic and rubber and thus is extendable and resilient, always resuming its original shape after being squeezed or pulled. The pillow body 10 can be of any shape. For example, the pillow body 10 can have an ergonomically-designed, curved contour with a higher hump 12 in the front and a lower hump 13 in the rear of the surface 11, as shown in FIG. 5. The pillow body 10 can be covered by a pillow case 30. Moreover, inside the pillow body 10, there is a flat and thin chamber 14 which is produced in different ways. For example, the chamber 14 may form its shape during the foaming process of the pillow body 10. The horizontal area of the chamber 14 is expected to cover most of the area of the surface 11, as shown in FIG. 3. A ceiling 15 of the chamber 14 is expected to keep an adequate distance from the surface 11 to ensure that the pillow body 10 provides soft and firm support.

The air cushion 20 is designed to fit the shape and size of the chamber 14 so that the air cushion 20 can be put into the chamber 14 and fill the space in the chamber 14 when the air cushion 20 is fully charged with air. There are two ways of fitting the air cushion 20 in the chamber 14. First, the chamber 14 is thin and flat, with only one lining (not shown in the figures). As the air cushion 20 is discharged, the air cushion 20 is almost flat and will not affect the height of the pillow body 10 or the surface 11 when it is inserted to the chamber 14. Since the space in the chamber 14 is small, and the pillow body 10 is firm and resilient, the pillow body 10 does not depend on the air in the air cushion 20 for support, and so the surface 11 is able to maintain its normal altitude as the air cushion 20 is discharged. Second, the chamber 14 is large enough to leave a relatively empty space, as can be seen in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. As the air cushion 20 in the chamber 14 is discharged, the air cushion 20 is flat, and the surface 11 is at a relatively lower altitude. The air cushion 20 has to be charged to fill the space in the chamber 14. With air filling the space in the chamber 14, the surface 11 goes up and resumes its normal altitude.

Refer to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the top layer 21 of the air cushion 20 serves as a supporting plane that moves vertically to support the ceiling 15 of the chamber 14. The inner space of the air cushion 20 is evenly segmented into a plurality of air cells 22 that are connected with each other and of the same size. While being charged or discharged, the air cells 22 of the air cushion 20 expand or shrink evenly so that the entire top layer 21 maintain at the same altitude to support the ceiling 15 of the chamber 14 and make the surface 11 go up and down. The valve 23 of the air cushion 20 is positioned at an opening of the chamber 14 in the pillow body 10.

To adjust the altitude of the surface 11 of the pillow 1, users can apply any kind of air pump 2, as shown in FIG. 2, to charge or discharge the air cushion 20 (the air pump 2 can be included in the product package, going with the pillow 1). With evenly expanding or shrinking of the air cushion 20, the altitude of the top layer 21 changes. As achieving the optimal altitude of the surface 11, users close the valve 23, as shown in FIG. 6, and then enjoy the best degree of comfort.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be readily understood and appreciated that numerous omissions, changes and additions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A height adjustable pillow comprising a pillow body and an air cushion,

wherein the pillow body is extendable and resilient, having a chamber that covers most of the area of the surface of the pillow body and having a ceiling;

the air cushion matching the size and the shape of the chamber of the pillow body is disposed inside the chamber, filling the space of the chamber, and having a plurality of air cells connected with each other, arranged in parallel, and forming a top layer for supporting the ceiling of the chamber.

2. The height adjustable pillow as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pillow body is made of soft plastic.

3. The height adjustable pillow as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pillow body is made of soft rubber.

4. The height adjustable pillow as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pillow body is made of plastic foam.

5. The height adjustable pillow as claimed in claim 1, wherein the pillow body is made of foam rubber material.

6. The height adjustable pillow as claimed in claim 1, wherein the air cushion having a valve arranged on an opening of the chamber of the pillow body.