Bed safety barrier

Abstract

A bumper made of a resilient urethane foam which has been molded and/or cut to form an elongated, solid core body that self-adheres to a bed's mattress casing, cover or pad and can be secured in place there without the use of any mechanical fasteners. Stretched out lengthwise along one side of a bed, the bumper, which bulges upwardly from the bed's mattress, resembles, in transverse cross-section, a traffic speed bump and has sufficient structural strength and height to help keep a person, reclining on the bed, from unintentionally rolling over the bumper and accidentally falling off of the bed.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a self-adhering device which can be temporarily mounted atop the casing of an intact mattress or the like and which, so mounted, bulges upwardly, along a narrow, elongated band, from a bed. More particularly, the invention relates to such a device which can be deployed as a safety barrier to help keep a young child or a sick or elderly adult, while he or she is utilizing the bed, from inadvertently rolling off of it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the invention is to provide a lightweight, portable barrier which, when positioned on top of a mattress or mattress pad or cover, can be secured in place there proximate with the side of a bed, without using any mechanical fasteners, but rather by inducing naturally-occurring forces of adhesion to act and cause the barrier to cling to the mattress' casing or, alternately, to the mattress pad or cover at their mutual interface.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a barrier in which not only do the naturally-occurring forces of adhesion keep it from sliding sideways but also the barrier possesses sufficient structural strength and height to prevent a person, reclining on the bed, from unintentionally rolling over the barrier.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a barrier which can be so secured in place proximate with the upper end of a mattress in order to keep pillows and the like from falling into the gap between a bed's headboard and the mattress.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a bumper made of a resilient, open cell urethane foam which has been molded and/or cut to form an elongated body with a solid core of said urethane foam. Preferably, this elongated body defines two longitudinally extending exterior surfaces: a wide, flat-faced base and a convex upper surface, the lower edges of which intersect the base's outer periphery. Arching upwardly therefrom, the convex upper surface spans each of the bumper's transverse cross-sections along an arc which has a radius of curvature that is only about one-half as long as the base is wide.

Induction of the naturally-occurring forces of adhesion at a bumper/mattress or the like interface simply requires that an installer press the bumper's base against the mattress casing, pad or cover. This pressing action, while it can be performed with the use of almost no effort, is necessary to deform certain open cells of the urethane foam, which are otherwise present as air-filled pockets. Those open cells which are so deformed and occupy sites on the flat-faced base itself then function as tiny suction cups to grip the mattress casing, pad or cover. Also augmenting the forces of adhesion imparted by these tiny suction cups when they act in mass are electrostatic forces. The latter stem from differences in the material properties of the urethane foam and of the strong cloth or fabric which are paired together at said interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bumper according to the present invention, the bumper being shown secured in place on top of a mattress and positioned next to a reclining person so as to prevent him from inadvertently rolling, from his right side, off of the bed;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the bumper according to FIG. 1, the bumper being shown beneath a cover sheet;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the bumper according to the present invention, the bumper shown having a longitudinally extending convex upper surface;

FIG. 4 is a transverse cross-section of the bumper according to FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a transverse cross-section of an alternate embodiment of the bumper according to the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a transverse cross-section of a further alternate embodiment of the bumper according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the drawings, the safety barrier or bumper according to this invention is indicated generally by the reference numeral 10. Basically in the shape of an elongated body, the bumper's overall length, which can be one of a wide range of lengths, depends upon which of many barrier-type uses the bumper 10 has been designed to perform. Among the longest bumpers 10 are those which, in use, stretch out lengthwise, speed bump-like, along the side of a full-size mattress and which are secured in place there with the goal of helping to keep a recumbent adult from accidentally falling off of the bed (FIG. 1).

Regardless of the elongated body's overall length, the bumper 10, in transverse cross-section, is generally limited to those configurations in which the free-standing bumper's height is about one-half the width of its broad, flat-faced base 11. Tests have shown that a buffer 10 which measures, by way of example, 4.5 inches in height and 9 inches in transverse base width is more than adequate, for even the longer versions of this safety barrier, to keep a person from inadvertently rolling over it.

Fabricated from a resilient, open cell urethane foam or the like, the bumper 10 is formed with a solid core 12 which terminates downwardly in the flat-faced base 11. There a multitude of tiny open pores, which constitute an intrinsic part of the urethane foam's cellular structure, line the bumper's underside. Otherwise present as air-filled pockets, these open pores can be easily deformed; and in the process, they become tiny suction cups which grip a mattress' casing 16, pad or cover when the base 11 is pressed against it. Augmenting the gripping action of these tiny suction cups are electrostatic forces which arise because of differences in the material properties of the urethane foam and of the cloth or fabric that makes up the casing, pad or cover.

In addition, whenever the bumper 10 has been self-adhered to a mattress' casing 16, pad or cover and then topped with a fitted sheet, electrostatic forces, acting at the interface between it and the bumper's upper surface 15, also work to keep the bumper immobile (FIG. 2). Furthermore, by positioning the self-adhering bumper 10 so that it is sandwiched between a fitted sheet and the mattress' casing or the like, one can virtually eliminate the possibility that a person, lying on the bed, will unwittingly entrap himself beneath the bumper.

Also contributing to the forces of adhesion which secure the bumper 10 in place and keep it from sliding sideways when a person, with his body stretched out lengthwise, rolls against the bumper is the fact that it has a pair of longitudinally extending, wedge-like structures 13, 14; and each of them tapers in a direction away from the longitudinal centerline of the bumper's upper surface 15 and terminates downwardly along the outer periphery of the flat-faced base 11 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The presence of these generally bilaterally symmetrical structures 13, 14 insures that a recumbent person, as he rolls against the bumper 10 and hence begins to push it horizontally, will simultaneously put a substantial portion of his body weight onto one of the bumper's wedge-like structures. As a consequence, this structure will then be pinched against the mattress' casing or, alternately, against its pad or cover, thus adding to the forces of adhesion which keep the bumper 10 from sliding sideways.

In the preferred embodiment, the bumper 10 is fabricated from an open cell urethane foam manufactured by the Austin Co. and known as product No. 1130. The “1130” assigned to this product stands for the fact that the weight of the material is 1.1 pounds per cubic foot and its measure of softness is “30”. Moreover, for optimum adhesion, the material is preferably one with open pores.

In general, the stiffness of the urethane foam in a bumper 10 can be controlled on the basis of the product number selected. Thus, a fabricator can choose a relatively soft urethane foam when the bumper 10 is to be used with a small child but a more firm material when an older person needs a bed safety barrier.

Made by casting it in a mold or by cutting it from a large bun of urethane foam or a like foam plastic material, the bumper's elongated body can be fabricated in various bilaterally symmetrical configurations, each of which is generally uniform in transverse cross-section (FIGS. 4-6). In order to provide sufficient surface contact at the buffer/mattress interface, each such configuration has a flat-faced base with a transverse width that is greater than the bumper's overall height by a ratio of about 2:1.

Moreover, as illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, those configurations in which the bumper's surface upwardly of its flat-faced base includes at least two longitudinally extending, generally planar sections 25, 26; 35, 36, 37 also have rounded transition zones that connect adjoining pairs of such planar sections, so that sharp edges which might otherwise be formed between them are eliminated.

Like the bumper 10 with its convex upper surface 15, a bumper having a generally trapezoidal transverse cross-section (FIG. 6) has been found to be ideal for use in many bed safety barrier-type applications. For a narrower bed or one which two children share, a bumper having a generally triangular transverse cross-section, as illustrated in FIG. 5, is suitable.

Claims

1. A bumper adapted for use with a casing for a bed mattress, the casing forming an integral part thereof, which comprises:

(a) an elongated, solid core body made of a resilient, open cell urethane foam, the elongated, solid core body having a skinless base with a wide, generally flat face which has a pair of spaced apart, longitudinally extending peripheral edges, the flat face, upon its being induced to slide generally horizontally across, and in direct contact with, a taut portion of the casing, immediately gripping onto said taut portion as naturally-occurring forces of adhesion keep the flat face from sliding further horizontally; and

(b) wherein the elongated, solid core body defines a convex upper surface which intersects the longitudinally extending peripheral edges and arches upwardly therefrom, the convex upper surface spanning each of the body's transverse cross-sections along an arc which has a radius of curvature that is only about one-half as long as the base is wide, the elongated, solid core body being sufficiently tall that when the flat face, across substantially its entire length and breadth, so grips onto the casing and is stretched out lengthwise atop the mattress, and proximate with and generally parallel to one of the mattress' sides, said body can function as a safety barrier to help keep a recumbent person from rolling over said barrier and off of the bed.

2. The bumper according to claim 1, wherein the convex upper surface is further characterized as being bilaterally symmetrical, the elongated, solid core body thus defining a pair of conjoined longitudinally extending structures, each of which terminates downwardly from the longitudinal centerline of the convex upper surface, each such structure, when pinched against the mattress' casing, acting with the naturally-occurring forces of adhesion to keep the flat face from sliding sideways.

3. A system which consists of a bumper and a casing for a bed mattress, the casing forming an integral part of the mattress, the bumper comprising:

(a) an elongated, solid core body made of a resilient, open cell urethane foam, the elongated, solid core body having a skinless, wide, longitudinally extending, generally flat face which, when pressed, during installation, against a taut portion of the mattress casing and in direct contact therewith, is induced to grip onto said taut portion in response to naturally-occurring forces of adhesion, which then continue to act and thus cause the flat face to persist in gripping onto the taut portion even after pressure on the flat face which induced it to so grip is removed; and

(b) wherein the elongated, solid core body defines a bilaterally symmetrical upper surface which intersects the flat face's longitudinally extending peripheral edges and slopes upwardly therefrom, the bilaterally symmetrical upper surface spanning said body; and wherein each of the body's transverse cross-sections, in a direction perpendicular to the generally flat face, is about 4.5 inches high and at most one-half as tall as is the flat face in transverse width, so that when the flat face, across substantially its entire width and breadth, so grips onto the mattress casing and is stretched out lengthwise atop the mattress and proximate with and generally parallel to one of the mattress' sides, the elongated, solid core body can function as a safety barrier to help keep a person, using the bed, from accidentally falling off of it.

4. The bumper according to claim 3, wherein the elongated, solid core body is further characterized as defining a pair of longitudinally extending, wedge-like structures, each wedge-like structure terminating downwardly and outwardly from the longitudinal centerline of the body's bilaterally symmetrical upper surface, so that the weight of the person, whenever he pinches one of the wedge-like structures between his body and the mattress casing, helps to keep the elongated, solid core body from sliding sideways.

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