US3857121A

US3857121A - Sofa beds

Info

Publication number: US3857121A
Application number: US00347310A
Authority: US
Inventors: W Rogers; M Snitzer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-04-02
Filing date: 1973-04-02
Publication date: 1974-12-31
Anticipated expiration: 1991-12-31
Also published as: JPS49127765A; CA982752A

Abstract

In a sofa bed including a seat frame and a backrest frame including a seat mattress mounted on the seat frame and a backrest mattress mounted on the backrest frame, the provision of recesses between the side and front edge portions of the mattresses and the frames for receiving a contour sheet or other sheet or bedding in the recesses.

Description

United States Patent [191 Rogers, Jr. et a1.

[ 1 Dec. 31, 1974 SOFA BEDS [76] Inventors: Walter Clark Rogers, Jr., 3101 N. Main St., High Point, NC. 27260; Morton Snitzer, 3301 Albemarle Dr., Greensboro, NC. 27401 [22] Filed: Apr. 2, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 347,310

[52] US. Cl 5/29, 5/37, 5/334 C [51] Int. Cl. A47c 17/14 [58] Field of Search 5/13, l7, 18, 29, 37, 322,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,135,971 6/1964 Haller 5/332 X 3,657,747 4/1972 Rogers 5/345 R 3,685,063 8/ 1972 Morgan 5/345 R Primary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-William E. Mouzavires 5 7 ABSTRACT In a sofa bed including a seat frame and a backrest frame including a seat mattress mounted on the seat frame and a backrest mattress mounted on the backrest frame, the provision of recesses between the side and front edge portions of the mattresses and the frames for receiving a contour sheet or other sheet or bedding in the recesses.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SOFA BEDS OBJECTS OF INVENTION The present invention generally relates to sofa beds of the type including a seat and a backrest movable between a sofa position where the backrest extends upright from the seat and a bed position wherein the backrest extends in a horizontal plane generally coplanar with the seat. More specifically, the present invention relates to improvements in the frames and mattresses of the backrest and the seat.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a sofa bed of the type aforedescribed which will enable a bedding sheet or blanket etc. to be tucked under the mattress sections thereof when used as a bed. Included herein is the provision of such a sofa bed which will also accommodate a contour bedding sheet to be slipped over the corners of the mattresses when in use as a bed.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel method and arrangement for attaching mattresses in a sofa bed to their respective frames to enable the use of contour bedding sheets and other sheets to be tucked under the lower outer edges of the mattresses. Included herein is a provision of such a novel method and arrangement which may be applied to new sofa beds or conventional sofa beds on the commercial market, or other sofa beds of the prior art, without extensive modification.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of such a sofa bed wherein the mattresses associated with the seat and backrest have the same depth dimensions at the corners thereof to enable a contour sheet to be employed thereon.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The above and other objects are achieved in one embodiment of the invention applied to a sofa bed of the type having a seat including a mattress secured on an underlying frame which in turn is supported on a base, and a backrest pivotally connected to the seat for movement between an upright position for use as a sofa and a horizontal position generally coplanar with the seat for use as a bed. The backrest includes a frame interconnected by a linkage mechanism to the seat frame, and a mattress adapted to overlie the backrest frame when in the horizontal bed position. In one specifrc embodiment of a sofa bed such as disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747, the mattress associated with the backrest is not attached to the backrest but rather is hinged to the mattress associated with the seat so as to be movable between a position overlying the seat mattress when used as a sofa, and a horizontal position on the backrest frame and coplanar with the seat mattress when used as a bed.

In accordance with the present invention, the seat mattress is attached to its associated underlying frame at points spaced inwardly from the peripheral edge portions of the mattress and frame, the point of attachment being under the seat mattress. In this way, a recess is provided in the peripheral edges between the mattress and the frame for receiving a bedding sheet or blanket. Additionally, this permits the mattress associated with the seat to be dimensioned to have the same height as the mattress associated with the backrest so as to permit a contour sheet to be used over the both mattresses when used as a bed. In certain conventional sofa beds, where the backrest mattress is connected to the underlying backrest frame, the above described feature would be incorporated by connecting the backrest mattress to the frame at points spaced inwardly from the peripheral edges to provide a recess for tucking under bedding sheets or blankets.

DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a sofa bed embodying the invention with portions of the frame of the sofa bed being shown in cross section;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I but showing the sofa bed in a bed position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing portions of the mattresses and their underlying frames in a bed position for accommodating a contour sheet shown partly assembled on the mattresses; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmental cross-sectional view of a portion of the sofa bed frame and overlying mattress with bedding sheets tucked therebetween.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings in detail, there is shown for illustration purposes only a sofa bed generally designated 10 which may be converted from a sofa position illustrated in FIG. 1 to a bed position illustrated in FIG. 2 and vice versa. Sofa bed 10 disclosed is of the same type disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747 entitled Sofa Bed and Linkage Mechanism issued Apr. 25, 1972. Although the present invention is disclosed and described herein in connection with one specific sofa bed of the type disclosed in our US. Pat. No. 3,657,747, it will be understood that the present invention may also be applied to other types of sofa beds as will be described in more detail below.

Illustrated sofa bed 10 basically includes a base 12, a seat frame 14, a backrest frame 16 pivotally connected to the seat frame, and a linkage mechanism 18 for supporting the seat and backrest frames on the base in and for movement between, the sofa and bed positions shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It should be understood that the linkage mechanism 18 forms no part of the present invention but a more detailed description thereof may be obtained by reference to our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747.

Base 12 may have any suitable construction such as, for example shown in the drawings wherein it includes front and rear side members 20 and 22 interconnected at their ends by end members 23 to form a generally rectangular structure. Similarly, seat and

backrest frames

14 and 16 may also have a rectangular construction including

side members

24 and 26 and

end members

28 and 30, respectively. The frames may be made from wood as in the shown embodiment or any other suitable material. For a more detailed description and illustration of the frame, reference is had to our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747 including FIG. 1 thereof, the disclosure of said patent being incorporated by reference herein.

The shown embodiment includes a double mattress, pad or cushion arrangement of rectangular shape consisting of upper and lower pad, mattress or

cushion sections

32 and 34 hinged together at 36 along their adjacent sides. When the sofa bed is in the sofa position shown in FIG. 1, upper mattresses 32 rests on lower mattress 34 which in turn rests on seat frame 14. To complete the cushion arrangement in this position, one or more removable cushions 38 may be placed against the backrest as shown in FIG. 2.

In use when as it is desired to convert the sofa bed from the sofa position shown in FIG. 1 to the bed position shown in FIG. 2, backrest cushions 38 are removed and then seat frame 14 is raised and moved forwardly which will also cause backrest frame 16 to pivot clockwise as shown in the drawings relative to seat frame 14 until reaching a horizontal position coplanar with the seat frame as shown in FIG. 4. Upper mattress section 32 may then be swung clockwise as shown in the drawings about hinge 36 to cover backrest frame 16 as shown in FIG. 2 thereby completing the conversion for bed use.

In certain mattress constructions prevalent the prior art such as shown in our US. Pat. No. 3,657,747, the front mattress 34 is fixed to the frame 14. Moreover, front mattress 34 is fixed to its frame 14 in some prior art constructions by incorporating the frame 14 as the bottom of the front mattress 34. One method of accomplishing the latter is shown in our Pat. No. 3,657,747 wherein the outer surface of front mattress 34 extends below the side edges of

frame portions

24 and 28 and under the latter where it is-fixed thereto in any suitable manner. This construction has the disadvantage that bedding sheets or blankets, etc. cannot be tucked in below the front mattress 34 between the latter and underlying frame 14. Furthermore, this prior art construction often results in the disadvantage that the height or depth of front mattress 34 at the corners thereof is larger than that of the backrest mattress 32 at the corners thereof thus preventing the use ofa contour sheet which is uniformly dimensioned to fit over uniform corners of a mattress.

In accordance with the present invention, the above disadvantage is obviated in one embodiment of the present invention by forming the front mattress 34 separate from frame 14 and by attaching the bottom surface of the front mattress 34 to the frame 14 at points spaced inwardly from the peripheral edges of the mattress 34 and frame 14. This provides a recess R between the lower peripheral edge portions of mattress 34 and underlying frame 14 for receiving bedding sheets and/or blankets etc. generally designated B in FIG. 4. Furthermore, this permits the height of the corners of front mattress 34 to have the same dimension as that of rear mattress 32 to enable a contour sheet C to be applied over both of the

mattresses

32 and 34 when in the bed position as illustrated in FIG. 3.

One preferred method and arrangement of constructing the front mattress 34 and its underlying seat frame 14 to provide the desired recesses R is shown in the drawings, however, several other methods may also be employed. In the specific construction shown, seat frame 14 is provided with an overlying layer of material or sheet 40 which at its periphery extends at 42 about the peripheral edge of frame 14 and under frame 14 at 44 where it it connected in any suitable manner such as by fasteners, staples, etc. 46 to frame portions 24 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. Such a frame sheet 40 is similar to frame sheet 42 employed on the backrest frame 16. The lower surface 34a of seat mattress 34 is then connected to frame sheet 40 at a point spaced inwardly from the peripheral edges of mattress 34 and frame 14. In one preferred embodiment, this connection may be provided through stitching material generally designated 50 received in frame sheet 40 and the lower surface sheet 34a of front mattress 34. It should also be understood that in the preferred embodiment, the

peripheral edge portions

42 and 44 of frame sheet 40 extend about the side and

end members

24, 28 of frame 14, and the stitching 50 extends rectangularly through out the peripheral dimensioning of the mattress 34 and frame 14 so that a rectangularly continuous recess R is provided below mattress 34. Instead of employing stitching 50 it will be obvious that other attachment means may be employed such as by bonding, stapling, interweaving, etc. Also, and although not shown, bottom surface 34a of mattress 34 may be incorporated integrally with frame sheet 40 with recesses R included therein.

Since in the specific embodiment shown, backrest mattress 32 is pivoted to front mattress 34 to be movable on top of the front mattress 34 when used as a sofa as shown in FIG. 1, backrest mattress 32 is not positively connected to backrest frame 16 thereby permitting the rear portions of the bedding sheet, etc. to be tucked under backrest mattress 32 when used in bed position. However, it should be understood that in certain conventional or other prior art sofa beds, the backrest mattress corresponding to 32 is not mounted for movement on the front mattress 34 but instead is positively connected or attached to the backrest frame corresponding to frame 16 to remain on the backrest frame regardless of whether it is in the upright or horizontal position. In such instances, the mattress and frame construction providing the recesses R employed in connection with front mattress 34 and seat frame 14 shown and described above, will also be employed in connection with backrest mattress 32 and its underlying frame. Therefore the present invention need not be limited to the specific mattress arrangement shown and described herein where the back-rest mattress 32 is not connected to its associated frame but rather is free to move in overlying relationship with front mattress 34.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sofa bed including, a seat, a backrest movably connected to the seat for movement between an upright position extending upwardly at an angle to the seat for use as a sofa and a generally horizontal position extending generally coplanar with the seat for use as a bed, said seat including a frame extending generally in a horizontal plane, a mattress overlying the frame, and connecting means interconnecting the mattress to the frame at a point under the mattress and spaced inwardly from the front edge portions of the mattress to define a recess between the mattress and the front edge portions of the frame for receiving a bedding sheet or the like covering the mattress and tucked into said recess, and wherein said connecting means extends continuously along the front and sides of the mattress and frame but spaced inwardly from the edges thereof to define a continuous recess along the front and sides thereof for receiving a sheet in the recess, and wherein said backrest includes a frame and a mattress loosely positioned on said backrest frame when the backrest is in horizontal position for use as a bed, said backrest mattress being removable from the backrest for placement on the seat mattress when the backrest is in the upright position for use as a sofa, and wherein said seat and backrest mattresses have a generally rectangular shape with the depth of the mattresses at each of the corners thereof being of the same dimension.

2. The sofa bed defined in claim 1 wherein said connecting means includes a sheet overlying said frame and fixed to the frame, and attaching means attaching said sheet to an underportion of said mattress located inwardly from the front edge portions of the mattress.

3. The sofa bed defined in claim 2 wherein said attaching means are stitches.

4. A frame and mattress assembly for use in a sofa bed comprising in combination, a frame adapted to be placed in a horizontal position when in use as a sofa bed, a mattress overlying and generally coextensive with said frame, and connecting means interconnecting an underportion of said mattress and a portion of the frame at a location spaced inwardly from the edge portions thereof to define a recess between the edge portions of the mattress and frame for receiving a bedding sheet or the like to be tucked under the mattress, a second frame connected to said first frame for movement between an upright position and a horizontal position, a second mattress adapted to rest on the second frame in coplanar relationship with the first mattress for use as a bed, said second mattress adapted to be placed in overlying relationship on the second mattress for use as a sofa, said first and second mattresses having the same depth dimension throughout the peripheral portions thereof, and wherein said connecting means includes a frame sheet overlying the first frame and secured to said first frame below said first mattress, and attach ment means engaging bottom portions of the first mattress and portions of said frame sheet.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said frame sheet extends over edge portions of said frame and under said frame and is attached under said frame to said frame.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 wherein said attachment means includes stitched material.

7. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said frame and said mattress have a generally rectangular shape.

Claims

3. The sofa bed defined in claim 2 wherein said attaching means are stitches.

4. A frame and mattress assembly for use in a sofa bed comprising in combination, a frame adapted to be placed in a horizontal position when in use as a sofa bed, a mattress overlying and generally coextensive with said frame, and connecting means interconnecting an underportion of said mattress and a portion of the frame at a location spaced inwardly from the edge portions thereof to define a recess between the edge portions of the mattress and frame for receiving a bedding sheet or the like to be tucked under the mattress, a second frame connected to said first frame for movement between an upright position and a horizontal position, a second mattress adapted to rest on the second frame in coplanar relationship with the first mattress for use as a bed, said second mattress adapted to be placed in overlying relationship on the second mattress for use as a sofa, said first and second mattresses having the same depth dimension throughout the peripheral portions thereof, and wherein said connecting means includes a frame sheet overlying the first frame and secured to said first frame below said fIrst mattress, and attachment means engaging bottom portions of the first mattress and portions of said frame sheet.