US2617751A - Rubber pad - Google Patents

Description

Patented VyNov. 11, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE vRUBBER PAD Le Roy M. Bickett, Watertown, Wis.

Application July 10, 1950, Serial No. 172,929

2 claims. l

This invention relates to rubber pads for use primarily as sleeping pads or mattresses although other uses are contemplated.

Rubber pads lack the requisite softness and fail to provide the comfort desired for satisfactory use as sleeping pads or mattresses. This is also true of those composed of socalled sponge or foam rubber, because, as heretofore designed, they rely entirely upon the natural compressibility of these materials which alone is inadequate to provide the extent or depth of yield required for sleeping comfort.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved rubber pad so constructed as to materially increase the capacity to yield under compressive load.

Other more specific objects and advantages will appear, expressed or implied, from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of a rubber cushion constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan View with parts broken away.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the cushion slightly compressed.

The pad shown is formed of sponge or foam rubber and comprises top and bottom layers I and II separated by a series of laterally spaced upright ribs I2 traversing the same. The pad is preferably closed by suitable end and side walls I3 and I4.

The several ribs I2 are specially shaped so that each has a tendency to bend or buckle under a compressive load. ln this instance the upper half I2a of each is slightly inclined from the vertical for this purpose, while the lower half I2b is similarly inclined in an opposite direction. so that the mid-portion of each rib is laterally offset with respect to the point of juncture thereof with the top and bottom layers l0 and II of the pad. As a result of this shape, the mid-portion of each rib I2 has a tendency to deflect laterally under compressive load, as indicated in Fig. 4, thereby substantially reducing the resistance offered by each rib against compressive deformation of the pad. This results in a high degree of compressibility and consequent softness not otherwise attainable. o

The several ribs I2 are preferably uniformly shaped and dimensioned and also, preferably equally spaced a distance substantially equal to their width so that. as they approach a condition of maximum deflection, each meshes or interfolds With adjacent ribs in a manner to ultimately ll the space between the upper and lower layers Il) and I I; and when this condition is reached, further compression is possible by reason of the natural compressibility of the material itself, as in an ordinary pad. The pad shown is therefore compressible in two stages, the first stage resulting from lateral deflection of the ribs, and the second stage resulting from compression of the material in the pad.

The pad shown is preferably produced by molding the same in separate upper and lower sections of identical form, and thereafter inverting and applying one section on the other, the two sections being secured together by a suitable adhesive applied to the mating faces thereof. A suitable fabric covering I5 may be cemented or otherwise attached to the exposed faces of the pad.

Various changes may be made in the embodiment of the pad hereinabove specifically described without departing from or sacrificing the advantages of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a resilient pad the combination of upper and lower layers of resilient material, a series of similarly shaped laterally spaced substantially parallel ribs of resilient material interconnecting and spacing said layers, each of said ribs being bent to provide a laterally offset intermediate portion biasing the same/to deflect laterally in the direction of said offset under compressive load applied to the pad, the spaces between said ribs being of a width and shape substantially similar to said ribs so as to freely accommodate rib deflections and to permit said ribs to deflect into interfolded relation with adjacent ribs.

2. In a resilient pad the combination of upper and lower layers of resilient material, each layer having a series of similarly shaped laterally spaced substantially parallel ribs of resilient material each projecting therefrom into edge-toedge contact with a corresponding rib of the other layer, theribs of one series being sloped in one direction and those of the other series in the opposite direction, and the edge of each rib of one series being joined to the contacting edge of a corresponding rib of the other series to form a series of flexurally resilient rib-like structures yieldably sustaining said layers in. spaced relation.

LE ROY M. BICKE'I'T.

(References on following page) REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,628,090 Weiss May 10, 1927 1,887,310 King et a1 Nov. 8, 1932 2,433,012 Zalicovtz Dec. 23, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 376,937 Great Britain July 18, 1932 OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No. 383,860, Sluyter, (A. P. C.), published May 11, 1943.

Claims (1)

1. IN A RESILIENT PAD THE COMBINATION OF UPPER AND LOWER LAYERS OF RESILIENT MATERIAL, A SERIES OF SIMILARLY SHAPED LATERALLY SPACED SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL RIBS OF RESILIENT MATERIAL INTERCONNECTING AND SPACING SAID LAYERS, EACH OF SAID RIBS BEING BENT TO PROVIDE A LATERALLY OFFSET INTERMEDIATE PORTION BIASING THE SAME TO DEFLECT LATERALLY IN THE DIRECTION OF SAID OFFSET UNDER COMPRESSIVE LOAD APPLIED TO THE PAD, THE SPACES BETWEEN SAID RIBS BEING OF A WIDTH AND SHAPE SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO SAID RIBS SO AS TO FREELY ACCOMODATE RIB DEFLECTIONS AND TO PERMIT SAID RIBS TO DEFLECT INTO INTERFOLDED RELATION WITH ADJACENT RIBS.

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