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Abstract
A self inflatable mattress includes a main portion with a first chamber and a sponge in the first chamber, an extended portion and having a second chamber, a valve mounted on the main portion to allow surrounding air to enter the first chamber and a unidirectional valve received in the extended portion and sandwiched between the first chamber and the second chamber to provide alternate communication between the first chamber and the second chamber. A self expansion of the main portion due to the automatic expansion of the sponge from a compressed state to a non-compressed state allows the surrounding air to enter the first chamber, the air inside the first chamber is able to be forced to enter the second chamber by pushing away the unidirectional valve to resume communication between the first chamber and the second chamber so that the second chamber is inflated.
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Inventors: Wang, Cheng-Chung; (Taipei, TW)
Correspondence Name and Address: BACON & THOMAS, PLLC
625 SLATERS LANE
FOURTH FLOOR
ALEXANDRIA
VA
22314
Serial No.: 920385
Series Code: 10
Filed: August 18, 2004
U.S. Current Class: 5/709; 5/710
U.S. Class at Publication: 005/709; 005/710
Intern'l Class: A47C 027/10
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Foreign Application Data
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Date Code Application Number
Aug 25, 2003 CN 03273829.3
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Claims
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What is claimed is:
1. A self inflatable mattress comprising: a main portion with a first chamber defined therein and a sponge received in the first chamber so that the first chamber is able to automatically expand when the sponge is released from a compressed state to a non-compressed state; an extended portion integrally formed with the main portion and having a second chamber to be isolated from the first chamber; a valve mounted on the main portion to allow surrounding air to enter the first chamber; and a unidirectional valve received in the extended portion and sandwiched between the first chamber and the second chamber to provide alternate communication between the first chamber and the second chamber such that a self expansion of the main portion due to the automatic expansion of the sponge allows the surrounding air to enter the first chamber, the air inside the first chamber is able to be forced to enter the second chamber by pushing away the unidirectional valve to resume communication between the first chamber and the second chamber so that the second chamber is inflated.
2. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unidirectional valve has: a bottom plate securely formed on the main portion and having multiple first holes defined to communicate with the second chamber; a moving plate movably sandwiched between the bottom plate; a spring having a first end abutted to the moving plate to provide a recovery force to the moving plate after the moving plate is moved and a second end abutted to the bottom plate; a top plate alternately connected to the moving plate and provided with multiple second holes defined to communicate with the first chamber and the first holes such that the communication between the first holes and the second holes is alternate.
3. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a covering to enclose the main portion and the extended portion.
4. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 2 further comprising a covering to enclose the main portion and the extended portion.
5. A self inflatable mattress comprising: a main portion with a first chamber defined therein and a sponge received in the first chamber so that the first chamber is able to automatically expand when the sponge is released from a compressed state to a non-compressed state; an extended portion integrally formed with the main portion and having a second chamber to be isolated from the first chamber; a valve mounted on the main portion to allow surrounding air to enter the first chamber; and a unidirectional valve received in the main portion to provide alternate communication between the first chamber and the second chamber such that a self expansion of the main portion due to the automatic expansion of the sponge allows the surrounding air to enter the first chamber, the air inside the first chamber is able to be forced to enter the second chamber by pushing away the unidirectional valve to resume communication between the first chamber and the second chamber so that the second chamber is inflated.
6. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 5, wherein the unidirectional valve has: a bottom plate securely formed on the main portion and having multiple first holes defined to communicate with the second chamber; a moving plate movably sandwiched between the bottom plate; a spring having a first end abutted to the moving plate to provide a recovery force to the moving plate after the moving plate is moved and a second end abutted to the bottom plate; a top plate alternately connected to the moving plate and provided with multiple second holes defined to communicate with the first chamber and the first holes such that the communication between the first holes and the second holes is alternate.
7. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a covering to enclose the main portion and the extended portion.
8. The self inflatable mattress as claimed in claim 6 further comprising a covering to enclose the main portion and the extended portion.
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Description
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a self inflatable mattress, and more particularly to a self inflatable mattress having at least a first chamber and a second chamber isolated from the first chamber. A valve is mounted on the first chamber to allow air from the surrounding environment to enter the first chamber due to the self expansion of a sponge in the first chamber and a unidirectional valve is sandwiched between the first chamber and the second chamber to allow the air from the first chamber to enter the second chamber so that the mattress is able to fulfill the requirement of self inflation.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] It is noted that the inflatable product in the market requires a pump to inflate/deflate the inflatable product and so the pump is a necessity to inflatable products. Therefore, the user will have to purchase a pump in addition to the inflatable product and prepare a space for storage of the pump. In order to facilitate the pumping speed to the inflatable product, the user may have two or more pumps working simultaneously to different portions of the inflatable product. As a consequence, the user will have to reserve more space for the storage of the pumps, which is quite a waste to space especially in urban areas. Further, once the pump is out of order, the inflatable product is useless such that the user will need to maintain the pump to be active and efficient for whenever needed. The labor and energy to maintain the pump efficient to fulfill the requirements are a drain on the time and resources of the user of the inflatable product.
[0005] To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide an improved self inflatable mattress to mitigate the aforementioned problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improved self inflatable mattress having a sponge inside the first chamber which is provided with a valve to allow surrounding air to enter the first chamber due to the self expansion of the sponge and a second chamber being isolated from the first chamber and having a unidirectional valve sandwiched between the first chamber and the second chamber such that the air in the first chamber due to the self expansion of the sponge is able to be forced into the second chamber by folding the first chamber.
[0007] Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0008] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the self-inflatable mattress of the present invention;
[0009] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the unidirectional valve between the first chamber and the second chamber;
[0010] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the unidirectional view of the unidirectional valve in FIG. 2; and
[0011] FIG. 4 is a schematic view in partial section to show the inflation of the self inflatable mattress of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0012] With reference to FIG. 1 and taking FIG. 4 for reference, the self inflatable mattress (1) of the present invention has a first chamber (110) defined in a main portion (11) of the inflatable mattress (1) and a second chamber (20) defined in an extended portion (2) which is integrally formed with the main portion (11). The first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20) are isolated and enclosed by a covering (13).
[0013] A valve (12) is provided on the main portion (11) of the inflatable mattress (1) and a unidirectional valve (3) is provided on the extended portion (2) and sandwiched between the first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20). It is noted from FIG. 4 that a portion of the first chamber (110) extends into the second chamber (20) so that the unidirectional valve (3) is sandwiched between the first chamber (11) and the second chamber (20). However, it is possible that a portion of the second chamber (20) extends into the first chamber (110) and still the unidirectional valve (3) is sandwiched between the first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20). Furthermore, the first chamber (11) is filled with a sponge (4) such that the first chamber (110) is able to expand automatically when the surrounding air enters the first chamber (110) at the time the sponge (4) is expanding by itself from a compressed state to a non-compressed state.
[0014] With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, it is noted that the unidirectional valve (3) of the present invention is sandwiched between the first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20) and has a bottom plate (31), a moving plate (32), a spring (33) and a top plate (34). The bottom plate (31) has multiple first holes (311) defined to communicate with the second chamber (20). The moving plate (32) is movably sandwiched between the bottom plate (31) and the top plate (34). The spring (33) is sandwiched between the moving plate (32) and the top plate (34) to provide a recovery force to the moving plate (32) after the moving plate (32) is moved. The top plate is provided with multiple second holes (341) defined to communicate with the first chamber (110) and the first holes (311). The moving plate (32) is able to alternately block communication between the first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20) by blocking the first holes (311).
[0015] Referring to FIG. 4 again, after the valve (12) is mounted on the main portion (11) and in the first chamber (110) and the unidirectional valve (3) is sandwiched between the first chamber (110) and the second chamber (20), the surrounding air is able to enter the first chamber (110) from the valve (12) due to the automatic expansion of the sponge (4). At this time, the moving plate (32) blocks the first holes (311) to disconnect the communication between the first holes (311) and the second holes (341). Thus the air can only enter the first chamber (110). However, if the user repeatedly folds the main portion (11) to force the air in the first chamber (110) to flow to the second chamber (20), the air in the first chamber (110) will be forced to push away the moving plate (32) from the second holes (341) such that the air from the first chamber (110) is able to flow to the second chamber (20) until the second chamber (20) is fully inflated.
[0016] When deflating the self inflatable mattress (1) is required, the moving plate (32) is moved away from the second holes (341) and the extended portion (2) is folded to force the air in the second chamber (20) to flow to the first chamber (110). After the extended portion (2) is fully deflated, the moving plate (32) is returned to close the second holes (341) to ensure that there is not air flowing to the second chamber (20) from the first chamber (110). Then the user repeatedly folds the main portion (11) to allow the air in the first chamber (110) to escape the main portion (11) from the valve (12) until the main portion (11) is fully deflated, which accomplishes the purpose of deflating the self inflatable mattress (1) of the present invention.
[0017] It is to be understood, however, that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. |
