U.S. patent application number 11/283421 was filed with the patent office on 2006-03-30 for reversible orthopedic memory foam pillow.
Invention is credited to Nancy L. Mollett.
Application Number | 20060064819 11/283421 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46323194 |
Filed Date | 2006-03-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20060064819 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Mollett; Nancy L. |
March 30, 2006 |
Reversible orthopedic memory foam pillow
Abstract
An orthopedic therapeutic memory foam pillow has upper and lower
sections made of memory foam. The pillow is crescent shaped and has
a quarter-round cutout in the normally bottom section in the
crescent to accommodate a patient's head. In between the upper and
lower memory foam sections is an irregularly shaped firmer foam
section. This central firmer foam is thicker above the cutout and
is narrower towards the rear curvature of the crescent. The pillow
is reversible and can be used with the quarter-round cutout facing
upwards or turning the pillow so that the flat surface is upwards.
The head can be placed on either the thicker end of the pillow or
on the thinner end of the pillow and on either side of the
pillow.
Inventors: |
Mollett; Nancy L.;
(Greenville, IL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
NANCY L. MOLLETT
1395 OLD HWY 127
GREENVILLE
IL
62246
US
|
Family ID: |
46323194 |
Appl. No.: |
11/283421 |
Filed: |
November 17, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10850425 |
May 21, 2004 |
|
|
|
11283421 |
Nov 17, 2005 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
5/636 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47G 9/1081 20130101;
A47G 2009/1018 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
005/636 |
International
Class: |
A47G 9/00 20060101
A47G009/00 |
Claims
1. An orthopedic pillow for a patient's head and neck, comprising:
(1) a reversible head and neck support pillow having an essentially
crescent shaped outer perimeter with a front and a rear, comprising
normally top and normally bottom sections having essentially
crescent shaped essentially identical outer perimeters, said top
and bottom sections made of memory foam; (2) an inner, high-density
foam section, having an essentially crescent shaped outer
perimeter, located between the top and bottom sections, wherein
said inner section is thicker near the front of said pillow and
thinner near the rear of said pillow, whereby said inner
high-density section tapers downwardly from the front to the back
of said pillow; wherein said pillow has a quarter-round cutout
section cut from the lower surface of said normally bottom section
adapted to receive a patient's head and neck; wherein a patient's
head and neck can be supported by either the top or bottom section
of said reversible pillow.
2. An orthopedic pillow for a patient's head and neck as in claim
1, wherein the thicker, inner section of said pillow is
approximately two and one-half inches thick near the front of said
pillow and approximately one-half inch thick near the rear of said
pillow.
3. An orthopedic pillow for a patient's head and neck as in claim
1, wherein said cutout section is in the shape of a quarter-round
adapted to receive a patient's head and neck and is approximately
seven and a half inches long and has a depth of approximately one
inch.
4. A therapeutic pillow for a patient's head and neck as in claim
3, wherein said cutout section is located below the thicker front
part of said inner high-density foam section.
5. An orthopedic pillow for a patient's head and neck, as in claim
1, wherein said normally bottom section having said cutout may be
used to receive a patient's head and neck and wherein said pillow
may be reversed so that the smooth upper surface of said normally
top section may also be used to receive a patient's head and neck.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to the field of orthopedic
therapeutic devices for injured or otherwise infirmed persons. In
particular, an orthopedic pillow having memory foam for persons
with head or neck injuries is presented.
[0002] In the hospital and rehabilitation fields, there is often a
need for devices to make an injured or infirm person more
comfortable as they recover from their injury or illness. Such
devices include specialized pillows for cushioning or supporting
the patient's head in a particular position. These devices often
use memory foam or cushioned layers and can take many shapes. These
therapeutic pillows also find a ready and needed use in the home
for these patients.
[0003] One such pillow is found in the 2001 patent issued to
Walpin, U.S. Pat. No. 6,317,908. Walpin disclosed a support pillow
device that has a firm core, a recess located on the top surface of
the core, a memory foam layer located within the recess, a cushion
layer located along the top surface and a C-shaped boundary layer.
All of these different layers and recesses of Walpin contributed to
the comfort of the person using the support device. The Walpin
device also included inflatable bladders for added personalization
of the shape and firmness of the pillow.
[0004] Unlike most polyurethane foams, viscoelastic memory foams
are designed to adapt to the shape or form of the users head as the
person lies on the pillow. Various combinations and shapes of
memory foams and other types of cushioning have been used in the
industry. Some foam is firmer than others and some foams have
different hardnesses. It is an object of this invention to utilize
two different specialized types of foam to provide a suitable
pillow for a person with an injured head or neck.
[0005] Another object of this invention is to provide a suitable
pillow using two layers of memory foam combined with high-density
layer foam to provide firm, contoured support for patients with
neck injuries. A unique moon shaped design also provides firm
support and comfortable resting for a user, while maintaining the
shape of the individual user. It is yet another object of this
invention to provide an orthopedic therapeutic pillow that has a
memorized shape designed to conform to the general shape of the
user's anatomy. Other and further objects of this invention will
become apparent upon reading the below described
Specifications.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0006] A partial moon-shaped pillow is presented having upper and
lower sections made of memory foam. In between these upper and
lower sections is a central section of high-density foam. A cutout
is provided near the front lower curvature of the pillow made from
memory foam. The pillow depth tapers towards the rear and the
central high-density section becomes smaller. The pillow is
reversible and can be used with either the top or bottom surface
facing upwards from the bed as desired.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] FIG. 1 is perspective view of the device with the bottom
head-neck cutout section shown facing upwards.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of the therapeutic pillow
showing the bottom head-neck cutout section facing upwards.
[0009] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the pillow shown with top
section of FIG. 1 facing upwards.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the pillow taken along
lines 4-4 of FIG. 2 with the normally bottom section facing
downwards.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a front view of the pillow shown positioned as in
FIG. 3, with the cutout on the bottom.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERED EMBODIMENT
[0012] A therapeutic memory foam pillow is best shown in FIG. 1.
Generally, the pillow disclosed is a crescent shaped pillow having
upper and lower memory foam sections and a central high-density
section that is irregularly shaped as shown in FIG. 4. Above a
front quarter-round cutout 4 is a thicker high-density section 5
that tapers to a thinner high-density section 6 towards the rear 14
of the pillow.
[0013] The pillow is approximately twenty-two inches long, from end
to end and approximately 11 inches wide from front 13 to rear 14.
The pillow tapers from approximately 51/2 inches in the front to
about 31/2 inches in the rear. The pillow also has an approximately
two (2) inch semi-circular cavity as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. This
two (2) inch semi-circular cavit imparts the pillow a crescent moon
shape, as best shown in Drawing FIGS. 1 through 3.
[0014] The therapeutic pillow has two types of cushioning. A
normally bottom section 1 (FIG. 3) is made of 5.3 viscoelastic
memory foam. The term "5.3" means that Latex rubber foam is
measured in terms of pounds/cubic foot. "5.3" memory foam weighs
5.3 pounds per cubic foot. This term is described in the
literature, for example at the FOAM.com website. This layer of
memory foam is approximately one and one-half inches thick. A
normally top section 2 (FIG. 3) of the pillow comprises a
5.3-memory foam section that is also one and one-half inches thick.
The normally bottom section 1 and the normally top section 2 memory
foam layers have essentially crescent shaped essentially identical
outer perimeters. The presence of the cutout 4 does not vary the
essential shape of the outer perimeter.
[0015] In between the lower bottom 1 and upper top 2 sections of
the pillow is a high-density section 3 made of 2.111 high-density
foam. High-density foam is measured in terms of foam type.
Typically, the first two numbers of the designation represent the
density and the second two digits represent the IFD. IFD is the
indentation force deflection. 2.111 high-density foam means that a
cubic foot of the foam weighs 2.1 pounds and that it takes 35
pounds of pressure to compress of this foam to 25% of its original
height.
[0016] The high-density section 3 has an essentially crescent
shaped outer perimeter that is identical to the crescent shaped
outer perimeter of the lower bottom 1 and upper top 2 sections. The
high-density layer 3 is approximately two and one half inches thick
near the front 13 of the pillow and tapers to about one-half inch
towards the rear 14 of the pillow. These thicknesses are best shown
on FIG. 5. The shoulders 7 of the pillow are rounded as shown in
FIG. 5.
[0017] The types of foam (5.3 memory foam and 2.111 high-density
foam) are well known throughout the industry.
[0018] The normally bottom section 1 of the therapeutic pillow has
a head-neck quarter-round cutout section 4 on its lower surface.
This quarter-round cutout section is designed to make the back of
the user's head and neck more comfortable when the bottom section 1
is supporting the user's head and neck. This cutout section 4 is
approximately seven and a half inches long and has a depth of
approximately 1 inch. The width of the cutout section from the
front edge 12 of the cutout to the rear apex 11 is approximately
eight inches. It is to be understood that the dimensions herein are
meant as an illustration of the preferred embodiment only and not
as a specific limitation. Minor variations of all of the dimensions
recited herein are still within the disclosure of this
invention.
[0019] The upper surface 10 of normally top section 2 of the pillow
is smooth, since it does not have a cutout. Since the bottom
surface 1 of the pillow has a cutout and the top surface 1 does
not, the pillow is reversible. This reversibility allows the pillow
to be utilized in different manners and for different applications.
The exact applications of the pillow may be determined by the
patient depending on the patient's comfort and to meet the varying
desires of the patient.
[0020] In between the normally bottom 1 and normally top 2 memory
foam sections is a high-density section 3, as best shown in FIG. 4.
In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the high-density
section 3 comprises an irregularly shaped front high-density area 5
that is located approximately above the cutout section 4. A rear
high-density foam area 6 is narrower than the front high-density
area 5 as shown in FIG. 4. The irregular shape of the high-density
areas 5 and 6 creates a central inner high-density slope 8. This
inner slope 8 has a corresponding top section 2 outer slope 9 in
the embodiment as shown in FIG. 4.
[0021] The slope 8 of the high-density area is approximately a 1 to
1, or a 45-degree slope. The high-density central section 3 has a
maximum thickness near the front of the pillow 13 that is
approximately two and one half inches. The width of the thicker
section (from the front of the pillow 13 to the slope 8) of the
front high-density area 5 is approximately 4 inches. The vertical
thickness of the high-density area is approximately two and a half
inches at its maximum.
[0022] The thickness of the rear high-density foam section 6, near
the rear end 14 of the pillow, is approximately one-half inch. This
rear area 6 is approximately 7 inches in width (from the slope 8 to
the rear 14 of the pillow).
[0023] It is to be appreciated that these measurements are meant as
an illustration only and are not to be taken as a strict
limitations on the scope of this disclosure. Obviously, differing
slopes and dimensions of the foam sections and the high-density
sections are still within the keeping and spirit of this invention.
Similarly, the exact dimensions of the quarter-round cutout are
meant as a means of illustration only and not as a limitation.
[0024] The preferred embodiment method of use is shown particularly
in FIGS. 3 and 5. Using the pillow support in this orientation the
pillow would place the quarter-round cutout 4 on the bottom of the
pillow next to the bed. The patient would then lay on his side and
place his head and neck on the flat surface of normally top section
2 to obtain the needed support. The pillow can also be reversed so
that the cutout is on the top, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. It is
anticipated that a patient may use either the front cutout high
density section 5 to support the head (when section 1 is upwards as
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2) or could place his head on the back high
density area 6. Reversing the pillow and changing the part used to
support the head and neck offers a versatile selection of positions
and firmnesses.
[0025] Utilizing memory foam on both the top and bottom of the
pillow and thicker and firmer foam in the middle, the pillow can be
highly effective for use with a patient with a head or neck injury.
The memory feature, as well as the location of the cutout, the
varied thickness of the firmer layer and the reversible nature of
the device enhances the usefulness and utility of orthopedic
therapeutic pillows. The pillow may be covered with satin covers or
any other type of pillowcase in order to facilitate cleaning or for
aesthetic reasons.
[0026] Obviously, the exact dimensions given herein are meant as a
means of illustration only. However, it has been found that after
much experimentation that the approximate dimensions given create
the preferred embodiment of this invention.
* * * * *