U.S. patent number 3,604,026 [Application Number 04/869,460] was granted by the patent office on 1971-09-14 for travel pillow.
Invention is credited to Bernice Holmen Scheips.
United States Patent |
3,604,026 |
Scheips |
September 14, 1971 |
TRAVEL PILLOW
Abstract
A foldable and spreadable pillow wherein duplicate padlike
half-sections when folded and fastened together provide a pillow
which is comparable in size and shape with individual headrests
currently used on the backrests of automobile seats. These suitably
cushioned half-sections have limited median portions of
side-by-side edge portions stitched and thus hinged together. Outer
marginal edges are provided with connectable snap fasteners which
hold the half-sections folded. Median portions of one half-section
also have snap fasteners which permit said half-section to be
manually folded and doubled upon itself and crammed and lodged in a
limited holding space whenever available. Strap-Type handles are
also provided.
Inventors: |
Scheips; Bernice Holmen
(Fairbury, NB) |
Family
ID: |
25353583 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/869,460 |
Filed: |
October 27, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
297/397;
5/640 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47C
7/383 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47C
16/00 (20060101); A47g 009/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;5/337,338,341,344,352,355,361 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Gay; Bobby R.
Assistant Examiner: Aschenbrenner; Peter A.
Claims
What is claimed as new is as follows:
1. A headrest-type pillow which lends itself to diversified use
when travelling via an airplane, train, bus or in one's automobile
and which is compact and convenient for out-of-use placement in a
briefcase, handbag or the like comprising, a pair of like
relatively small companion half-sections having median portions
only of adjacent inward marginal edges hingedly connected together
and adapted to spread out end-to-end in a generally common plane
for such use as desired, or alternatively, folded atop each other
to provide a double pillow whenever necessary or desired, each
half-section being characterized by inward and outward transverse
marginal edges and opposite longitudinal marginal edges, the
longitudinal marginal edges of at least one of said half-sections
being provided with attached male and female snap fasteners and
which serve to permit said one half-section to be folded and
doubled upon itself and said median portions of said longitudinal
marginal edge snapped together, whereby to provide means which is
adapted to be inserted and retentively jammed in a suitable limited
space between edge portions of side-by-side vehicle brackets or
manually rammed to stay put into an available corner between a seat
and an adjacent wall surface.
2. The pillow defined in and according to claim 1, and wherein
centralized portions of the respective outward transverse marginal
edges are provided with quick connectable and separable male and
female snap fasteners which when properly lined up with each other
can be secured together to maintain said half-sections in their
coacting folded relationship.
3. The pillow defined in and according to claim 1, and wherein the
overall pillow with the half-sections spread out in a common plane
is substantially ovate and the individual half-sections are
approximately semiovate in plan, each half-section comprising a
jacket made of washable cotton velveteen, said jacket being filled
with foam flakes and being odorless and nonallergic.
4. A headrest-type pillow which lends itself to diversified use
when travelling via an airplane, train, bus or in one's automobile
and which is compact and convenient for out-of-use placement in a
briefcase, handbag or the like comprising, a pair of like
relatively small companion half-sections having median portions
only of adjacent inward marginal edges hingedly connected together
and adapted to spread out end-to-end in a generally common plane
for such use as desired, or alternatively, folded atop each other
to provide a double pillow whenever necessary or desired, the
centralized portions of the respective outward marginal edges being
provided with quick connectable and separable snap fasteners,
median portions of the opposed longitudinal marginal edges of one
of said half-sections being provided with aligned coacting snap
fasteners which serve to permit that half-section to be doubled
upon itself and the edge portions snapped together, and strap means
fashioned into and forming a handle, said strap means being
operatively mounted on said pillow for carrying and handling
needs.
5. The pillow defined in and according to claim 4, and wherein said
strap means is fashioned into a loop, said loop being suitable and
adapted to encircle a user's wrist, whereby to facilitate
convenient handling and carrying the pillow.
6. The pillow defined in and according to claim 4, and wherein said
strap means comprises a single nylon strap of requisite length and
proportionally narrow width, said strap being stretched across a
median exterior surface of a cooperating half-section and having
its respective ends permanently secured to predetermined marginal
portions of said half-section cooperating in a manner to serve as a
clutch-type handle.
Description
The present invention relates to a pillow which is believed to be
unique and desirable in that it is designed and adapted for
diversified handling and use when the user, if traveling, on an
airplane, train, bus or automobile, finds it desirable to provide
himself with a convenient and comfortable headrest and which is
deemed to be an innovation in that it is amply compact that it can
be stored and carried in a briefcase, handbag or the like.
In carrying out a feasible and practical embodiment of the
inventive concept the connected folding padlike half-sections are
made of washable cotton velveteen, each half-section comprising a
jacket or case of appropriate size, color and shape which is filled
with foam flakes whereby to thus provide a highly sanitary pillow,
one which is odorless, nonallergic and otherwise capable of
achieving the end results desired.
Briefly, the improved pillow is characterized by a pair of
substantially duplicate relatively small oriented and coordinating
half-sections. Adjacent side-by-side marginal edges of these two
half-sections have median portions only stitched or otherwise
connected together and foldably hinged and adapted to be spread out
end-to-end in a generally common plane for such use as is desired
or, alternatively, folded atop each other to provide a doubled
pillow whenever necessary or desired.
More specifically, centralized portions of the respective outward
transverse marginal edges of the two half-sections are provided
with quick connectable and separable snap fasteners. These snap
fasteners are properly lined up with each other and can be
temporarily secured together to maintain the two half-sections in
cooperating folded relationship. Then, too, at least one of the
half-sections is provided with attached male and female snap
fasteners which permit said half-sections to be folded and doubled
upon itself between its lengthwise edges in a manner to provide a
positioning and retaining insert, that is, a component part of the
overall pillow which can be suitably and retentively lodged and
crammed into a limited space between edge portions of side-by-side
vehicle backrests or, alternatively, manually forced into a
stay-put position in an available corner space, for example a space
between the seat and an adjacent wall surface. Accordingly, the
then available projecting pad or half-section provides a
satisfactory head cushioning rest.
Further and as will be hereinafter more fully appreciated the dual
section travel pillow is provided in one form of the invention with
a loop-type strap which provides a handle for positioning around
the user's wrist for handling and carrying. In addition a single
strap-type alternate handle is provided atop one half-section and
can be employed, in lieu of the loop-type handle, as a clutch
handle similar to that employed on certain styles of handbags.
These together with other objects and advantages which will become
subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and
operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed,
reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part
hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and
in which:
FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a travel pillow constructed in
accordance with the principles of the invention and with the
half-sections spread out in a common plane and showing the folding
or hinging connection and also the loop-type handle.
FIG. 2 is a view also in perspective on a slightly larger scale and
showing the two half-sections folded in face-to-face of
superimposed relationship and snapped together with the carrying
handle projecting at a convenient angle for handling and carrying
purposes.
FIG. 3 is also a view in perspective with a portion of the handle
broken away and which shows one of the half-sections folded between
its ends and upon itself with median edge portions snapped together
to thus provide means for holding the pillow in an available
pocketing recess.
FIG. 4 is a view based on FIG. 3 and showing spaced backrests of
automobile or similar seats and showing, what is more significant,
how the aforementioned folded half-section is forcibly lodged or
crammed into the space shown and for purposes of positioning the
then available half-section for headrest use.
FIG. 5 is a view in perspective similar to FIG. 2 and which
corresponds therewith except that it shows a clutch-type strap used
as the handle in lieu of the loop-type shown in FIG. 2.
FIG. 6 is a view in perspective which corresponds substantially to
FIG. 1 but shows the type of handle or handgrip appearing in FIG.
5.
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary detailed sectional view taken on the plane
of the longitudinal section line 7--7 of FIG. 6 and which shows the
makeup of each half-section and also how the end portions of the
single strap handle are stitched, glued or otherwise fastened into
place.
By way of introduction to the description of the details it is to
be pointed out that the dual section pillow per se is one the same
in all of the Figures. It is believed to be proper under the
circumstances to refer to corresponding or like parts throughout
all the views with like reference characters. Only the handles
differ and will be designated individually.
To the ends desired and with reference in particular to FIGS. 1 and
6 it will be seen that the overall pillow when the parts are spread
out in coplanar relationship appears to be substantially ovate in
plan. Accordingly, the half-sections are semiovate. The
half-section at the right in FIGS. 1 and 6 is denoted by the
numeral 10 and the companion one at the left is denoted at 12. The
half-section 10 is provided with a transverse marginal edge 14 and
an opposed transverse marginal inner edge at 16. The longitudinal
side marginal edges are denoted at 18. The corresponding marginal
edges of the half-section 12 are substantially the same but are
conveniently designated as an outer transverse marginal edge 20, an
inner transverse marginal edge 22 and longitudinal or side marginal
edges 24.
It will be evident that the respective median portions only of the
inward transverse marginal edges 16 and 22 are stitched or
otherwise connected together as at 26 to provide a folding and
unfolding hinge 28. By leaving the edge portions to the right and
left of the hinge free it will be evident that despite the fact
that the half-sections are plump and made of cotton material they
can be folded to assume the position shown in FIGS. 2 and 5 or the
position and relationship shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. In carrying out a
preferred embodiment of the invention a median part of the marginal
edge 14 is provided with an appropriately constructed and mounted
snap fastener 30 which is alignable and separably connectable with
a coordinating snap fastener 32 on the marginal edge 20. Thus, the
half-sections can be folded as shown for example in FIGS. 2 and 5
with the snap fasteners 30 and 32 joined together. The median
portions of the longitudinal edges 18 of the half-section 10 are
provided with male and female snap fasteners 34 and 36 which are
capable of being snapped together to produce the effect and result
depicted in FIG. 3. Here it will be evident that the half-section
10 after it has been folded over and with the edge portions 18
available the snap fasteners 34 and 36 can be snapped together to
thus reduce the size of the half-section and to adapt it to be
forcibly crowded or crammed into an available pocketing space as
shown for example in FIG. 4. In this Figure one backrest of an
automobile or an equivalent vehicle seat is denoted at A and the
other section at B. The adjacent spaced parallel edges C and D
provide a convenient recess or pocket into which the doubled
half-section 10 can be forcibly crowded and frictionally retained.
With this half-section pocketed and held in a stay-put position it
will be evident that the other and outer half-section is available
to serve as a satisfactory headrest.
Each half-section is of the construction shown in FIG. 7 that is
comprises a suitably shaped jacket 38 made of cotton velveteen and
filled with appropriate compressibly resilient lightweight foam
flakes or equivalent filler means 40.
It is within the purview of the invention to provide a loop-type
nylon or equivalent handle (FIGS. 1 to 4 inclusive) or a single
clutch-type as shown in FIGS. 5-7. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2
for example a nylon strap 42 is looped upon itself between its ends
to provide the loop-type handle 44, the end portions being glued
and stitched into the seam 26 in the manner suggested at 46 in FIG.
1 for example.
If one prefers the clutch-type handle this can be provided in the
manner shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 and denoted, generally stated, by
the numeral 48. It comprises a nylon or equivalent flexible strap
50 with its end portions 52 suitably anchored in place and wherein
the strap is of a length that it provides a fairly tight fitting
clutch-type handle.
It will be evident that the loop handle 44 will be found convenient
to slip over the wrist while the other type 48 provides a
satisfactory handling and carrying clutch.
It will be evident that the pillow, generally stated, is
characterized by substantially identical halves or half-sections
connected only in the center and provided wit selectively usable
snap fasteners whereby the half-sections may be folded into
substantially parallel side-by-side relationship or oriented with
one half-section substantially folded and at approximate right
angles to the other half-section so that an adaptation is provided
with adapts to be inserted in a recess between adjacent seats or in
a corner space between a seat and a wall such as is usually
available on a bus, airplane, automobile or the like.
The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles
of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes
will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired
to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation
shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and
equivalents may be resorted to falling within the scope of the
invention.
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