Sheet bedding construction for institutional use

An improved sheet bedding construction for institutional use is described which includes a bottom sheet of cloth material the head portion of which is adapted to be non-elastically fitted over the two corners of the head portion of a mattress, the ends of which are coextensive with the head portion and the sides of the head portion of the mattress, a foot portion which forms the bottom part of a bag-like portion for the user's feet, the ends of which are coextensive with the foot portion of the mattress, and, further having a pair of loops formed of elastic material adapted to fit about each of the corners of the foot portions of a mattress, the median bottom and top sheet portions of which are coextensive with the mattress and extend beyond the sides of the mattress, a top sheet generally coextensive with the top of the mattress and sewn to the foot portion of the bottom sheet to form the top part of the bag for the feet, and the foot portion of the top and bottom sheets forming an expandable bag for the user's feet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION: 
1. Field of the Invention: 
The instant invention relates to institutional bedding and the like, and, 
more particularly, to a new and novel construction therefor whereby a pair 
of sheets are sewn in a unitary fashion and arranged to form lengthwise 
half-sleeping bag with an expandable foot pocket whereby a bed can be made 
up for use by a patient, or an institutional inmate, in a substantially 
shorter period of time than the period of time which is typically 
necessary for the normal two separate sheets and a pillow bedding 
arrangement and which can also be used in conjunction with a mattress such 
as typically found in mobile recreational vehicles such as trailers and 
motorhomes. 
2. Description of the Prior Art: 
The prior art involving and including institutional bedding for humans has 
largely been of the two separate sheets and a pillow arrangement and has 
been widely used in the prior art, especially for institutional and 
commercial use in hospitals, hotels, motels, and the like. 
However, in recent years, such a bedding arrangement has drawn a 
significant amount of criticism because it involves a substantial amount 
of labor and time to make up a bed, to tear it apart, to launder it, and 
to sort and inventory it for re-use. 
Additionally, when used in conjunction with an elevatable bed, the bedding 
becomes loose and difficult to arrange for proper application and use as 
sanitary and comfortable bedding. 
Further, the use of conventional sheets and a separate pillow with a pillow 
case is typically undesirable because of the extra storage required due to 
these separate items, the strong likelihood of missing one or more sheets 
of a matching pair of bottom and top sheets, and the time consuming jobs 
of making and unmaking a bed with a mattress and its associated separate 
sheets and pillow/pillow case combinations. Consequently, it is highly 
desirable, for both convenience and sanitary reasons, to have but a single 
unitary sleeping enclosure for use with a mattress in such a setting. 
One example of such prior art as is found in this particular field of 
endeavor includes that which is disclosed and exemplified by the sleeping 
bag found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,239,017 (Roberts) wherein such is used as a 
sanitary covering for a children's bed wherein the child is kept covered 
at all times while asleep. 
Sleeping bags are noted for both their convenience and sanitary purposes, 
and, as such, are highly desirable. 
One of the problems frequently encountered with prior art sleeping bag 
constructions is that the sanitary liner does not incorporate means for 
similarly providing sanitary protection for the pillow as well. 
Another problem which frequently manifests itself in sleeping bags 
typically found in the prior art is that the bottom portion of the bag 
which is where the user's feet are placed is uncomfortably confining and 
unduly restricts the movement thereof. 
Construction of prior art sleeping bags is relatively complex and labor 
intensive. Labor intensive construction typically results in higher, and 
unacceptable, costs to produce the sleeping bags. 
While sleeping bag construction offers highly desireable features over the 
prior art two sheets and a pillow arrangement, it is generally 
unacceptable for use as institutional bedding because it is too confining 
to the users thereof. 
For example, the simplest sleeping bag construction involves the seaming of 
two coextensive sheets together along the foot of the bag. However, when 
the person crawls therebetween, the upper sheet is elevated, opening the 
sides of the bag and uncovering the user thereof. Additionally, the seams 
form right angles with each other, which requires that the sewing machine 
operator stop sewing, move and reorient the sheets to be seamed and then 
seam them along another line. Such a procedure is both time consuming and 
increases the cost of such an article of manufacture. Further, the 
securing of the stretch tapes diagonally across the underside of the 
corners requires that the operator perform multiple sewing passes to 
sufficiently anchor the ends of the stretch tapes to the edges of the 
seamed sheets, all of which involved costly additional time and expense. 
More recently, use of sleeping bags has found wide spread use in 
conjunction with various modern day recreational vehicles. Prior art 
sleeping bags opened only along one side of the bag to permit the user 
ingress and egress therefrom. When a sleeping bag is used on top of a 
mattress in such a recreational vehicle, the bag may open along the wrong 
side of the bed such as the side facing the wall instead of the walkway. 
Additionally, such prior art sleeping bags failed to provide means for 
securing the sleeping bag to the mattress upon which the sleeping bag is 
placed. 
Still further, it is highly desirable for the sleeping bag used in this 
fashion to be quickly secured to the mattress so as to be ready for use 
and, at the same time, readily removable therefrom for purposes of washing 
and sanitizing such a sleeping bag. 
Another example of the prior art is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,601 which 
is issued to the inventor herein. Such sleeping bag bedding construction 
does incorporate many desirable features overcoming many of the 
undesirable features of the art previous to it in sleeping bag 
construction, nevertheless, more recently, it has been found that such 
sleeping bag construction fails to provide: 
(1) An integral pillow pocket which is controllably accessible from either 
ends thereof; 
(2) For a bottom sheet and the top sheet which are not essentially 
coextensive with the mattress to which it is secured; 
(3) The elimination of elastic bands near the pillow pocket portion 
thereof; 
(4) Tie straps so that the sleeping bag can be rolled up and easily secured 
thereabout to maintain it in a rolled up condition with the tie straps. 
Not only are these benefits provided by the present invention but more by 
the present improved institutional bedding construction, as enumerated as 
follows: 
(1) A pillow may be easily inserted or removed from either end of the 
integral pillow pocket. Once inserted, elastic material sewn into and 
along the pillow pocket edges provide a closure bias to hold the pillow in 
the pillow pocket. This eliminates the loss of the pillow during a 
restless sleep wherein the user/sleeper engages in a substantial amount of 
movement while sleeping. 
(2) The present invention includes a bottom sheet which extends beyond the 
mattress to ensure that the sleeper's arms do not touch and perhaps soil 
the edge of the uncovered mattress during use. 
(3) Elimination of the elastic bands at the head portion of the sleeping 
bag which secures the bag to the mattress which eliminates the possibility 
of a broken elastic strap hitting the face of the sleeper during the 
sleeping process which could result in serious facial or eye injury. These 
two corners are seamed to fit over the two corners at the head of the 
mattress. The non-elastic arrangement eliminates this highly undesireable 
problem. 
(4) Roll-up tie straps are provided to allow the sleeping bag to be rolled 
up and secured without securing separate tying means therefor. 
Additionally, by color coding the tie straps, a particular person's 
sleeping bag can be easily idenified before the sleeping is unraveled to 
check its size and length. 
(5) Mediately of the institutional bedding in the form of a semi-bag, a 
portion of the lower sheet is provided which extends beyond the bottom 
edge of the mattress to protect the mattress from soil attributed to the 
user's legs while entering the sleeping bag or in simply sitting on the 
edge of the mattress. 
(6) This same lower sheet's intermediate extension offers the user the 
opportunity to tuck this extension material underneath the mattress so 
that when the head portion or the lower portion of the mattress is 
elevated, the bottom sheet which covers the mattress is held firmly 
reinforcing its proper place. 
After much thought, experimentation and effort, the present invention 
disclosed herein was devised to overcome the significant disadvantages 
such as typifies the prior art institutional bedding. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONS AND OBJECTS: 
Fundamentally, the present invention disclosed herein is an improved 
institutional bedding in the form of a semi-full bag construction which 
includes a bottom sheet of cloth material the head portion of which is 
adapted to be non-elastically fitted over the two corners of the head 
portion of a mattress, the ends of which are coextensive with the head 
portion and the sides of the head portion of the mattress, a foot portion 
which forms the bottom part of a bag-like portion for the user's feet, the 
ends of which are coextensive with the foot portion of the mattress, and, 
further having a pair of loops formed of elastic material adapted to fit 
about each of the corners of the foot portions of a mattress, the 
intermediate bottom and top sheet portions of which are coextensive with 
the mattress and extend beyond the sides of the mattress, a top sheet 
generally coextensive with the top of the mattress and sewn to the foot 
portion of the bottom sheet to form the top part of the bag for the feet, 
and the foot portion of the top and bottom sheets forming an expandable 
bag for the user's feet. 
It is an important and primary object of the invention herein to provide an 
institutional bedding construction using a semi-full bag for use with a 
mattress of the type herein characterized by simple construction. 
Another important and primary object of the instant invention is to provide 
an institutional bedding construction with a non-elastic means for 
securing the head portion thereof to the corners of the head portion of 
the mattress. 
A yet still further primary object of the invention is to provide an 
improved institutional bedding construction using a semi-full bag having 
an integral pillow pocket therein which is controllably accessible from 
either end thereof and which captures the pillow therein to prevent 
inadvertant removal therefrom especially during sleeping. 
Another important and primary object of the invention is to provide an 
improved institutional bedding construction using a semi-full bag with a 
laterally extended head portion along the opposite sides of the bottom 
sheet so that the side edges of the mattress are covered to prevent 
soiling of the mattress. 
It is yet a still further and important object of the instant invention to 
provide an improved institutional bedding construction using a semi-full 
bag having a bottom sheet with extended portions along opposite sides of 
the mediate section whereby the length of the portions extend below the 
mattress to prevent soiling of the mattress by contact with the legs of 
the user of the mattress. 
Another object of the instant invention disclosed herein is to provide an 
improved institutional bedding construction in the form of a semi-full bag 
having a pair of mediately disposed extensions thereon which offer the 
user the opportunity to tuck said extensions underneath the mattress so 
that when the head portion of the mattress or the bottom portion of the 
mattress is elevated, the bottom sheet which covers the mattress is held 
firmly into its proper place. 
These and other objects, features and many of the attendant advantages of 
this invention will be appreciated more readily as the subject invention 
becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed 
description, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, 
wherein like parts in each of the several figures are identified by the 
same reference character, and wherein:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT: 
With continued reference to the drawings herein, and with special emphasis 
now on FIG. 1 thereof, the improved institutional sheet bedding 
construction is generally shown at 10, including a bottom sheet 27 formed 
of cloth material, the head portion of which is adapted to be fitted to 
the two corners of the head portion of a mattress 29 and whose ends of 
which are coextensive with the head portion and the sides of the head 
portion of the mattress 29, a foot portion which is formed into part of a 
bag 12 for the user's feet, the ends of which are coextensive with the 
foot portion of the mattress 29 and having a pair of loops 30, 31 formed 
of elastic material about each of the corners of the foot portions of the 
mattress 29 and extends beyond the sides of the mattress 29, and sewn to 
the foot portion of the bottom sheet 27 to form the other part of the bag 
12 for the feet, and a pillow pocket 14 having at least one open end 
thereinto secured to the head portion of the bottom sheet 27. 
As can be readily seen from the detailed illustration of the improved 
institutional bedding construction of FIG. 1, the head portion of the 
bottom sheet 27 includes two sewn corners which are mateable over the two 
corners of the head of the mattress 29. This is accomplished by forming 
the corners as illustrated in enlarged detail form in FIG. 2 of the 
drawings. A rectangular cut is made in the corner of the bottom sheet 27, 
along with a small beveled cut up to the intersection of the fold lines 
20, 21 which forms edges 18, 19. These edges are then covered with a piece 
of reinforcing piping 24 and then sewn to form a completed corner to mate 
over the corner of the mattress 29. Both corners of the head portion of 
the bottom sheet 27 are constructed in this fashion. 
Reinforcing piping 28 is sewn over the ragged, raw cut edge of the material 
forming the bottom sheet 27 to prevent unravelling of the cut edge. 
In fact, reinforcing piping 24, 25, 33, and 36 is sewn over all of the 
edges of the sleeping bag 10 where the edges are not turned over onto each 
other and are sewn together to both provide both reinforcement of the 
edges and to prevent unravelling of the edge of the cloth. 
Over the head portion of the bottom sheet 27, a pillow pocket 14 is sewn 
into place on the bottom sheet 27 along its upper edge at 16 and along its 
innermost edge 26, with reinforcing piping 25 along 15. At the opposite 
open ends of the pillow pocket 14 are elastic bands 9A and 9B sewn into 
the free edges of the pillow pocket to provide an elastic partial closure 
of the ends of the pillow pocket 14 with respect to the bottom sheet 27. 
The closure is sufficient so that once the pillow (not shown) is located 
therein, the pillow will not be accidentally dislodged from the pillow 
pocket 14. 
The top sheet 11 is sewn together with the bottom sheet 27 to form a bag 12 
for the user's feet. 
Mediately disposed of the top sheet 11 is an extended portion 35 which 
provides for an extra portion of the cloth necessary to accomodate the 
larger hip and middle torso portions of the human body so that when the 
user is in the sleeping bag 10 the edge of the top sheet 11 will not be 
raised above the user's body so as to expose it to another person's view 
and, perhaps, the uncomfortable coolness of the night air. In this way, 
sufficient additional cloth is provided to ensure that the user's body is 
covered. 
The mediate portion of the bottom sheet 27 is an extended portion 34 which 
extends below and beyond the mattress edge so that the legs of the user of 
the sleeping bag 10 are not permitted to come into contact with the 
mattress 29 so as to soil it. 
The forwardmost upper edge 39 of the top sheet is formed and reinforced by 
overlapping and then sewing the overlapping portion along 13. Such an 
overlapping edge 39 provides a durable, long-wearing edge. 
As shown in Detail A of the drawings, the reinforcing piping 38 is sewn 
along the edge of the top sheet 11 and over the overlapped portion 39. 
FIG. 3 provides an exploded assembly view of the pertinent construction 
details of one of the bottom corners showing how the elastic corner 31, 
piping 37, 32 are used in joining the top 11 and bottom 27 sheets together 
along the outermost edges thereof. It should be noted that a pleated 
portion, that is, an extra fold of the material forming the foot portion 
of the top sheet 11, is provided in order to provide a natural expansion 
of the foot portion of the sleeping bag 10 to accomodate larger feet. 
Tie straps 40 may be added as the elastic straps 30, 31 are sewn onto the 
bottom 27 and top 11 sheets. Such tie straps 40 may be tied back onto each 
other after encompassing the rolled up sleeping bag 10 to provide for 
compact storage of the sleeping bag 10 prior to use. Also, such storage 
prevents the inside of the sleeping bag 10 from getting soiled prior to 
sleeping in it. 
With special reference now to FIGS. 5 through 9, inclusive, there is 
depicted in FIG. 5, the top sheet 11 of the present novel construction 
previously described herein. There is depicted on said sheet 11 displayed 
in substantially parallel relationship with the edges 43, 46 and 52 of the 
sheet 11, a plurality of anticipated fold lines as more specifically 
identified as 41, 42, 44, 45 and 53, 54. As is to be clearly noted, fold 
lines 41, 42 are parallel to edges 43 and 52 of sheet 11. On the other 
hand, fold lines 44, 45 are not parallel to sheet edges 43, 52 but are, 
instead, substantially perpendicular thereto. However, fold lines 44, 45 
are disposed in substantial parallel relationship to edge 46 of sheet 11. 
The first folding steps in creating the expandable foot bag are shown 
clearly in FIG. 6, wherein the pair of tuck folds are made along the fold 
lines 41, 53 and 42, 54 simultaneously in one quick and convenient step. 
Next, as shown and illustrated in FIG. 7, another tuck fold is made along 
fold lines 44, 45. Once this is accomplished, fold lines 47 and 48 can be 
used to define the corners of the foot bag. Once this is accomplished, the 
corners are sewn to hold them in position. 
The last step in the completion of the foot bag is accomplished by sewing 
the piping 51 onto and about the edge thereof as shown in FIG. 9. 
Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of 
the present invention that others can, by applying current knowledge, 
readily adapt it for various applications, without omitting features that, 
from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential 
characteristics of the generic and specific aspects of the aforedescribed 
contribution to the art, and, therefore, such adaptations should and are 
intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of 
the claims.