Front facing sitting pillow

Improvements in a front facing sitting pillow that mounts or sits on a table desk or tray. For people that are in a restricted seat, like on an airplane seat, the person in a seat has limited access to the floor or other structure. From an airplane seat a person has a fold-down tray where the person can place items for work or leisure use. The front facing sitting pillow is adjustable to accommodate different geometry of users and place the pillow at a position where the pillow is essentially neutral when the person is resting to prevent neck stain as they rest. The sides can be moved further apart or set at an angle to accommodate the desire of a person that is resting. The pillow(s) are covered with a cushioned fabric material that is removable to allow them to be cleaned, or replaced.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to improvements in a front facing sitting pillow. More particularly, the present front facing sitting pillow mounts or sits on a table desk or tray to allow a person to lean forward and place their face into the pillow. The pillow allows a person to sit at a desk, airplane seat or similar, and sleep is a forward facing position.

2. Description of Related Art

including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

When traveling on a bus, plane or train a person typically will lay back or to a side to rest or sleep. Some people choose to rock forward and rest their head in their hands and they place their elbows on a desk, table or tray. This makes it difficult to comfortably sleep and often when a person falls asleep the person loses muscle tension in their arms and the head will drop to wake the person. There have been several patents for supporting a face when a person is laying forward to get a massage, but these patents support and entire body and are not supported or mounted on an existing table or desk.

A number of patents and or publications have been made to address these issues. Exemplary examples of patents and or publication that try to address this/these problem(s) are identified and discussed below.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,361 issued May 5, 1987 to Merrill Patterson discloses a Physical Therapy Chair. The chair requires a person the sit on the chair and lean forward to place their forehead on a pad. The person can then get a back massage or adjustment while seated in the chair. While the patent allows a person the sit in the chair and lay forward to rest, the invention is not supported on a desk or table and further, the invention does not support the chin to prevent the head from dropping if the person falls asleep.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,040 issued Nov. 20, 1990 to Michael A. Gillotti discloses a Portable massage chair. A person places their legs through the chair and lays forward. The chair allows a person to place their chest on the front support and to receive a back massage. While the patent provides support for the chest of a person, the invention is not supported on a desk or table and the invention does not support the chin of a person to prevent the person from slumping down.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,401,078 issued on Mar. 28, 1993 for Linda A. Riach and U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,402 issued on Jun. 9, 1998 to Muchael Gillotti both discloses an Adjustable Therapy or Massage Chair. In these chairs a person kneels forward with the majority of the weight distributed on the shins, posterior and chest. The arms of the user are usually crossed in front of the user. A person places their face in an inverted “U” that supports the forehead of the person getting a massage or therapy. While this allows a person to rest in a forward orientation it is not configured to be supported on a desk table or tray where a traveler can easily carry and transport the face and head of the traveler.

What is needed is a pillow that supports the face and head of a user as they rest in a forward laying orientation. The ideal product rests or mounts on a table, desk or tray. The proposed front facing sitting pillow provides the solution.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the front facing sitting pillow to mount or sit on a table desk or tray. For people that are in a restricted seat, like on an airplane seat, the person in a seat has limited access to the floor or other structure. From an airplane seat a person has a fold-down tray where the person can place items for work or leisure use. The front facing pillow is configured to would onto the thin fold-down tray or onto a desk surface to secure the front facing pillow. The front facing sitting pillow has a central opening where a person can read or look through the opening. It is also possible to provide eye shields to block light and therefore provide a darker atmosphere.

It is an object of the front facing sitting pillow to provide support for a person as they lay forward. Because a person does not have any support in a forward position it forces a person into lying against a seat, or resting to a side. With this front facing sitting pillow the person can lean forward where the face of the person can be held in a captured position. The mounting of the front facing sitting pillow on the tray provides a semi-ridged support that not only supports the person from forward motion but also prevents the head from tipping side-to-side when the person falls asleep.

It is another object of the front facing sitting pillow to be adjustable to accommodate different geometry of users. The face of each user can be different from the spacing of the cheeks and from the overall height of a person where they lay forward. The front facing sitting pillow is adjustable to place the pillow at a position where the pillow is essentially neutral when the person is resting to prevent neck stain as they rest. The sides can be moved further apart or set at an angle to accommodate the desire of a person that is resting.

It is still another object of the front facing sitting pillow for the pillow to be cleanable or washable. The pillows are covered with a cushioned fabric material and can be changed to accommodate style, cushion and tactile surface features. The cover is removable to allow them to be cleaned, or replaced. They are essentially socks that slide over the ends of the side supports.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1shows a perspective view of the front facing pillow20in use andFIG. 2shows a perspective view of the front facing pillow. From these figures the user10is resting in a forward seated position with the chin11of the user10placed in the lower “U”21of the face pillow20. Above and on the sides of the lower “U” are cheek pads22and23. The cheek pads22and23support the front of the face and head24to prevent the face and head24from drooping forward when the user10falls asleep. It is also contemplated to provide eye shields to block light and therefore provide a darker atmosphere to make sleeping easier.

The cheek pads can be configured to cover the eyes to block light or can be configured in an open configuration that allows the user to see in front of the cheek pads22and23to allow a user10to read a book, cell phone, tablet or other item. The front facing pillow25is configured as a single solid member or can be configured with articulating cheek pads that can be adjusted to contour to the sides of the face of a user10. The front of the pillow20can be covered with a removable covering26that can be removed for cleaning and washing.

The front facing pillow25is connected26to the remainder of the securing mechanism with a pivoting connection30that allows the front facing pillow25to rotate to allow the user10to set the desired angle where the head/face will be placed to place the user's head at a neutral position to reduce or prevent neck strain as the person rests or sleeps. From the pivoting connection30a pair of side arms31and32extend to rear pivoting joints33and34.

The rear pivoting joints33and34allow the vertical position of the front facing pillow25to be set. From the rear pivoting joints33and34a set of arms36and37extend to front pivoting joints.38and39. The combination of arms31,32and36,37allow for both vertical positioning of the front facing pillow25and the some front-to-back positioning of the front facing pillow25relative to the front50of where the front facing pillow20is mounted.

From the front pivoting joints38and39a pair of plates51and52are positioned to capture and grasp an existing tray49. When the plates51and52grasp the tray49they are secured to the existing tray49to prevent undesired side-to-side movement and rotation that might prevent the front facing pillow20from becoming accidentally dislodged from the existing tray49.

FIG. 3shows a side view of the front facing pillow20. From this side view the gap43that separates the upper plate51from the lower plate52is more visible. This gap43is adjustable to accommodate trays that may have different thicknesses. For installation the upper plate51is spread from the lower plate52. The plates are then place on the side of the existing fold-down tray49(not shown in this figure) and then the plates51,52are brought together to essentially clamp the plates51and52on the fold-down tray49.

The upper plate51and the lower plate52pivot from front pivoting joint38. A thumbscrew42provides frictional tension to the front pivoting joint38, the upper plate51, the lower plate52and arm36. While a thumbscrew42is shown to provide friction, it is also contemplated that detents could be used to provide positive positioning stops. Arm36is connected to rear pivoting joint34. At joint34another thumbscrew41is shown to provide frictional movement. This connection could also include detents. From joint arm32connects to pivoting connection30with a thumbscrew40or other friction connection to that connects to the pillow support.

The pillow support includes the cheek pads22connected through the “U” chin support21. This figure shows a cover27that is removable and provides a covering of cushioned fabric material and can be changed to accommodate style, cushion and tactile surface features. The cover is removable to allow them to be cleaned, or replaced. They are essentially socks that slide over the ends of the side supports and can connect in the chin area to essentially cover the entire surface where the skin of a person can make contact with the front facing pillow20.

FIG. 4shows a perspective view of the front facing pillow20folded for transportation and storage. This figure shows that the front facing pillow20is folded to a size that approximates a laptop computer or tablet computer. The upper plate51and the lower plate52are brought together using front pivoting joints38and39. The pivoting joints38and39allow arms37and36(not visible) to fold along the sides of the upper plate51and the lower plate52. At the end of arms37and36rear pivoting joints33and34sit adjacent to the back of the upper plate51and the lower plate52. Pivoting joints33and34have side arms31and32extending to pivoting connection30that has a connection26to the face pillow.

The face pillow is articulated back against the upper plate51where the “U” chin support cheek pads22and23rest in proximity to the upper plate51. It is further contemplated that the parts can telescope together to reduce the width of the front facing pillow20for transportation. While this particular folded embodiment is shown and described other equivalent embodiments are contemplated that provide a support that allows a person to rest in a forward position and allows a person to fold the front facing pillow20in a compact package for transportation. In addition to the disclosed folding arrangement it is also contemplated to provide a telescoping adjustment for the position of the face support.

FIG. 5shows a front perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the front facing sitting pillow120andFIG. 6shows a rear perspective view of the second preferred embodiment of the front facing sitting pillow120with the pillow191displaced. In the second preferred embodiment the base tube150is curved to provide a base structure. The base tube has a plurality of feet or cushions140,141and142to protect the table, desk or other supporting surface and also increases the coefficient of friction between the base tube150and a supporting table or desk. Fastening hardware143and144secures the feet or other elements to the base tube150.

At the front of the base tube150is a tube connector130with a plurality of holes132and133. A spring loaded button131allows the vertical tube member134to be rotated on the base tube150to alter an angular relationship197between the base tube150and the vertical tube member134. While vertical tube member134is identified as “vertical” it should be understood that the vertical tube member134can be positioned at different angles other that only vertical with respect to the planar bottom created by the base tube150.

The vertical tube134has in internal telescoping tube135that is extendable from within the vertical tube134. The telescoping tube135is secured within the vertical tube134with another spring loaded button136. This spring loaded button136is used to extend or retract198the pillow191. The telescoping tube135is secured to a cross member146.

The cross-member146extends horizontally to support arms170,171,172and173. These support arms are secured at a first end with a clamp160that essentially extend from one end of the cross-member146to the other end of the cross-member146. In the preferred embodiment a threaded member is used within the cross-member146to clamp the opposing ends with one or more nuts at both ends. In this figure, a threaded cam clamp160is used to allow for quick release and tightening of the cross-member146and the support arms170,171,172and173. The support arms170,171,172and173can slide on the ends of the cross-member146through pivoting axle161.

Support arms170,171,172and173are partially slotted at the first end and join the back of the support plate190at pivot locations to allow the support arms170,171,172and173to pivot on the back of the support plate190through pivoting axles162and163to change199the angle of the support plate190relative to the telescoping tube135and ultimately to the base tube150and the table or desk. The support plate190provides support to the face pad191.

The face pad191is recurred and or optionally removable from the support plate190with hook-and-loop fasteners192or other equivalent securing mechanism. The face pad191is removable for cleaning, washing or replacement.

The multiple adjustments allows a person to position the face pad191in an optimal position for comfort of the user that wants to take a nap while facing forward. A user can place their arms on the base tube150to reduce movement of the base tube on the desk or table while they nap or rest.

Thus, specific embodiments of a front facing sitting pillow have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.