Adjustable travel pillow

An adjustable travel pillow unit having a pillow outer shell, a support frame within the shell and an adjustment mechanism. The mechanism allows an arm to extend or retract in alignment with a plane and is movable itself in alignment with a plane perpendicular to the first mentioned plane.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to a travel pillow that is adjustable with 
respect to its relative position on the back support of a seat of a 
vehicle. 
2. Discussion of Related Art 
On mass transit mediums, such as the planes and the trains, the personal 
spaces for the passengers are often limited. The passengers are restricted 
from fully reclining their seats in order to fully lean their heads in a 
fixed position. Passengers on a long journey often find it difficult to 
find a restful position for their heads. Some methods, such as compacting 
several pillows against the window of the vehicle often provides little 
comfort because the head is leaning in an uncomfortable angle, resulting 
in a neck pain. And the passengers not seated on the windows don't even 
have that relief. When the reclining angle of the seat is restricted by 
the limited space, the seat will remain more in the upright, fall deeper 
into asleep, inadvertently their heads tend to fall to their sides thus 
acquiring a stiff neck or lean against their neighbor. 
It would be desirable to attach the travel pillow onto a seat in a matter 
of seconds and position the pillow relatively high or low along the seat 
back support to accommodate any height of the user. Preferably, the travel 
pillow may be readily positioned straight up and down or in various tilted 
angles to lean the head even where the seat back support is substantially 
in a vertical position. Such flexibility in positioning preferably arises 
by attaching the travel pillow transverse to the back support of the seat.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Turning to FIG. 1, the adjustable travel pillow unit includes a pillow 
outer shell 10, which is made of soft, cushion, foam material, such as the 
paddings used on weight lifting equipment. The material needs to be 
comfortable enough to use as a pillow but still hold its structural 
integrity. The pillow outer shell 10 has opposite ends 12, 14. Within the 
shell 10 is a frame 25 that has a lock nut 20 in a channel 18 accessible 
via a slit 16 in the pillow outer shell at one end 12. 
The frame 25 is made of hard plastic, metal, wood or other sturdy material. 
One of the main functions of the frame 25 is to allow an outer cylinder 34 
of a back supporting arm 22 (see FIG. 2) and the adjustment mechanism 35 
(see FIG. 2) slide up and down. 
The adjustment mechanism 35 locks the back supporting arm 22 in place when 
not in use, allows the user to release the arm 22 to extend for use, and 
allows adjustment of the height and the angle of the pillow. 
Referring to FIG. 2, the channel 18 is cut in the side of the outer brace 
27 and the middle brace 28. The channel 18 permits the adjustment 
mechanism 35 to slide vertically for effecting height adjustment along the 
seat go back support. Inner brace 30 leans against the front of the seat 
back support via the opposite end 14 to stabilize the pillow along with 
front support extension 26. 
FIG. 3 shows the outer cylinder 34 of the adjustment mechanism 35. This 
outer cylinder 34 houses the back support shaft 40 and the release pin 
assembly. The angle adjustment lock nut 20 (FIG. 4) screws onto the outer 
cylinder 34. The recess 36 on the outer cylinder 34 may frictionally grasp 
the outer cylinder 34 to stay in position along the brace 28 (FIG. 2) at 
any vertical position. Additionally, the lock nut 20 itself also acts to 
support the outer cylinder 34 in place as it is screwed against the brace 
27. 
FIG. 5 shows the cut away view of the back support shaft and the release 
pin assembly. The adjustment mechanism 35 provides for the retraction and 
the extension of the back support shaft 40. In the normal, closed 
position, the inner pin 46 of the assembly is pushed out by the spring 
bias of a spring 48. The bias forces the steel locking balls 52 into the 
grooves 54 in the back support shaft 40, thus locking the shaft 40 in 
place. When the inner pin 46 is pushed, the groove 50 in the pin 46, 
aligned with steel locking balls 52, allows the back support shaft 40 to 
slide and extend. The grooves 42 are spaced in intervals to allow for 
locking in different positions (such as for the different thickness of the 
seats). 
FIG. 6 shows the outer cylinder 34 and the alignment key 58. The back 
support shaft 40 is the component, when the pillow is in use, that will be 
the anchor to hold the whole unit stationary and in place. The alignment 
key 58 on the shaft 40 physically keeps the shaft from rotating within the 
outer cylinder 34. The alignment key 58 mates the outer cylinder 34 with 
the back support shaft 40 in order to stabilize the outer cylinder with 
the pin 46. Otherwise, the outer shaft would turn and the back support 
would move. The alignment key provides the support necessary since the pin 
46 moves freely in the shaft. 
On the other hand, the outer cylinder 34 sliding up and down the frame is 
not stationary. It travels up and down and rotates. The lock nut 20 is 
utilized to secure the pillow outer shell 10 in one position once the 
desired height and the angle is obtained by sliding the pillow outer shell 
10 up and down and tilting the pillow outer shell. The lock nut 20 is 
screwed onto the thread 38 on the outer cylinder 34, locking the nut 20 
against the frame brace 27 (see FIG. 1), thus holding the pillow outer 
shell 10 in place. 
FIGS. 7 and 8 show the two pads that keep the pillow in position and 
stationary. These spoon shaped non-slip pads 24, each on a respective one 
of the back supporting arm 22 and the front support extension 26, are used 
to resist slippage on the fabric or plastic portions of the seat. The 
front support extension 26 also acts as an additional "leg" to hold the 
unit in place as the head is leaned against the pillow. It is pivotally 
connected to the inner brace 30. 
To operate, the lock nut 20 is loosened to free the adjustment mechanism to 
slide vertically within the channel 18. When a desired relative vertical 
position is attained, the lock nut 20 is tightened to keep the adjustment 
mechanism 35 stationary in position. To move the back support shaft 40 to 
the desired position, the inner pin 46 is pushed against spring bias by 
pulling out the back supporting arm 22 until the appropriate of the 
grooves 42 lock with the steel locking balls 52. To close, the back 
supporting arm 22 is pushed in so that the inner pin 46 is allowed under 
spring bias to reach a relative position in which the steel locking balls 
52 and the grooves 54 align. Note that grooves 42 and grooves 54 are 
spaced apart, each close to its own associated end of the outer cylinder 
34. 
The adjustment mechanism 35 slides in the channel 18 in alignment with a 
first plane. The back supporting arm 22 moves back and forth as desired to 
clamp onto the seat by moving in alignment with a plane perpendicular to 
the plane through which the adjustment mechanism 35 moves in the channel 
18. 
To close, the front support extension 26 is swung about its pivot 56 
adjacent the end 14 of the pillow outer shell. The back support arm 22 is 
pushed adjacent this end 14 as well. As necessary, the lock nut 20 may be 
released to permit the adjustment mechanism to slide to an end position so 
as to help position the back support arm 22 so it does not interfere with 
the front support extension 26. 
FIGS. 9 and 10 show opposite end views 12, 14 of the pillow, with the 
adjustment mechanism in a closed, storage position. The lock nut 20, outer 
brace 21, inner brace 30, back supporting arm 22, non-slip surface 24 and 
front support extension 26 are identified in the drawings. 
FIGS. 11 and 12 show the back support arm 22 in retracted (for compact 
storage) and in extended (for seat securement) positions. The push button 
46 allows the steel ball 52 to slide into a groove 50. This releases the 
back support shaft 40 so that it can extend. Adjustment can be made to a 
number of grooves 42 for an exact fit. FIGS. 13 and 14 show the seat 
adjusted to either a relatively low position or a relatively high position 
with respect to the elevation of the back of the seat 60. Loosen locknut 
20 which releases the friction between the locknut and the frame 27. This 
permits up and down movement and swing angle. 
FIGS. 15-18 show the frame with its braces 27, 28, 30 and a top brace 29. 
One end slide 31 of the top brace 19 widens diametrically to become flat 
(FIG. 17) to form a substantially circular end portion so as to form fit 
to the top of the seat 60. 
While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred 
embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various 
changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit 
and scope of the present invention.