Abstract:
A bed apparatus having a base and two inflatable members for elevating the torso and legs of a user is provided. The inflatable members are removably attachable to the base and can be selectively spaced apart, making the bed spatially adjustable. The extent to which a user&#39;s body is elevated is controlled by inflation of the inflatable members, making the bed vertically adjustable.

Description:
This nonprovisional application claims the benefit of provisional application 60/598,077, filed Aug. 2, 2004. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention generally relates to an inflatable bed and is specifically directed to an air inflatable bed apparatus that, when not inflated, is compactable for efficient portability and storage and that includes removably attachable elevated support components that are vertically and spatially adjustable so as to make the apparatus adjustable for optimum comfort and compatible with users of different physical dimensions. 
     Vertically adjustable beds are well known commodities. Today, most American hospital rooms are equipped with vertically adjustable beds that are electromechanically operable. Hospitalized patients who are confined to those types of beds, but who remain physically capable of controlling the beds without assistance can, at the mere press of a switch, incline their beds and raise themselves to watch television, converse with visitors and perform various other waking activities that are preferably done from upright postures. Similarly, the patients can then decline the beds and lower themselves whenever they wish to assume a more evenly horizontal position. Furthermore, vertically adjustable beds allow bedridden patients in more debilitated conditions to be raised, by their care providers, to facilitate basic activities such as feeding and bedpan use or for preventing fluid buildup in the patients&#39; lungs without the patients having to be physically handled by multiple care providers. Therefore, in addition to enabling patients to have more comfortable hospitalization experiences, vertically adjustable beds can effectively lower a hospital&#39;s labor costs by reducing the number of care personnel that otherwise would be needed simply for lifting and lowering debilitated patients on their beds throughout the day. 
     From a negative standpoint, however, a contemporary electromechanical bed that is vertically adjustable can be simply too expensive for the average consumer to purchase for home use. Also, as is the case with any electromechanical device, there are risks of mechanical or electrical failure occurring. Furthermore, the sheer sizes and weights of most of these beds make it prohibitive to move them from room to room, much less transport them in vehicles. 
     Air inflatable beds, some of which are vertically adjustable, are also well known in the prior art. For examples, U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,511 to Collymore and U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,522 to Walker both disclose examples of such. Inflatable beds, generally, can provide multiple benefits to users. One obvious benefit, depending on the construction of the particular airbed, is that of portability. Airbeds which are compactable and devoid of any heavy or rigid parts, as are many vinyl-fabricated air mattresses, can be transported for use virtually anywhere, and their compactness allows them to be easily stored in small spaces. 
     Another virtue of an inflatable mattress, in comparison to a conventional bed mattress, can be the firmness that the inflatable mattress possesses when it is inflated to a high pressure. For this reason, an inflatable bed may be preferable to a more forgiving conventional mattress for a person suffering from a chronic back ailment. And an airbed that is contoured to smoothly incline a user&#39;s torso can be a considerably firmer inclined lying surface than is an inclinable conventional mattress, much less the makeshift alternative of stacked pillows for propping the head and torso. Again, for users suffering from back or neck problems, the extra firmness of the airbed can be essential to preventing further spinal and muscular aggravation. Additionally, persons suffering respiratory ailments such as asthma or emphysema and those suffering gastric problems such as acid reflux disease (“GERD”) can also benefit from an airbed that elevates their torsos during rest. 
     However, inflatable beds of the prior art are not without their deficiencies as well. One such deficiency common to many known inflatable beds is their lack of spatial adjustability. To wit, since people of varying tallness may wish to enjoy the use of an inflatable bed, it may be necessary to allow for expansion and contraction of, for example, the space that separates the torso/head elevating segment of the airbed from its leg elevating segment, where the inflatable bed features both such segments. When an inflatable bed does not allow for this kind of spatial adjustment, the bed may be incompatible with users who are considerably taller than the typical user, as the legs of taller users may extend beyond the end of the airbed, or the leg incline segment of the airbed may not be comfortably situated relative to its torso/head incline segment. Incidentally, this inability to adjust the spacing between inclined segments of the bed is not confined to inflatable beds; it can be a drawback of mechanical adjustable beds as well. 
     Thus, it can be appreciated that there exists a particular need for a portable bed apparatus that is both vertically and horizontally adjustable to enable lifting and propping of the torsos and legs of users and to render it compatible with virtually all users. The portable, adjustable and inflatable bed of the present invention substantially fulfills this need. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in inflatable beds of the known prior art, the present invention discloses a new inflatable bed for providing adjustable lift support to its users. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention comprises a base member and two attachable lifting members. The first and second lifting members are for elevating and supporting a user&#39;s torso and legs, respectively, and the base member integrates the lifting members and provides a means for selectively spacing them apart. 
     All of the member components are fabricated of durable material—the lifting members being adapted to support the weight of a human body when they are inflated with air. The base member comprises simply a rectangular sheet of the material. Located at opposite ends of the base member&#39;s top surface are patches of hook and loop fasteners. On the bottom surface of the base are strips of rubberized material for preventing the base from sliding along the floor or bed mattress that it is placed upon. 
     When they are inflated with air, the first lifting member is contoured to lift a user&#39;s torso, while the second lifting member is contoured to elevate and support a user&#39;s legs. The bottom surfaces of each lifting member (i.e., the sides to not be in contact with the user&#39;s body) have long strips of hook and loop fasteners for engagement with the patches of hook and loop fasteners located at opposite ends of the base member&#39;s use surface, and the lifting members&#39; respective bottom surfaces also feature rubber strips that prevent the lifting members from sliding. The fastener strips on the bottoms of the lifting members are considerably longer than the fastener patches atop the base member&#39;s use surface. In fact, the lengths of the lifting members&#39; fastener strips allow the lifting members to be attached to the base member at varying distances from each other so that the lifting members may be selectively spaced for optimum individual user comfort. 
     The present invention can be greatly beneficial to, not only people confined to beds, but others who may be afflicted with various physical ailments. For example, acid reflux very often occurs while a person is in lying position since it is easy for the stomach contents to spill into the esophagus when the torso is horizontal and those body parts are level. By inclining the user&#39;s torso such that the user&#39;s esophagus is vertically above his stomach, the present invention substantially diminishes the possibility of reflux occurring. For another example, people suffering from edema, or swelling of the feet and legs, can reduce their swelling while sleeping by using the second lifting member to elevate their legs vertically above their hearts. And because the present invention is so easily transportable, it can be taken along during travel and used anywhere. 
     Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bed apparatus that is air inflatable, making the bed vertically adjustable. The extent to which the apparatus&#39;s lifting members will incline a user&#39;s torso or lift a user&#39;s legs is directly dependent on the extent to which the lifting members are inflated with air. The vertical attitude of a user&#39;s lying body can be adjusted by simply using an air pump to inject air or allowing air to expel through a closeable hole that is along each lifting member. Therefore, when the deflated bed apparatus sits underneath the body of a bedridden user, the user can be effectively raised into an upright posture to read, watch television or enjoy a meal without any physical labor by inflating the lifting members. Likewise, the user can be subsequently lowered my simply opening the lifting members&#39; holes and releasing the air. 
     It is another of the present invention to provide a bed apparatus that is spatially adjustable. The present bed apparatus can be effectively lengthened or shortened by selective attachment of the lifting members to the base member. The bottom surfaces of the lifting members have linear strips of fasteners allowing the lift members to attach to the base member at varying distances from one another. 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an inflatable bed that is exceptionally comfortable for a user to rest upon. To this end, the use surfaces of the base and lifting members are upholstered with a plush fabric so that a user&#39;s skin need not be in contact with sweat inducing vinyl. For maintaining cleanliness and sanitation without undue labor, removable fabric covers may be snugly placed atop the lifting members similar to a fitted sheet found on a conventional mattress. After bed usage, such covers can be removed and machine-washed before being refitted over their respective lifting members. 
     It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an adjustable bed apparatus that is easily portable and efficiently storable. By including no frames, solid walls or other rigid parts and, instead, incorporating collapsible lifting members with a base member capable of being folded up or coiled, the entire apparatus can be compacted into a small bundle and carried by an individual, transported in and automobile, packed inside a closet, etc. The present bed can be unfurled, inflated and used in places that mechanical adjustable beds, as well as some inflatable beds of the prior art, could not be taken or fitted. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a bottom plan view of the base member; 
         FIG. 2  is a top perspective view of the base member; 
         FIG. 3  is a top perspective view of the portable, adjustable, inflatable bed showing the bed components detached from one another; 
         FIG. 4  is a is a top perspective view of the portable, adjustable, inflatable bed showing the bed assembled; 
         FIG. 5  is a bottom plan view of the first lifting member only; and 
         FIG. 6  is a bottom plan view of the second lifting member only. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     A preferred embodiment of the portable, adjustable, inflatable bed of the present invention is illustrated in  FIGS. 3 and 4 . That embodiment of the bed includes three integrated primary components: a base member  30 , a first lifting member  10  and a second lifting member  20 . 
     The base member  30  comprises a substantially flat and rectangular slab of durable material such as vinyl. On its use surface  32  are short strips of hook and loop fasteners  36  running generally adjacent to both its proximal end  40  and its distal end  42 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . On its bottom surface  34  are strips of rubber  38 , as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . These rubber strips  38  are particularly useful when the base member is sitting atop a slick bed sheet or floor surface, as the strips  38  help to prevent the base member  30  from sliding. For the user&#39;s comfort, velour  28  upholsters the base member&#39;s use surface  32 , although velvet or other types of soft textile materials could suffice as well. 
     The first lifting member  10  and second lifting member  20  are generally hollow and collapsible compartments. In a preferred embodiment, the lifting members  10  and  20  are primarily comprised of a durable and air impermeable material such as vinyl. Velour  28  layers the first lifting member&#39;s use surface  12  as well as the second lifting member&#39;s use surface  22 . A closeable hole  26  of a type that could be found on any inflatable bed is located along a perimeter side of each lifting member. The first lifting member&#39;s bottom surface  14  and the second lifting member&#39;s bottom surface  24  are virtually identical. Both bottom surfaces  14  and  24  feature long strips of hook and loop fasteners  18  as well as rubber strips  16  like the rubber found along the base member&#39;s bottom  34 . The lifting members&#39; bottom surfaces  14  and  24  are illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , respectively. 
     When the first lifting member  10  is fully inflated with air, as is depicted in  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the lifting member  10  takes on a five-sided wedge shape contoured for a user&#39;s head and torso to comfortably rest upon. Similarly, when the second lifting member  20  is inflated, the lifting member  20  takes on a wedge shape contoured to comfortably fit underneath a user&#39;s legs and allow the user&#39;s feet to rest vertically below his slightly bent knees. The second lifting member  20  depicted in  FIGS. 3 and 4  illustrates such a shape. However, the second lifting member  20  can have other contours. 
     To inflate either lifting member with air, one must simply: (1) open the particular lifting member&#39;s hole  26 ; (2) inject air through the hole  26  either orally or, preferably, with an air pump (not shown); and (3) close the hole  26  to trap the injected air inside the lifting member. As much air as necessary should be injected into the first lifting member  10  to create the proper inflation pressure for supporting the user&#39;s torso at a desired vertical incline and into the second lifting member  20  to lift the user&#39;s legs to a desired height. If a user is lying atop the bed of the present invention while its lifting members  10  and  20  are in collapsed condition, inflating lifting member  10  will effectively raise the user&#39;s torso, and inflating lifting member  20  will elevate the user&#39;s legs. 
     Conversely, as air is allowed to release from the first lifting member  10  via its opened hole  26 , the angle of vertical incline formed by the inflated lifting member  10  is correspondingly decreased. The height of the second lifting member  20  is similarly lowered when its hole  26  is opened and air is expelled. In fact, when they are fully deflated and in collapsed condition, the lifting members  10  and  20  may have generally unrecognizable form, and they can be folded and compressed into small masses. 
     The bed of the present invention is fully assembled when the hook and loop fasteners  36  near the base member&#39;s proximal end  40  are attached to the corresponding hook and loop fasteners  18  found along the first lifting member&#39;s bottom surface  14  while the fasteners  36  near the base member&#39;s distal end  42  are attached to the corresponding fasteners  18  found along the second lifting member&#39;s bottom surface  24 . An assembled bed apparatus is illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The separation distance between the lifting members  10  and  20  is dependent upon where along their respective fastener strips  18  the base member&#39;s fasteners  36  are engaged. Thus, while one may vertically adjust the bed by virtue of controlling the inflation level of the lifting members  10  and  20 , one may also horizontally adjust the bed by selectively attaching the lifting members  10  and  20  to the base member  30 .