Patent Publication Number: US-2020297135-A1

Title: Hotel bed pillow

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention pertains to bed pillows and, more particularly, to a bed pillow having two sections with different thicknesses. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Conventional bed pillows to support a person&#39;s head when lying on a bed are uniformly filled with soft materials such as feathers, synthetic foam, plastic fibers, or rubber to provide uniform thickness. In private homes, such pillows are commonplace. The user selects one of a great variety of shapes, sizes, and textures of pillows and adjusts it to his or her sleeping support or comfort with varying degrees of success. 
     In certain situations, however, a given pillow may be used for a number of people over a period of time. This is the situation in hotels, motels, convalescent homes, and hospitals, for example. The pillow case is replaced from one person&#39;s use to another&#39;s in those facilities. The pillow itself is used over and over, regardless of the size or gender of the user. 
     The present invention reflects the discovery that men&#39;s shoulder, neck, and head dimensions differ from women&#39;s dimensions. In other words, men and women have different body frames. Moreover, such dimensions vary among men and among women depending on their individual physical dimensions. Therefore, a uniformly thick pillow of a predetermined thickness and stiffness is most often not the most desirable solution for every person&#39;s sleeping condition. 
     DESCRIPTION OF RELEVANT ART 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,248, issued to O&#39;Sullivan on Sep. 6, 1988 for HEALTH PILLOW CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD THEREFOR, discloses a health pillow construction for receiving the head and neck of the user in a resting position. A cover has a first and second wall and a partition interposed between the first and second walls so as to define a first and second chamber, respectively. Soft filler material is enclosed within the first chamber for supporting the head. Enclosed within the second chamber is a firm neck support member which is slidably moveable within the second chamber, so that the neck support member can easily be shifted from one position to another within the chamber. This enables the user to adapt the pillow to provide firm support for the neck while providing satisfactory head support. The neck support member is preferably in a cylindrical roll shape and is of a firm material, such as hard latex, or polyester fiber tightly packed within a covered fabric. The neck roll preferably has a diameter approximately in the range of 20 to 30 percent of its height. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 8,650,683, issued to Parnhamon Feb. 18, 2014 for PILLOW, discloses a pillow having an outer cover having a first side and a second side that define therebetween a space for receiving pillow filling. First and second partition walls extend between the first side and the second side to divide the space into first, second, and third chambers, respectively. A closable access mechanism provides access to the first, second, and third chambers so that pillow filling can be selectively added to or removed from any of the chambers to adjust the firmness of portions of the pillow. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the invention, there is provided a rectangular pillow having a longitudinal upper border having a proximal end and a distal end and a longitudinal lower border parallel to the longitudinal upper border. A first side border is connected to the proximal ends of the upper border and the lower border. A second side border is connected to the distal ends of the upper border and the lower border. A partition is disposed parallel to the upper border and the lower border and extends between the first and second side borders, forming an upper portion and a lower portion of the pillow. A first quantity of fibrous down feathers or other conventional material fills the upper portion of the pillow and a second quantity of fibrous down feathers or other conventional material fills the lower portion of the pillow, so the upper portion of the pillow has a first thickness and stiffness or durometer and the lower portion of the pillow has a second thickness and/or stiffness or durometer. Other material can also be used, such as polyester or synthetic foam. 
     Labels are provided in different colors, blue for men and pink for women. A tag is sewn onto one end of the upper portion of the pillow to indicate S (small) and NI (medium) and onto one end of the lower portion to indicate L (large) and XL (extra large). Alternatively, other captions can be used, such as “Comfort Level 1,” “Comfort Level 2,” “Comfort Level 3,” etc. to identify different sizes. These labels match standard shirt sizes. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       A complete understanding of the present invention may be obtained by reference to the accompanying drawing, when considered in conjunction with the subsequent detailed description, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic view of a person&#39;s head, neck, and shoulders; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of the pillow in accordance with the invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is an end view of two pillows. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Although the following detailed description contains specific details for the purposes of illustration, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that variations and alterations to the following details are within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention described below are set forth without any loss of generality to, and without imposing limitations upon, the claimed invention. 
     A rectangular pillow has a longitudinal upper border and a longitudinal lower border parallel to the longitudinal upper border. The pillow has first and second side borders connected to the ends of the upper border and the lower border. A longitudinal partition, disposed parallel to the upper border and the lower border and extending between the first and second side borders, forms an upper portion and a lower portion of the pillow. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a schematic view of a person&#39;s head, neck, and shoulders is shown at reference numeral  10 . Head  12 , neck  14 , and shoulder  16  are depicted in silhouette. The approximate distance between the person&#39;s neck  14  and shoulder  16 , measured from the base of the neck  14  to the outside tip of the humerus bone is indicated by the dimension SS. The approximate, average dimension SS for women and men is shown in the Table, below, correlating to small, medium, large, and extra large sizes, as are typically found in shirts. 
     
       
         
           
               
            
               
                   
               
               
                 TABLE of Neck-to-Shoulder Dimensions (SS) and Shirt Sizes 
               
            
           
           
               
               
            
               
                 Women 
                 Men 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 XL 
                 L 
                 M 
                 S 
                 XL 
                 L 
                 M 
                 S 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 6.25″ 
                 5.25″ 
                 4.25″ 
                 3.25″ 
                 7.25″ 
                 6.25″ 
                 5.25″ 
                 4.25″ 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Referring now also to  FIG. 2 , a plan view of the inventive bed pillow is identified generally by reference numeral  20 . In the preferred embodiment, the pillow  20  is rectangular, having an upper border  22  and lower border  24  parallel to each other. Other boundary configurations and shapes can also be provided without departing from the scope of the invention. 
     Pillow  20  can be sized for single, full, queen, and king sized beds, not shown, on which the pillow  20  is to be placed. 
     Proximal side border  26  is attached to upper and lower borders  22 ,  24 , as is distal side border  28 . Bisecting the region between upper and lower borders  22 ,  24  is a fabric partition  30  that extends between proximal and distal side borders  26 ,  28 . Partition  30  is sewn entirely through the thickness of pillow  20 , forming an upper and a lower portion thereof. 
     A first quantity of fibrous down feathers, not shown, fills the upper portion of the pillow and a second quantity of fibrous down feathers or other conventional material, such as polyester, synthetic foam, memory foam, or combinations thereof, fills the lower portion of pillow  20 , so the upper portion of pillow  20  has a first thickness and stiffness and the lower portion of pillow  20  has a second thickness and/or stiffness. 
     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , an end view of two pillows is shown. Because a woman&#39;s distance from neck to shoulder is usually less than the equivalent distance for a man, end view of the left pillow shown in this  FIG. 3  is assumed to be a woman&#39;s pillow and end view of the right pillow is assumed to be a man&#39;s pillow. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, woman&#39;s pillow is dyed pink and man&#39;s pillow is dyed blue or tags  33 ,  37  can be attached, including women&#39;s and men&#39;s specific shirt sizes or relative sizes, respectively, and being colored as aforementioned. Of course, other colors can be chosen to differentiate the man&#39;s pillow from the woman&#39;s. Alternatively or in addition, labels  32  and  34  attached to proximal side border of woman&#39;s pillow can represent the thickness of the upper portion and lower portion of pillow, such as S and M or L and XL, respectively. Similarly, labels  36  and  38  attached to proximal side border of man&#39;s pillow can indicate the thickness of the upper portion and lower portion of pillow, such as S and M or L and XL. Alternatively, other captions can be used, such as “Comfort Level 1,” “Comfort Level 2,” “Comfort Level 3,” etc. to identify different sizes. The proximal side borders of woman&#39;s and man&#39;s pillow, not shown, can also be consistently labeled. 
     Accordingly, in a typical motel bedroom, four pillows would be provided on a single-, double-, queen-, or king-sized bed: two to accommodate a woman and two to accommodate a man. 
     Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating requirements and environments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, this invention is not considered limited to the example chosen for purposes of this disclosure, and covers all changes and modifications which does not constitute departures from the true spirit and scope of this invention. 
     Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.