Patent Publication Number: US-8973184-B2

Title: Skirt for a crib or mattress

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to provisional patent application U.S. Ser. No. 61/679,632 filed on Aug. 3, 2012, the entire contents of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The embodiments herein relate generally to bedding. In particular, embodiments of the present invention relate to bedding that can cover a crib or mattress. 
     Prior to embodiments of the disclosed invention, installing a skirt onto a crib or bed, maintaining the position of the skirt, and removing the skirt have evaded a simple solution. Prior art solutions included hook and loop fasteners and snaps, while this maintains the position of the skirt, they create difficulties in installing and removing the skirt. Embodiments of the present invention solve these problems 
     SUMMARY 
     A bedding skirt is configured to be rapidly inserted upon a mattress frame. The bedding skirt includes a front panel sufficiently long to hang from the mattress frame to ground. A back panel is attached to the front panel and sufficiently long to hang from the mattress frame to the ground. A plurality of magnets are attached to the back panel and configured to connect the bedding skirt to the mattress frame. The bedding skirt can be rapidly connected to the mattress frame for use and rapidly removed from the mattress frame for cleaning. 
     In some embodiments, an upper portion of the front panel is mechanically coupled to a stretch fabric which further holds the bedding skirt to the mattress frame. The stretch fabric can be a two-way stretch fabric that stretches in one direction from selvedge to selvedge. The front panel can also be mechanically coupled to the plurality of magnets. 
     In some embodiments, the plurality of magnets as spaced at a twelve inch interval. The plurality of magnets can also be neodymium magnets. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       The detailed description of some embodiments of the invention is made below with reference to the accompanying figures, wherein like numerals represent corresponding parts of the figures. 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention in use. 
         FIG. 2  is a front elevation view of an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a detail elevation view with parts broken away. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view taken by line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention in use on a standard bedframe. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS 
     By way of example, and referring to  FIG. 1 , bedding skirt  10  can be used on crib  12  to cover mattress frame  14  such that an upper portion of front panel  16  hangs downward from mattress frame  14  terminating in a lower portion. Front panel  16  should be sufficiently long to hang from mattress frame  14  to ground. In some embodiments, this distance is a few inches, but could be longer. Mattress frame  14  should contain sufficient ferrous material in order for magnets  20  (shown below) to cause bedding skirt  10  to adhere to crib  12 . In this embodiment, bedding skirt  10  would be a crib skirt. However bedding skirt  10  can also be used as a bedframe skirt as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
     Turning to  FIG. 2 , bedding skirt  10  comprises front panel  16 . The upper portion of front panel  16  is mechanically coupled to stretch fabric  18 . In some embodiments, stretch fabric  18  is a two-way stretch fabric that stretches in one direction from selvedge to selvedge as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
     In one embodiment, shown in  FIG. 3 , the back side of front panel  16  is mechanically coupled to back panel  22 . Back panel  22  is mechanically coupled to a plurality of magnets  20 . However, the construction is not exclusive. 
     Magnets  20  can be neodymium magnets that are commonly used by hobbyists in model power craft, but have no precedent use in home furnishings. Magnets  20  can be spaced at any interval, however, for standard metal mattress frames, placing magnets  20  at intervals of twelve inches has been found to be effective. In this embodiment a first magnet would be spaced twelve inches from a second magnet, and so on. This is known as spacing at a twelve inch interval. However, this interval is not exclusive of others that could be found effective by those of ordinary skill in the art. This configuration allows a user to rapidly place bedding skirt  10  to mattress frame  14  for use and rapidly remove bedding skirt  10  from mattress frame  14  for cleaning. As used in this application “rapidly” means within ten to thirty seconds. To contrast, using hook and loop fasteners bedding materials takes five to seven minutes. 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , front panel  13  is immediately adjacent to magnet  20 . Magnet  20  is immediately adjacent to back panel  22 . Front panel  16  is mechanically coupled to back panel  22  with stitching  24  above and below magnet  20 . Above stitching  24  front panel  16  wraps over stretch fabric  18  and meets back panel  22 . 
       FIG. 5  shows another use of an embodiment of bedding skirt  10  on a standard bedframe  26 . Standard bedframe  26  should contain sufficient ferrous material in order for magnets  20  (shown above) to cause bedding skirt  10  to adhere to standard bedframe  26 . 
     Persons of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate that numerous design configurations may be possible to enjoy the functional benefits of the inventive systems. Thus, given the wide variety of configurations and arrangements of embodiments of the present invention the scope of the invention is reflected by the breadth of the claims below rather than narrowed by the embodiments described above.