WOVEN BED SHEET WITH ELASTOMERIC KNITTED CORNERS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[00001] The present invention relates to bedding and, more particularly, to contoured or fitted bed sheets,

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

[00002] Historically, contoured or fitted bed sheets have been fabricated using either woven or knitted fabrics. Woven sheets are typically fabricated with an elastic strip around the bottom edge of the sheet to assist the product in remaining secured to the mattress. This is necessary because the woven fabric has no ability to grab! However, in commercial laundry environments, the elastic has a much shorter life than the woven fabric, thereby limiting the service life of the product. Further, the utility of any woven contoured bed sheet is dependent upon the sidewall depth or height, specifically for the corners. In other words, if a contour sheet is fabricated with a sidewall height of eight inches, it will accommodate only mattresses with a thickness of slightly less than eight inches. Given that mattresses are manufactured in multiple thickness, and most heath care facilities and hospitality properties

have mattresses of varying thicknesses in service at any given time, this presents both service and functionality problems.

[00003] Knitted contoured bed sheets offer the versatility inherent in knitted fabrics and are better suited for accommodation of varying mattress dimensions. Also, the stretch and recovery aspect of a knit material allows these sheets to be commonly made without elastic. However, knit fabrics are known to be less durable than woven alternatives and can be more complicated and costly to process in a commercial laundry. Knitted sheets present difficulties in being effectively processed through ordinary flat work ironers or folding machinery that are employed in many industrial processing facilities. Thus, while knitted bed sheets have gained large-scale market acceptance in the health care market, the processing, handling, and finished product appearance issues associated with them have caused the hospitality industry to largely continue the use of woven products.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[00004] The present invention provides a bed sheet that serves as a contoured bed sheet having certain advantages of both woven and knitted bed sheets, but without some of the respective drawbacks thereof. To that end, and in accordance with the principles of the present invention, a contoured bed sheet is provided by a woven sheet with knitted corner inserts having both non-elastomeric synthetic yarns and elastomeric synthetic yarns, with the elastomeric yarns being present in a range of between about 5% and about 25% by weight of the corner insert. The resulting sheet can be used as a contoured bed sheet like a knit sheet, but without a separate elastic strip, yet can be easily processed through conventional

commercial laundry and folding machinery. Further, the product, when in use, appears to be a typical woven contoured bed sheet.

[00005] By virtue of the foregoing, there is thus provided a contoured bed sheet with advantages of both woven and knitted bed sheets, but without some of the respective drawbacks thereof. These and other objects and advantages of the present invention shall be made apparent from the accompanying drawings and the description thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[00006] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the invention and, together with the general description of the invention given above and the detailed description of the embodiment given below, serve to explain the principles of the present invention.

[00007] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary woven base sheet for use in ^• making a contoured bed sheet in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

[00008] FIG. IA is a top plan view taken at encircled area IA of FIG. 1 ;

[00009] FIG. 2 is a plan view of an exemplary knitted corner insert for use with the woven sheet of FIG. 1 to make a contoured bed sheet in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

[00010] FIG. 3 is a perspective, partially cut away view of a contoured bed sheet according to the present invention made up from the woven sheet of FIG. 1 and a plurality of knitted corner inserts of FIG 2; and

[00011] FIG.4 is an enlarged plan view taken at encircled area 4 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00012] With reference to FIG. 1, a rectangular woven base sheet 10 has a field portion

12, with opposite lengthwise top and bottom segments 14, 16, and opposite left and right widthwise side segments 18, 20 as indicated by dashed lines. Each pair of adjacent segments (such as segments 14 and 18 by way of example) overlap in a corner area 22. A corner section 24 (shown in phantom in FIG. 1) of one or more (advantageously all four) corner areas 22 of the woven sheet 10 is removed leaving a generally arcuate upper edge 26 extending between points 28 along the periphery of the respective adjacent segments, such that each segment may now be seen as constituting a lengthwise or widthwise panel: Corner section 24 may be cut such that edge 26 has a pair of inwardly extending, generally straight, edge portions 26a, 26b, that adjoin at rounded apex 26c as seen inf FIG. IA. Sheet 10 can be of any woven fabric typically used in bedding such as cotton, polyester, or combinations thereof. Typically, a standard weave is employed.

[00013] A contoured bed sheet 30 (Fig. 3) is formed by attaching to at least one, if not to a pair, or to all four, corner sections 24 between respective pairs of adjacent segments or panels (14, 20; 20, 16; 16, 18; and/or 10, 14) a knitted corner insert 40 (Fig. 2) which may, in the embodiment shown herein, be of generally triangular shaped having outer side edges 42,

44 extending from bottom side edge 46 and adjoining at rounded apex 48. The corner insert 40 is attached, such as by stitching of the edges 42, 44 and apex 48 to upper edge 26 of a corner section 24 of sheet 10. A safety stitch seam as at 50 may be used. As a consequence, each corner insert 40 joins together an adjacent pair of panels (14, 20; 20, 16; 16, 18; and/or 10, 14) to thus define stretchable corners 52 so as to function as a contoured bed sheet and receive respective corners of a mattress 54.

[00014] Corner inserts 40 are advantageously made from a stretchable material which is knitted, either by warp or circular knitting. In order to give the advantageous results desired by the present invention, with reference to FIG. 4, corners 40 are formed by knitting together a plurality of non-elastomeric yarns 60 and a plurality of elastomeric yarns 62 (only one shown in FIG. 4), the latter advantageously making up about 5% to about 25% by weight of a corner insert 40, although making up by weight within a narrow range of about 10% to about 25% may be further advantageous. In one embodiment, a weight of elastomeric yarns 62 of corner insert 40 is about 17%. ^' Such amounts are believed to provide for sufficient expansion, at the same time ensuring that the corners 52 adequately grab the mattress 54.

[00015] The elastomeric yarns 62 may be of any stretchable material, although an elastomeric segmented polyurethane, such as Spandex (which may be at least about 85% of segmented polyurethane), may be advantageous. The non-elastomeric yarns 60 may be any yarn that can be knitted to form the fabric corners 40, with one possibly advantageous non- elastomeric yarn being comprised of polyester. The overall weight per yard of a corner insert 40 is advantageously limited to be between about 50% and about 150% of the weight per yard of the base sheet 10. Further, corner inserts 40 are advantageously of substantially the same color as base sheet 10.

[00016] To form the bed sheet 30, comer sections 24 of an appropriate size are removed from base sheeting 10. As an example, each corner section 24 of base sheet 10 may be cut between points 28 that are each about 22.5 inches (plus or minus about a half inch) from the apex 70 at each corner area 22 to. define upper edge 26 subtending a distance of about 32 inches between adjacent pairs of points 28. The maximum distance between edge apex 26c and apex 70 may be about 19.25 inches. The corner insert 40 side edges 42, 44, in turn, will each be about 15.25 inches long, with bottom edge 46 being about 13 inches long. The distance from the bottom edge 46 to the apex 48 may be about 14 inches.

[00017] The corners 40 are attached to the base sheeting 10 by stitching, such as safety stitching 50. Corners 40 may be attached at the rounded apex 48 to the apex 26c of upper edge 26, and subsequently stitched along sides 42 and 44 and respective edge portions 26a and 26b. The bottom peripheral edge 80, optionally including bottom edge(s) 46, of the entire sheet 30 may be seamed to provide a finished sheet. Because of the difference in size between cut out corner sections 24 and corner inserts 40, the corner inserts are slightly stretched when sewn into base sheet 10 to form contoured bed sheet 30.

[00018] The above bed sheet 30 provides the feel, appearance, and durability of a woven sheet. It can be processed using standard commercial laundry facilities. However, it fits on a mattress like a knitted sheet. It can also accommodate mattresses of varying thicknesses.

[00019] By virtue of the foregoing, there is thus provided a contoured bed sheet with advantages of both woven and knitted bed sheets, but without some of the respective drawbacks thereof.

[00020] While the present invention has been illustrated by the description of an embodiment thereof, and while the embodiment has been described in considerable detail, it is not intended to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is, therefore, not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept.

Having described the invention, what is claimed is: