TITLE OF THE INVENTION BEDDING FOUNDATION SUPPORT MODULE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field Of The Invention The present invention generally relates to bedding foundations, and more particularly to support modules for use in nestably stackable wire bedding foundations. Discussion of the Prior Art

It has become more common for mattress sets to include an upper spring mattress and a lower semi-rigid bedding foundation, instead of a lower box spring mattress. The completed semi-rigid bedding foundation is typically manufactured in stages, by two or more different manufacturers. The first manufacturer makes a wire bedding foundation assembly having a plurality of support modules or other support structures connected to a wire grid assembly that represents a support surface. The second manufacturer makes a wooden slatted base to which the wire assembly is mounted. The second manufacturer or a third manufacturer then finishes the process of making the completed bedding foundation by attaching the wire assembly to a wooden slatted base, and then typically adding padding and a fabric cover.

To date, there are numerous versions of such semi-rigid bedding foundations, and it has been found to be particularly efficient for warehousing and shipping purposes if the wire assemblies are made to be nestably stackable. That is to say that when one wire bedding foundation assembly is stacked atop another like wire assembly, portions of the upper wire assembly fit at least partially within the lower wire assembly, such that the height of the two wire assemblies when stacked is less than the total of the individual heights of the two wire assemblies added together.

The bedding industry has developed various nestably stackable configurations, which either utilize individual support modules connected to an upper wire grid, such as is disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,967,499, or use some form of elongated bent wires that run the length of a bedding foundation to create a nestably stackable foundation, such as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,052,064. However, these types of bedding foundations exhibit a disadvantageous inherent tendency to have support legs, running from the upper wire grid to the base of the wire assembly, which are parallel to or perpendicular to the sides or ends of the wire grid assembly. Such orientation of the support legs tends to have good performance in resisting either lateral or longitudinal forces on the upper surface of the bedding foundation, but does not perform favorably in regard to forces from multiple directions in addition to their basic function of vertically supporting the upper surface of the bedding foundation.

An object of the present invention is to provide an additional novel and nonobvious type of support module for use in a nestably stackable bedding foundation which permits efficient manufacture, storage and shipping of bedding foundations of the semi-rigid wire type. A further object of the invention is to provide a support module that when connected to a wire grid is better equipped to resist forces from multiple directions. Another object of the present invention is to provide at least three mounting points for connection of each support module to an upper wire grid assembly. Still another object of the present invention is to provide nestably stackable bedding foundation assemblies having support modules that permit easy stacking and removal of one bedding foundation with respect to another like bedding foundation. Another object of the invention is to provide a bedding foundation assembly that may be easily attached to a base structure.

The present invention addresses shortcomings in prior art bedding foundation assemblies, while providing the above mentioned desirable features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The purpose and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in and apparent from the description and drawings that follow, as well as will be learned by practice of the invention.

The present invention is generally embodied in a support module for use in a bedding foundation of the relatively rigid or semi-rigid wire type. The support modules are nestably stackable individually, as well as when assembled in bedding foundations. In a first aspect of the invention, a support module for use in a bedding foundation to support a wire grid assembly above a bedding foundation base has an independent wire form configured to define a top portion, a. bottom portion, and four predominantly straight support legs, wherein the support legs are skewed with respect to each other, such that each respective support leg is not parallel to any of the other support legs, and wherein the top portion further has a first pair of upper portions of two of the support legs being relatively close together and joined in a first wire segment and a second respective pair of upper portions of the other two support legs being relatively further spaced apart than the first pair, and being spaced apart from the first pair with the first wire segment and the upper portions of the other two support legs all being located in a substantially horizontal first plane. In a further aspect of the invention, a nestable bedding foundation has a wire grid assembly and a plurality of support modules, each support module being an independent wire form configured to define a top portion, a bottom portion, and four predominantly straight support legs interconnecting the top portion to the bottom portion, the top portion being connected to the wire grid assembly. The top portion further has a first pair of upper portions of

two of the support legs being relatively close together and joined in a first wire segment and a second respective pair of upper portions of the other two support legs being relatively further spaced apart than the first pair, and being spaced apart from the first pair with the first wire segment and the upper portions of the other two support legs all being located in a substantially horizontal first plane. The bottom portion further has a first predominantly straight wire segment located in a substantially horizontal second plane and being formed from a lower portion of each of two of the support legs, and a second predominantly straight wire segment located in a substantially horizontal third plane and being formed from a lower portion of each of the respective other two of the support legs. Also, the four predominantly straight support legs are skewed with respect to each other, such that each support leg is not parallel to any of the other respective support legs.

In a further aspect of the invention, a nestable bedding foundation is provided wherein all of the support modules are arranged so that a first bedding foundation is nestably stackable on top of a second identical bedding foundation, with the bottom portions of the support modules of the first bedding foundation being received through the wire grid assembly and within the respective support modules of the second identical bedding foundation.

Thus, the present invention provides an alternative to the prior art bedding foundations and support modules therefor. The present invention also simplifies the assembly and handling of bedding foundations constructed with the inventive support modules. The new assemblies improve the ability to handle force inputs to an upper wire grid assembly in multiple directions, while providing for greater ease in nestably stacking and unstacking the bedding foundation assemblies.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and provided for purposes of explanation only, and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed. Further features and objects of the present invention will become more fully apparent in the following description of the preferred embodiments and from the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In describing the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawing figures wherein like parts have like reference numerals, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of a support module of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the support module of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a bedding foundation showing support modules of FIG. 1 connected to a portion of a wire grid assembly and being located in two rows in a mirror image orientation with respect to each other. FIG. 3 A is a perspective view similar to FIG. 3 but with an alternative support module construction.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the portion of a bedding foundation shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bedding foundation having support modules of FIG. 1 being located in two pair of rows in mirror image orientation with respect to each other and with each module being connected to a wire grid assembly and a slatted base.

It should be understood that the drawings are not to scale and provide examples involving support modules and bedding foundation assemblies within the scope and spirit of the present invention. While considerable mechanical details of a support module and bedding assembly, including other plan and section views of the particular components, have been omitted, such

details are considered well within the comprehension of those skilled in the art in light of the present disclosure. It also should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments illustrated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring generally to FIGS. 1-5, it will be appreciated that the support modules and nestable bedding foundation of the present invention generally may be embodied within numerous configurations.

Referring to the preferred embodiments in FIGS. 1-5, a wire support module 10 is shown as an independent three-dimensional wire form. Support module 10 is configured for use in a bedding foundation 50 to support a wire grid assembly 60 above a bedding foundation base 80.

Support module 10 is configured to define a top portion 20, a bottom portion 30, and four predominantly straight support legs 12. It will be appreciated that support legs 12 are skewed with respect to each other, such that each respective support leg is not parallel to any of the other support legs. As best seen in the side view in FIG. 2, support legs 12 of support module 10 provide a cross-bracing support structure.

Top portion 20 includes two unequally spaced pairs of upper portions of support legs. For instance, as best seen in FIG. 1, a first pair of upper portions of two support legs 12 are relatively close together and are connected by a first wire segment 22. A second pair of upper portions of the other two support legs 12 are relatively further spaced apart and include respective ends 26 and 28 of the independent wire form. It is preferred, for enhanced rigidity, that as shown in FIGS. 1-5, wire ends 26 and 28 be butt welded together, forming a relatively longer second wire segment 24. In this configuration, first wire segment 22 is spaced from relatively longer second wire segment 24, with both segments being located in a common substantially horizontal first plane. However, it will be appreciated that, as seen in FIG. 3A, wire

ends 26 and 28 need not extend long enough to touch or to be butt welded together, and indeed could alternatively simply be much shorter segments that are welded to the overlying wires of grid assembly 60.

Bottom portion 30 includes a first predominantly straight wire segment 32 located in a substantially horizontal second plane and is formed from a lower portion of each of two of the support legs 12. A second predominantly straight wire segment 34 is located in a substantially horizontal third plane and is formed from a lower portion of each of the respective other two of the support legs. Wire segments 32 and 34 preferably are connected, such as by welding, at their intersection. A support surface in the form of a wire grid 60 of bedding foundation 50 is a subassembly of wires connected together within a fairly common plane. Wire grid 60 preferably includes a rectangular-shaped border wire 62, including a pair of parallel side portions 64 and perpendicular thereto, a pair of parallel end portions 66. Laterally spaced wires 68 run parallel to each other and to side portions 64 and are connected to end portions 66, while longitudinally spaced wires 70 run parallel to each other and to end portions 66 and are connected to side portions 64. The wire connections in wire grid 60 are preferably made by welding or may be made by other suitable means of connection.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the skewed orientation of support legs 12, and the cross- bracing nature of support legs 12, result in a bedding foundation 50 that is better able to resist forces from multiple directions. To add to this enhanced capability, as seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, support modules 10 may be placed in different rotational orientations with respect to each other. For instance, the two rows of support modules 10 are shown in a mirror image format with

respect to each other. Placements in such a multi-directional pattern will result in less uniform load paths, and thereby still better ability to handle forces from multiple directions.

It will be appreciated by one of skill in the art that due to the inclined nature of support legs 12, despite the relatively narrow waist, wider bottom, and apparent crossing of the support legs, modules 10 are ideally suited for nestably stacking one within another. Indeed, when further connected to a wire grid 60 in locations that correspond with openings in wire grid 60, nestably stackable bedding foundation assemblies 50 are formed. Moreover, by having the terminal wire ends 26, 28 of each individual piece of wire from which each support module is formed face each other, wire ends 26, 28 are prevented from having a tendency to catch on a respective second bedding foundation assembly 50 when stacking or unstacking such assemblies.

As shown in FIG. 5, bedding foundation 50 may be connected to a bedding foundation base 80. This operation is frequently done after shipping stacks of nestably stacked bedding foundations 50 to bedding manufacturers. In such instances, the bedding manufacturers typically complete an assembly by mounting a wire bedding foundation 50 to a wooden bedding foundation base 80, and then covering the assembly in padding and fabric.

Bedding foundation base 80 is shown, for example, in a simple formation of a slatted wooden frame having side slats 82, connected to overlying lateral slats 84, and overlying end slats 86 which are further connected to lower end slats 88. In this form, the various slats are typically joined by nailing or stapling, but may be joined in any suitable manner. Also, while shown in a relatively simple wooden format, for instance for a twin bed, base 80 may be constructed in other configurations, having more or less longitudinal and lateral slats, and be made with materials other than wood, as well as with other methods of joining components. In essence, base 80 ultimately is to be configured to accept the mounting of a plurality of modules

10 to the upper side of the overlying lateral slats 84 and end slats 86, such as by stapling to a wooden slat the bottom portion 30 of each module 10, at predominantly straight section 34 and/or at predominantly straight section 32.

It will be appreciated that support modules in accordance with the present invention may be provided in various configurations, and may be constructed with portions joined to each other or to other metal components such as by welding together the pieces of wire, or otherwise joining them. Any variety of suitable materials of construction, configurations, shapes and sizes for the components and methods of connecting the components may be utilized to meet the particular needs and requirements of an end user in constructing bedding foundations consistent with the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made in the design and construction of such support modules and bedding foundations without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention, and that the claims are not limited to the preferred embodiments illustrated.