US20050155155A1

US20050155155A1 - Sofa bed

Info

Publication number: US20050155155A1
Application number: US11/019,654
Authority: US
Inventors: Kenzou Kassai; Ichiro Ohnishi
Original assignee: Aprica Kassai KK
Current assignee: Aprica Kassai KK
Priority date: 2003-12-22
Filing date: 2004-12-22
Publication date: 2005-07-21
Also published as: JP2005177319A; EP1547489A1; CN1636484A

Abstract

A sofa bed comprises a mattress and a guard member having a vertically opened tube-shaped configuration so as to surround an entire circumference of the mattress. The mattress comprises a head side mattress part and a leg side mattress part which can be folded into two so as to meet their upper surfaces. The guard member comprises a head side guard part and a leg side guard part which can be folded into two in the same direction as the mattress so as to meet their upper surfaces. The form of bed is provided when the mattress and the guard member are extended, and the form of sofa is provided when they are folded into two. The folded guard member forms a pair of armrest parts and a backrest part.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sofa bed which can be used as a bed, a mattress and the like and also can be used as a sofa.
2. Description of the Background Art
The sofa bed is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-339479 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-125788 as the prior art, for example.
According to the sofa bed disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-339479, a flat and comfortable mattress is formed by arranging four small mats, in which when it is used as a sofa, three mats are vertically piled to form a seat and one mat is stood to form a backrest part. According to the sofa bed disclosed in this document, there is no armrest in the form of sofa.
According to the mattress and chair disclosed in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-125788, it is constituted to be changed to a chair with an armrest by folding a flat mattress type of bed. More specifically, it comprises two units of mattress which can be folded into two and piled, and one unit is separately formed by an internal member consisting of three parts and a U-shaped outer member. When it is used as a chair, the other unit forms a seat and the internal member of one unit forms a backrest part and the outer member thereof forms an armrest part.
The sofa bed disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-339479 or Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-125788 is mainly used by adults. Recently, sharing of a bed among parents and children in which the parents and the children sleep together in the same bed has been reviewed in foreign countries also. An article about the above is described in “Newsweek, special edition of Japanese version, The New Health from Zero Year Old” published by Hankyu Communications Co., Ltd. Jul. 29, 2003, p.7.
Thus, although new merits are discovered in sharing the bed among parents and children, the following precautions have to be taken when the parent sleeps with the baby. That is, it is necessary to be careful not to let the baby choke because a bed (or mattress) for adults is too soft. In addition, it is necessary to be careful not to let the baby be squashed when the parent rolls over.
The above points have to be considered in the case of the baby mattress put on the bed for adults. The baby mattress is no longer required in many cases when the baby is grown up. Thus, it is desirable that the mattress which was used in the babyhood can be used as a sofa when the baby is grown up.
Although many sofa beds have been proposed conventionally, they are mainly for adults. In the case of the baby bed, it is desirable to provide a guard member to surround the mattress for safety. As far as the inventors of the present invention knows, there is no baby bed with the guard member which can be used as the sofa.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sofa bed with a guard member which can be changed to be in the form of sofa.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sofa bed which is suitable for being used by a baby especially.
A sofa bed according to the present invention comprises a mattress which can be folded into two so as to meet its upper surfaces and a guard member which surrounds an entire circumference of the mattress and can be folded into two in the same direction as the mattress so as to meet its upper surfaces. The mattress and the guard member take the form of bed when they are extended, and the mattress and the guard member take the form of sofa when they are folded into two.
According to the present invention, since the guard member surrounds the entire circumference of the mattress in the form of bed, the sofa bed is safe when it is used as a baby bed especially. In addition, since not only the mattress but also the guard member can be folded into two, and the backrest part and the armrest are formed by vertically piling the guard member, its structure is very simple.
According to one embodiment, folded parts of the mattress and the guard member are positioned at the center so as to be at the same distance from their head side ends and their leg side ends. Furthermore, the mattress and the guard member preferably have hinge parts on their upper surfaces to be folded into two so that the sofa bed can be easily changed over from the form of bed to the form of sofa.
Still furthermore, the upper surface of the mattress is preferably declined from its head side to its leg side so that the sofa bed is suitable for being used as the baby bed. When a head side region is higher than a leg side region, the baby is likely to let out a burp after having milk.
According to one embodiment, the head side region and the leg side region of the mattress have symmetrical semicircular configurations, and a head side region and a leg side region of the guard member have symmetrical semicircular configurations so as to follow the configurations of the mattress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a sofa bed in the form of bed;
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the sofa bed in the form of bed;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a mattress;
FIG. 5 is a side view showing the mattress;
FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a guard member;
FIG. 7 is a side view showing the guard member;
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the sofa bed in the form of sofa;
FIG. 9 is. a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 8; and
FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the sofa bed in the form of sofa.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1 to 10 show a baby sofa bed 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIGS. 1 to 3 show the form of bed and FIGS. 8 to 10 show the form of sofa. In addition, FIGS. 4 and 5 show a mattress 10 and FIGS. 6 and 7 show a guard member 30.
As shown in the figures, the sofa bed 1 comprises the mattress 10 and the guard member 30 surrounding an entire circumference of the mattress 10. According to the illustrated embodiment, the guard member 30 has a tube-shaped configuration in which both upper and bottom sides are opened.
The mattress 10 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 comprises a head side mattress part 11 and a leg side mattress part 12 which can be folded into two so as to meet their upper surfaces. According to the illustrated embodiment, a folding part between the head side mattress part 11 and the leg side mattress part 12 is positioned at the center of the mattress 10, that is, the folding part is at the same distance from a head side end and a leg side end. An upper surface part positioned at the center of the mattress 10 serves as a hinge part 13 for folding the mattress 10 into two.
The mattress 10 can be used alone as a sharing mattress placed on a bed for adults. The mattress 10 extends with a predetermined thickness and its head side region and leg side region form symmetrical semicircles so that it can be suitably used as the sharing mattress. In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the upper surface of the mattress 10 is declined from the head side toward the leg side.
Furthermore, the mattress 10 has many through holes 14 on its entire surface so as to be able to maintain a body temperature of a baby appropriately. The mattress 10 may be constituted of a material harder than that of the mattress for adults which is positioned under the mattress 10.
When the mattress 10 is used as the sharing mattress, a parent can nurse the baby, sliding an arm around the semicircular head region so as to hold the mattress 10. In addition, since the mattress 10 has a certain hardness and a predetermined height, even when the parent hits the mattress 10 while the parent rolls over and the like, the parent is prevented from mounting on the mattress 10 by a difference in level of the mattress 10. Thus, the parent will not overlie the baby.
Besides, since the upper surface of the mattress 10 is declined from the head side toward the leg side, the baby is likely to let out a burp after having milk.
The guard member 30 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 comprises a head side guard part 31 and a leg side guard part 32 which can be folded into two in the same direction as the mattress 10 so as to meet their upper surfaces. According to the illustrated embodiment, a folding part between the head side guard part 31 and the leg side guard part 32 is positioned at the center thereof, that is, the folding part is at the same distance from a head side end and a leg side end. An upper surface part positioned at the center of the guard member 30 serves as a hinge part 33 for folding the guard part 32 into two.
As shown in FIG. 6, a head side region and a leg side region of the guard member 30 form symmetrical semicircles along the configuration of the mattress.
As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, when the sofa bed 1 is used as the bed, the mattress 10 and the guard member 30 are extended. In the form of bed, since the guard member 30 surrounds the mattress 10, the sofa bed 1 is preferable in safety.
As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, when the sofa bed 1 is used as the sofa, the mattress 10 and the guard member 30 are folded into two. The leg side mattress part 12 is laid to overlap the head side mattress part 11 so that a seat is formed. In addition, the leg side guard part 32 is laid to overlap the head side guard part 31 so that a pair of armrest parts and a backrest part are formed.
The sofa bed 1 may be used as the sofa as needed by a mother or a father of the baby, or the sofa bed 1 may be used as the sofa all the time by a grown-up child or adult.
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with reference to the drawings above, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiment. Therefore, various kinds of modifications and variations can be made to the illustrated embodiments within the same or equivalent scope of the present invention. Some of them will be illustratively described below.

(1) The sofa bed can be used by a child or an adult as well as a baby.
(2) The upper surface of the mattress may be flat instead of declining.
(3) Although the head side regions and the leg side regions of the mattress and the guard member have symmetrical semicircular configurations in the illustrated embodiment, their outlines may be rectangular when viewed from the above as another embodiment.

The present invention can be applied to the sofa bed and can be effectively used as the baby bed in particular.

Claims

1. A sofa bed comprising:

a mattress which can be folded into two so as to meet its upper surfaces; and

a guard member which surrounds an entire circumference of said mattress and can be folded into two in the same direction as said mattress so as to meet its upper surfaces, wherein

said mattress and said guard member take the form of bed when they are extended, and said mattress and said guard member take the form of sofa when they are folded into two.

2. The sofa bed according to claim 1, wherein folded parts of said mattress and said guard member are positioned at the center so as to be at the same distance from their head side ends and their leg side ends.

3. The sofa bed according to claim 1, wherein said mattress and said guard member have hinge parts on their upper surfaces to be folded into two.

4. The sofa bed according to claim 1, wherein the upper surface of said mattress is declined from its head side to its leg side.

5. The sofa bed according to claim 1, wherein a head side region and a leg side region of the mattress have symmetrical semicircular configurations, and a head side region and a leg side region of said guard member have symmetrical semicircular configurations so as to follow the configurations of said mattress.