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Air mattress

Air mattresses have been traditionally provided as a cushioning means for sleepers using cots, sleeping bags, or other body supports. Recently, the air mattress has begun to replace the traditional residential mattress which uses coils and springs. Much popularity has arisen in the home mattress market for a residential mattress having an air chamber for supporting the sleeper. Inflatable mattresses have application across a broad spectrum of use from suntanning to exercise to camping. Air mattresses, due to their easy transportation and storage, have earned their acceptance in the households. In addition, a side benefit of air mattresses is that the air contained in the air mattresses provides a cooling effect to users resting on them. This has contributed air mattresses' wide popularity during hot weather or in places with warm climate. Air mattresses have been proposed for medical and hospital use, for example, to minimize development of bed sores and to support patients who have suffered from extensive burns. Air mattresses are used with cots and beds to provide yieldable body supports. An inflatable air mattress is generally a flat body provided by a sealed air chamber formed by top and bottom panels joined along the periphery of the mattress to define an air chamber. An air valve admits and releases air from the chamber. The air mattresses are air-filled bags having flexible, air impervious sheet members secured together to form one or more longitudinal chambers for accommodating air under pressure. Air mattresses have air inlet tubes that are used with hand-operated pumps, bag pumps, and other sources of air under pressure to inflate the mattresses. Plugs are used to close the tubes after the mattresses are inflated with air. Inflation of air mattresses may be accomplished by a fairly sophisticated control system having sensors that sense air pressure within one or more air bladders of the air mattress and having one or more microprocessors that control other components of the control system based on the pressure sensed by the sensors. The typical air mattress includes at least one air chamber and an inflation and deflation means. Such means for inflation and deflation range from hand pumps and blowers to computerized air control systems. The utilization of an air chamber provides a sleeping surface which can have varying levels of firmness to suit the preferences or needs of the sleeper with the use of two air chambers.

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