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Memory foam mattress

Mattresses are important tools for use in preventing pressure sores and pressure-induced soft tissue damage, maintaining proper body alignment for comfort, minimizing peak pressures, and controlling the pressure gradients across the skin. A traditional bedding or seating product has an inner spring core comprising a plurality of identically configured coil springs arranged in linear columns and rows. If such a spring core is used in a bedding product, the spring core is covered with a mattress pad or covering materials and an upholstered covering surrounds and encases the spring core and mattress pad. Mattresses made up of a foam rubber body are already known, either in an only piece or in layers joined in a sandwiched way; the foam material can be polyurethane, latex or a combination of these or other materials. The mattress utilizes resilient foam materials as a major component of its construction, and also includes a plurality of coil springs to provide desirable support in preferably all but the peripheral areas of the mattress. Various types of foam rubber or rubber-like materials, either synthetic or natural occurring materials, have been used in the past in which the geometry and/or density of the foam was varied in order to properly support a body. The most basic memory foam mattress is essentially a block of foam which has generally consistent "stiffness" throughout and wouldn't deform in discrete areas in the manner described above for the better quality coil spring mattresses. A basic memory foam mattress may include one or more layers of foam having desirable properties assembled into a fabric cover so as to appear identical in appearance to a standard metal spring mattress. A significant feature of the mattress is the use of a more dense, less compressible foam material at the outer periphery of at least the sides of the mattress, which provides increased support for anyone sitting on the edge of the bed. A memory foam mattress may include a center core of relatively high resilience foam sandwiched between two layers of lower resilience foam encased in a fabric shell. This construction allows for a reversible mattress.

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