Waterbed
A waterbed is a mattress-shaped bag filled with water and placed on a bedframe or bunk, for making the surface conform to the user's or the sleeper's body in any position. Due to the highly deformable property of water, the water-filled mattress can provide a soft surface that conforms to the sleeper's body in any position, allowing a very comfortable and massaging effect for the sleeper resting thereon. The water-filled mattress can be adjusted in surface softness by varying the air pressure being applied thereto from the air-pressure frame. Most waterbeds have a sturdy flat bottom which supports a box-like frame made from wooden boards lying on edge and fastened together at the four corners of the frame. The mattress is essentially a water-filled flexible bag, usually made of a sheet plastics material. Ordinarily, a heater maintains the water at a desired temperature and chemicals are used to prevent growth of algae within the mattress. These mattresses typically are made of a single layer of a plastic material such as vinyl. The thickness and other characteristics of the vinyl are selected to provide adequate strength to resist rupture of the mattress while at the same time providing a resilient feel to the mattress. The components of a waterbed, in addition to the mattress liner and heater, generally consist of a pedestal (a rectangular shaped box on the bottom), decking, frame, headboard, and padded caps to cover the frame. Waterbed mattresses are available with wave dampening structures which serve to reduce any wave motions along the top surface of the mattress. Such structures include fiber or foam batts and hydraulic inserts. These adequately suppress wave motion, but they could be improved. Waterbed mattresses are known to provide many advantages in terms of comfort and restfulness. Improved sleep is experienced on a waterbed mattress, compared to sleep on a conventional mattress, because the support forces are more uniformly distributed across the body thereby substantially eliminating localized pressure points. A waterbed equally distributes pressure over a person's body, thereby eliminating the frequent discomfort caused by unequal pressure distributions in conventional box spring and mattress beds. Another reason why waterbeds have become popular is that the temperature of the mattress can be controlled. In a conventional bed, a person must rely on layers of blankets, turning up the heat in the building, or other means to stay comfortable during cold nights. A waterbed can enhance comfort by means of a water heater generally located underneath the water bladder and controlled by a thermostat. The heater heats the water inside of the water bladder to the desired temperature to make the bladder warmer than the ambient air, thereby making many layers of blankets unnecessary and allowing energy to be conserved by turning down the heat in the building. Waterbed mattresses are generally equipped with an industry standard flexible filler spout. That spout includes a peripheral rim sealed to the edge of a filler opening through the top wall of a mattress, a generally cylindrical end fitting and a deformable sleeve connected to and extending between the end fitting and rim for enabling the end fitting to be raised above the rim for filling the waterbed mattress and depressed below the rim during use of the filled mattress.
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