HOSPITAL MATTRESS PROTECTOR WITH IMPROVED WORKABILITY CHARACTERISTICS

HOSPITAL MATTRESS PROTECTOR WITH IMPROVED WORKABILITY CHARACTERISTICS Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hospital mattress protector with improved workability characteristics. More particularly, the invention relates to a hospital mattress protector whose shape allows easy workability in the machine and simplicity and greater folding stability. Background of the Invention

It is known that hospitals and similar structures normally use mattress protectors, i.e., protective layers arranged over mattresses in order to prevent the mattress from being soiled accidentally.

Such hospital mattress protectors are generally constituted by a sheet characterized by a thin film of plastics, which is applied over the mattress that it is meant to protect and is therefore substantially as long as the mattress and slightly narrower.

Said mattress protectors are manufactured by means of appropriately provided apparatuses, composed of an extruder, into which the plastics to be extruded is introduced, and an extrusion head, from which a plastics film exits and is then wound on a winding unit. Substantially, the plastic film is produced by the machine as a tubular element, which is then cut, at winding time, by an appropriately provided blade, which produces a cut substantially at the center of one of the long sides of the tubular element, so that the tubular element can be opened subsequently and then be spread onto the mattress. The tubular element is folded, once extruded, by forming two lateral bellows portions, which are arranged at the shorter sides of the tubular element and thus allow to obtain, at the exit of the apparatus, a plastic film substantially constituted by two opposite sides having the same dimensions, which are mutually connected by a bellows portion for each end. Currently, the bellows portion is small, i.e., it folds toward the center of the tubular element to a limited extent.

This entails the drawback that since said tubular elements made of plastics must be subjected to embossing, when the embossing cylinders are passed over the plastic film, the embossing they perform is different in the various regions of the tubular element.

The thickness of the regions of the tubular element, that are characterized by the presence of the bellows portion, is substantially made up by the superimposition of four layers, while the thickness of the regions that are not affected by the bellows portion is made up by the superimposition of only two layers.

This entails that the embossing rollers or cylinders apply more pressure at the thicker portions and less pressure at the remaining portions, thus obtaining an uneven embossing on the surface of the mattress protector.

Furthermore, the presence of small bellows portions, i.e., bellows portions whose dimension reaches at the most substantially one third of the distance between the end of the tubular element and its center, for each bellows portion, entails an insufficiently stable folding of the tubular element, and accordingly at the exit of the apparatus said folded tubular element can easily unfold. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to provide a hospital mattress protector that has improved characteristics and in which the parts whose thickness is reduced to only two layers are smaller than those obtained with known types of hospital mattress protector. Within this aim, an object of the present invention is to provide a hospital mattress protector whose folding is more stable than the folding that can be obtained with known types of hospital mattress protector.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hospital mattress protector whose embossing performed after extrusion is substantially uniform on the entire surface of the mattress protector. Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for producing hospital mattress protectors that is capable of producing a double mattress protector by means of a single production pass.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a hospital mattress protector that is highly reliable, relatively simple to provide and at competitive costs.

This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent hereinafter are achieved by a hospital mattress protector, characterized in that it comprises a layer whose ends are folded so as to form a pair of bellows portions, said pair of bellows portions having such an extension as to reach the vicinity of the center of said layer. Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of preferred but not exclusive embodiments of the hospital mattress protector, illustrated only by way of non-limitative example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the hospital mattress protector according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of an apparatus that can be used to obtain the mattress protector of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the mattress protector according to the present invention; and

Figure 4 is a lateral elevation view of an apparatus for obtaining the mattress protector of Figure 3. Ways to carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figures, the mattress protector according to the present invention, in a first embodiment generally designated by the reference numeral 1, comprises a tubular element formed by two mutually opposite lateral flat portions 2 and 3 which are mutually joined by two lateral bellows portions 4 and 5. The particularity of the invention consists in the bellows portions 4 and 5 have such a receding extension as to substantially reach the vicinity of the midpoint of the tubular element, i.e., the central point or line of the two upper and lower sides 2 and 3 of the mattress protector.

The increase in the dimensions of the bellows portions 4 and 5 has the advantage of increasing the region of the tubular element 1 in which the overall thickness of the tubular element is the sum of the thickness of four layers, i.e., the two upper and lower layers and the two layers that form the bellows portion.

This entails the advantage that the embossing provided on this tubular element by way of appropriate embossing cylinders or rollers is substantially uniform over the entire surface of the mattress protector 1, since the thickness that the embossing cylinders encounter is substantially constant along the entire extension of the tubular element, except for a very small region at the central portion of the tubular element.

Furthermore, the increase in the dimensions of the bellows portions with respect to the known art has the effect of achieving a more stable folding of the tubular element, a very important factor for the storage of the tubular elements thus produced.

Moreover, the mattress protector according to the invention that leaves the apparatus described in detail hereinafter is provided so that due to the greater extension of the bellows portions 4 and 5 with respect to the known art, in order to achieve a length of the mattress protector equal to the length of the known type, it is sufficient to use the upper layer 2 and the extension of the bellows portions 4 and 5, discarding the lower side or layer 3, which can thus be cut at its ends for connection to the bellows portions 4 and 5.

In this manner, the result in output from the apparatus is a mattress protector provided with a first upper layer 2 and with the two bellows portions arranged at the ends, 4 and 5. The lower side 3 can thus be recycled in the apparatus for producing the mattress protector according to the invention.

Figure 2 illustrates an example of an apparatus that can be used to obtain the mattress protector shown in Figure 1. The apparatus, generally designated by the reference numeral 10, comprises a hopper 11 into which plastic material is introduced in order to obtain the mattress protector according to the invention. The hopper 11 is connected to an extruder 12, which introduces extruded material in a rotating head 13, from which a bubble 14 of film exits; the bubble is then passed through bellows portion forming means 15, which are appropriately formed by two inclined guiding planes 16 and 17 suitable to guide the film that exits from the head 13. Between the inclined guiding planes 16 and 17 there are two forming elements 18 and 19, which are bellows to actually form the bellows portions 4 and 5 of the mattress protector. The resulting film, designated by the reference numeral 20, is then wound on a pair of winding units 21 and 22 so that the mattress protector formed by the upper side 2 and by the bellows portions 4 and 5 is wound and folded by the winding unit 21 while the winding unit 22 winds up the waste layer 3, which is then recycled in the hopper 11. At the winding units two blades are provided, which are suitable to produce the lateral cuts required to remove the waste layer 3.

Figure 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the mattress protector according to the invention, or rather illustrates an intermediate component that can be obtained by means of the apparatus shown in Figure 4 and by means of which it is possible to obtain simultaneously two mattress protectors similar to those shown in Figure 1.

Substantially, the intermediate component of Figure 3, generally designated by the reference numeral 25, comprises two mattress protectors 1, similar to the ones shown in Figure 1, obtained by cutting the intermediate component 25 at regions 26 and 27. In this manner, two mattress protectors similar to those shown in Figure 1 are obtained.

The apparatus for obtaining the intermediate component 25 is shown in Figure 4, in which reference numerals identical to those used in Figure 2 designate identical elements.

Essentially, therefore, the difference between the apparatus of Figure 4 and the apparatus of Figure 2 is concentrated in the means for forming the bellows portion, which in this case are designated by the reference numeral 15'. The means 15' therefore comprise, in addition to the lateral guides 16 and

17, an internal central bellows portion forming unit 30, which is adapted to provide the central portion of the intermediate component 25, and a pair of lateral forming elements or units 31 and 32, which are respectively suitable to provide the pairs of bellows portions 4 and 5. In this manner, the production of the intermediate component 25 allows to have no production waste and to obtain two mattress protectors 1 in a single pass of the apparatus, thus speeding up production.

In practice it has been found that the mattress protector according to the present invention fully achieves the intended aim and objects, since it allows better workability in the machine, it is more suitable to maintain a stable folding, and can also be produced with reduced production times.

The mattress protector thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, the mattress protector can also be produced discontinuously, albeit with the same described structure. Furthermore, all the details may be replaced with other technically equivalent elements.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the contingent shapes and dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art. The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI2001A000214 from which this appUcation claims priority are incorporated herein by reference.