Bed safety barrier

Abstract

A bumper made of a resilient urethane foam which has been molded and/or cut to form an elongated, solid core body that self-adheres to a bed's mattress casing, cover or pad and can be secured in place there without the use of any mechanical fasteners. Stretched out lengthwise along one side of a bed, the bumper, which bulges upwardly from the bed's mattress, resembles, in transverse cross-section, a traffic speed bump and has sufficient structural strength and height to help keep a person, reclining on the bed, from unintentionally rolling over the bumper and accidentally falling off of the bed.

1 . A bumper adapted for use with a casing for a bed mattress, the casing forming an integral part thereof, which comprises:
 (a) an elongated, solid core body made of a resilient, open cell urethane foam, the elongated, solid core body having a skinless base with a wide, generally flat face which has a pair of spaced apart, longitudinally extending peripheral edges, the flat face, upon its being induced to slide generally horizontally across, and in direct contact with, a taut portion of the casing, immediately gripping onto said taut portion as naturally-occurring forces of adhesion keep the flat face from sliding further horizontally; and   (b) wherein the elongated, solid core body defines a convex upper surface which intersects the longitudinally extending peripheral edges and arches upwardly therefrom, the convex upper surface spanning each of the body's transverse cross-sections along an arc which has a radius of curvature that is only about one-half as long as the base is wide, the elongated, solid core body being sufficiently tall that when the flat face, across substantially its entire length and breadth, so grips onto the casing and is stretched out lengthwise atop the mattress, and proximate with and generally parallel to one of the mattress' sides, said body can function as a safety barrier to help keep a recumbent person from rolling over said barrier and off of the bed.   
     
     
         2 . The bumper according to  claim 1 , wherein the convex upper surface is further characterized as being bilaterally symmetrical, the elongated, solid core body thus defining a pair of conjoined longitudinally extending structures, each of which terminates downwardly from the longitudinal centerline of the convex upper surface, each such structure, when pinched against the mattress' casing, acting with the naturally-occurring forces of adhesion to keep the flat face from sliding sideways. 
     
     
         3 . A system which consists of a bumper and a casing for a bed mattress, the casing forming an integral part of the mattress, the bumper comprising:
 (a) an elongated, solid core body made of a resilient, open cell urethane foam, the elongated, solid core body having a skinless, wide, longitudinally extending, generally flat face which, when pressed, during installation, against a taut portion of the mattress casing and in direct contact therewith, is induced to grip onto said taut portion in response to naturally-occurring forces of adhesion, which then continue to act and thus cause the flat face to persist in gripping onto the taut portion even after pressure on the flat face which induced it to so grip is removed; and   (b) wherein the elongated, solid core body defines a bilaterally symmetrical upper surface which intersects the flat face's longitudinally extending peripheral edges and slopes upwardly therefrom, the bilaterally symmetrical upper surface spanning said body; and wherein each of the body's transverse cross-sections, in a direction perpendicular to the generally flat face, is about 4.5 inches high and at most one-half as tall as is the flat face in transverse width, so that when the flat face, across substantially its entire width and breadth, so grips onto the mattress casing and is stretched out lengthwise atop the mattress and proximate with and generally parallel to one of the mattress' sides, the elongated, solid core body can function as a safety barrier to help keep a person, using the bed, from accidentally falling off of it.   
     
     
         4 . The bumper according to  claim 3 , wherein the elongated, solid core body is further characterized as defining a pair of longitudinally extending, wedge-like structures, each wedge-like structure terminating downwardly and outwardly from the longitudinal centerline of the body's bilaterally symmetrical upper surface, so that the weight of the person, whenever he pinches one of the wedge-like structures between his body and the mattress casing, helps to keep the elongated, solid core body from sliding sideways. 
     
     
         5 . (canceled) 
     
     
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