LOAD BEARING SURFACE

An elastomeric load bearing surface (10) with different load support characteristics in different directions (X,Y). In one embodiment, the surface includes an elastomeric membrane (12) that is oriented in only a single direction, for example, by compression or stretching. In another embodiment, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors COFFIELD, TIMOTHY P, SOMMERFELD, DANIEL S, HARTMANN, ANDREW B
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
French
German
Published 25.02.2009
Subjects
BEDS
CHAIRS
COFFEE MILLS
DOMESTIC ARTICLES OR APPLIANCES
FURNITURE
HUMAN NECESSITIES
SOFAS
SPICE MILLS
SUCTION CLEANERS IN GENERAL
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Summary:An elastomeric load bearing surface (10) with different load support characteristics in different directions (X,Y). In one embodiment, the surface includes an elastomeric membrane (12) that is oriented in only a single direction, for example, by compression or stretching. In another embodiment, the surface includes mechanical structures, such as connectors (120,122), variations in thickness and apertures (26'), that vary the load support characteristics in different directions. In another aspect, the present invention provides a multilayer load bearing surface (200) in which the layers cooperate to provide a controlled force/deflection profile that is variable in different regions of the surface. In one embodiment, the upper layer (204,204') includes a plurality of loosely connected nodes and a lower layer (306,406) having a plurality of resilient elements that separately support each node.
Bibliography:Application Number: EP20060795779