Furniture is manufactured by attaching cushioning materials to a frame and covering the cushioning materials with upholstery. More specifically, furniture manufacturers make an article of furniture by assembling a frame typically from wood, covering the frame with cushioning material such as nonwoven fiber batts or polymeric foam, and upholstering the cushioned frame with a decorative fabric. When manufacturing an article of furniture, furniture manufacturers need cushioning material of various weights per unit surface area (weights) and thicknesses because not all parts of an article of furniture have the same amount of cushioning. In order to obtain cushioning material of various weights and thicknesses, furniture manufacturers sometimes separate thicker cushioning material into a plurality of thinner cushioning materials by pulling the cushioning materials apart. However, many cushioning materials do not separate with a substantially uniform weight and substantially planar surface when a tensile force is applied across the thickness of the cushioning material. The cushioning material has to have a substantially uniform weight and planar surface so that the cushioning material provides a consistent level of support, does not create surface irregularities or feel non-uniform. To achieve a substantially uniform weight and planar surface, the cushioning material has to be cut with a hot wire or saw. The use of a hot wire or saw within the furniture manufacturing facility is not preferred because it increases the capital investment in and operating costs of the facility.
Due to the complexity associated with separating cushioning materials at the manufacturing facility, furniture manufacturers stock cushioning materials of various weights and thicknesses. However, stocking cushioning materials of various weights and thicknesses consumes a large amount of space in the manufacturing facility. Furniture manufacturers would have more room for furniture manufacturing operations if a cushioning material existed that could be easily separated by hand into two pieces, each having a substantially uniform weight and planar surface. Because no such cushioning material currently exists, a need exists for a cushioning material that can be separated by hand into a plurality of cushioning pieces, each with substantially uniform weight and planar surface.
Another problem that furniture manufacturers encounter is that the various surfaces of an article of furniture require cushioning materials having different thicknesses. For example, the inside of a chair back is more heavily cushioned than the outside of a chair back. The difference in cushioning is the result of the application of thicker cushioning material to the inside of the chair back compared with the outside of the chair back. Currently, no single piece of cushioning material can be applied to both the inside of the chair back and the outside of the chair back to achieve the required level of cushioning on each surface. If a cushioning material existed that could be separated into two cushioning materials of differing thicknesses, then the manufacturing facility could separate the cushioning material into the two separate pieces of cushioning material and apply each piece to different portions of the article of furniture, such as the inside and the outside of a chair back. Alternatively, the cushioning material could remain unseparated and applied to portions of the article of furniture that require even greater cushioning, such as the chair seat. If it existed, such a cushioning material would reduce the time and complexity of the manufacturing process, thereby allowing a furniture manufacturer to produce an article of furniture quicker, easier, and at a reduced cost. Therefore, a need exists for a cushioning material that can be separated into a plurality of pieces of cushioning material of various thicknesses, such that the pieces of cushioning material can be applied to various portions of an article of furniture requiring different thicknesses, thereby allowing a single cushioning material to be able to upholster an article of furniture where currently multiple pieces of cushioning material are required.
Yet another problem encountered at furniture manufacturing facilities is that relatively thin areas of the cushioning material may be punctured before the article of furniture is upholstered. For example, when a relatively thin high-loft nonwoven fiber batt, such as a one-half-inch thick high-loft nonwoven fiber batt, is attached between the span separating two pieces of the wood frame, the relatively thin fiber batt may be accidentally punctured by fingers, tools, machinery, and any other objects moving around within the manufacturing facility. The puncture in the cushioning material creates a flaw in the feel of the article of furniture once upholstered. Although thicker cushioning materials are not as susceptible to the puncturing problem, thicker cushioning materials are not practical for some parts of an article of furniture, such as a chair back or the outside of an armrest. Moreover, none of the existing cushioning materials contain a puncture resistant exterior layer. Consequently, a need exists for a cushioning material that contains a layer of material with sufficient strength to prevent accidental puncture of the cushioning material by objects such as fingers, tools, and machinery.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds