Portable and adjustable dual bed rail assembly

[0001] None

[0002] 1. Field of Invention

[0003] A bed rail assembly adapted to a bed having a box spring and a mattress, for securing both sides of a bed to prevent a bed occupant from rolling off either side, fits between the box spring and mattress and adjusts to any width mattress, having two side securing plates that maintain the assembly onto the sides of the mattress and box spring, the side securing plates attaching to side support rails within which vertically sliding bed rails are retained within a pair of rail locking mechanisms on each end of each side support rails, the vertically sliding bed rails being raised or lowered by releasing and locking open spring-loaded locking pins from mechanism housings within the rail locking mechanisms for each sliding bed rail to be raised or lowered.

[0004] 2. Description of Prior Art

[0005] The following United States patents were discovered and are disclosed within this application for utility patent. All relate to bed railing systems either adapted to a bed or made part of a bed frame.

[0006] The first three U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,942 to Allevato, U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,171 to Einsele and U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,654 to Pivacek, disclose bed rail supports that are pivotal on a vertical and horizontal plane, which attach to a bed frame. Their bed rails are raised by pivotal means and store in a horizontal plane below the surface of the bed, each device having a stop to retain a raised position and a spring or brake member to assist in the lowering of the bed rail to prevent rapid lowering of the bed rail.

[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 6,453,490 to Cardinale discloses a bed safety guard which has a frame that is inserted between a box spring and a mattress, making it portable. However, the bed rail is a fixed bed rail which cannot be lowered. The guard rail can be removed by disengaging it from the slat, which runs across the width of the bed, but does not suggest raising and lowering the guard rail.

[0008] In U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,559 to Bly, a telescoping bed side rail is adjustable for length and is connected to the bed frame. It features a spring-loaded quick release pin which allows for a quick attachment of the lower portion of the bed rail which is pivotally mounted to the bracket which is connected to the frame portion by a clamp assembly. It is intended for use on one side of the bed only, and its locking means attaches the bed rail to the pivotal bracket in only one position, which does not provide for the bed rail to be raised and lowered, only disengaged. It is also intended for a bed which raises, the telescoping portion of the bed rail becoming elongated when the bed is lowered, and retracted when the bed is raised.

[0009] Another bed rail mounting bracket attaching directly to the frame is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,799,340 to Shatz, and it discloses a spring loaded locking pin with a manual gripping know fitted to a sleeve attached to a mounting bracket, the sleeve receiving a lower end of a bed rail, which is not claimed as part of the invention. It is unknown if the bed rail has multiple holes in it or not, since it is not claimed as part of the invention, these unknown holes receiving the end of the pin.

[0010] With small children or people who become incapacitated during illness, beds at home may require bed rails to retain a person in the bed during sleep or illness to prevent the person from falling off the bed. For those who do not have the ability to afford a hospital bed, or for those who simply wish to use a conventional bed, but need bed rails for a period of time. A temporary bed rail adapted to a bed having a box spring and mattress would provide this temporary protection without having to permanently attach the bed rail assembly to the bed. The assembly, being portable, would also allow a person to bring the bed rails with them during travel to apply the bed rail assembly to any bed, especially when the bed rail assembly would provide no permanent attachment and would be adjustable in width to provide the assembly adapting to any width of bed, especially when the component parts are collapsible and can be carried conveniently, with little set-up and no tools being required to assembly the device.

[0011] The primary objective of the invention is to provide a compact and portable bed rail assembly without requiring any attachment to a bed frame, the bed rail assembly being attached between a box spring and a mattress of any width bed. A secondary objective of the invention is to provide the component parts of the bed rail assembly to be transported in a compact manner without the requirement of any tools for assembly or disassembly. A third objective would be to provide the bed rail assembly with the bed rails being raised and lowered in a vertical direction to raise the bed rails to allow entry onto the bed surface, raising the bed rails once the person is in the bed, with a spring loaded pin retaining the bed rails securely in the raised or lowered position.

[0022] An adjustable bed rail assembly 10 shown in FIGS. 1–9 of the drawings, is adapted to a bed having a box spring 100 and a mattress 110 and comprises a telescoping base frame member 20 having at least two adjustable width cross-member supports 22, each having a first end 24 and a second end 26, the first ends 24 pivotally attached to a first end plate 30 and the second ends 26 pivotally attached to a second end plate 40, the first end plate 30 further removably attached to a first side rail member 50 and the second end plate 40 further removably attached to a second side rail member 55, the first side rail member 50 having respective ends 52 providing a pair of side rail locking mechanisms 80 and the second side rail member 55 having respective ends 57 providing a pair of side rail locking mechanisms 80, the pair of side rail locking mechanisms 80 on the first side rail member 50 slidably securing a first side rail component member 60 and the pair of side rail locking mechanisms 80 on the second side rail member 55 slidably securing a second side rail component member 70, each first and second side rail component 60, 70 independently raised and lowered in a vertical direction.

[0023] The first end plate 30 is further defined as being an inverted J-shaped first end plate 32 having an upper crook portion 34 defining a side rail cavity 36 within which the first side rail member 50 is secured by at least two nuts and bolts 12, as indicated in FIG. 6. The second end plate 40 is also further defined as being an inverted J-shaped second end plate 42 having an upper crook portion 44 defining a side rail cavity 46 within which the second side rail member 55 is secured by at least two nuts and bolts 12, as indicated in FIG. 6.

[0024] The two adjustable width cross-member supports 22 further comprise a first telescoping section 25 which is slidably engaged within a second telescoping section 27, FIGS. 1, 2 and 4, and are secured to each respective first and second end plate 30, 40 placing the adjustable cross-member supports 22 in parallel, FIGS. 1–4, and in the same horizontal plane, FIGS. 1–4, wherein the cross member supports 22 lay flat between the upper surface 102 of a box spring 100 and the lower surface 112 of a mattress 110, FIG. 1, adjustable to the width of any bed from a full size to a king size mattress 110. The first and second end plates 30, 40 have an inner surface 38, 48 to which the adjustable cross-member supports 22 are pivotally attached and which abut the sides 104, 114 of the box spring 100 and mattress 110, as shown in FIG. 1.

[0025] Each side rail locking mechanism 80 is preferably provided as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7–9, further comprising a housing member 81 having an inner vertical concave rail receiver channel 82, an outer flat surface 83 having a lateral bore 84 from the outer surface 83 to the rail receiver channel 82, the lateral bore 84 having upper and lower keyed slots 85, the housing member 81 having a hollow inner cavity 86, a retractable locking pin 90, FIG. 7, having a shaft 91, a first end 92 defining a pull knob 93 and a second end 96 defining a rail engaging pin head 97, the locking pin 90 further including a transverse bore 98 with a spring retaining cotter pin 99, the retractable locking pin 90 inserted within the lateral bore 84, and a spring 88 placed upon the shaft 91 of the locking pin 90 between the cotter pin 99 and the first end 92 within the hollow inner cavity 86 of the housing member 81, the cotter pin 99 limiting the protrusion of the second end 96 into the rail receiver channel 82 and retaining the spring 88 upon the shaft 91, FIGS. 8–9. The pull knob 93 is further defined as having an inner surface 94 from which extend a pair of axial protrusions 95, FIG. 7, which, when aligned with the upper and lower keyed slots 85, allow the locking pin 90 to be drawn into the lateral bore 84 urging the second end 96 of the locking pin 90 into the rail receiver channel 82, FIG. 8. Rotating the pull knob 93 wherein the axial protrusions 95 are not aligned with the upper and lower keyed slots 85 maintains the pull knob 93 away from the outer flat surface 83 of the housing member 81 and withdraws the rail engaging pin head 97 of the locking pin 90 from the rail receiver channel 82, as shown in FIG. 9.

[0026] The attachment of each side rail locking mechanism 80 to each respective end 52, 57 of each respective first and second side rail members 50, 55 would be by a rivet 15, shown in FIGS. 7–9, with the rail receiver channels 82 facing each other, as shown in FIGS. 1–3, thereby containing the respective first and second side rail component members 60, 70 within the facing side rail locking mechanisms 80.

[0027] The each first and second side rail component members 60, 70 would each further comprise two vertical rail portions 62, 72 between which are attached at least two horizontal support rails 66, 76 and an upper horizontal curved margin rail 68, 78, with each vertical rail portion 62, 72 having a plurality of transverse bores 64, 74 directed in the same direction as the horizontal support rails 66, 76, FIGS. 1 and 3. The two vertical rail portions 62, 72 of each first and second side rail component members 60, 72 are then inserted within the corresponding rail receiver channels 82 of the side rail locking mechanisms 80 and locked into position, FIGS. 5–8. In the preferred embodiment of the side rail locking mechanisms 80, this insertion would be accomplished by pulling the pull knobs 93 of the retractable locking pins 90 away from the outer flat surfaces 83 of the housing members, withdrawing the rail engaging pin heads 97 from the rail receiver channels 82 and turning the pull knobs 93 so that the axial protrusions 95 are not aligned with the upper and lower keyed slots 85, FIG. 9, inserting the vertical rail portions 62, 72 into the facing rail receiver channels 82, and sliding the side rail component member 60, 70 downward. The pull knobs 93 are then turned to align the axial protrusions 95 with the upper and lower keyed slots 85, releasing the retractable locking pins 90 and urging the rail engaging pin heads 97 towards the vertical rail portions 62, 72 and lowering or raising the first or second side rail component members 60, 70 until the selected transverse bores 64, 74 are positioned to allow the rail engaging pin head 97 to penetrate the selected transverse bores 64, 74, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 of the drawings.

[0028] The assembly 10 may be assembled by laying the two adjustable width cross-member supports 22 on the upper surface 102 of the box spring 100 and unfolding the first and second end plates 30, 40, sliding the first telescoping portion 25 and the second telescoping portion 27 of the cross-member supports 22 together until the first and second side plates 30, 40 are snug against the sides 104 of the box spring 100 and laying the mattress 110 on the upper surface 102 of the box spring 100 and the cross-member supports 22. The first side rail member 50 is attached to the first side plate 30 and the second side rail member 55 is attached to the second side plate 40. The first side rail component member 60 is then inserted within the side rail locking mechanisms 80 of the first side rail member 50 and the second side rail component member 70 is inserted within the side rail locking mechanisms 80 of the second side rail member 55. Each first and second side rail component member 60, 70 is then adjusted to the preferred height to prevent a person sleeping on the mattress from falling off the mattress. Disassembly would simply be to reverse the assembly process and transport the assembly to any bed for reassembly. When disassembled, the first and second end plates 30, 40 are folded against the adjustable cross-member supports 22, which are compressed to their smallest width, and the first and second side rail component members 60, 70 are laid together. For convenience, a bag may also be provided to store and transport the assembly, the bag not shown in the drawings.

[0029] In addition to the assembly as disclosed, it is contemplated within the scope of the invention that a cover may be applied over the side rail component members which would provide padding of the side rail component members, although not shown in any of the drawings. Other mechanisms could also be included as side rail locking mechanisms provided they allow for vertical adjustment of the side rail component members and secure the side rail component members at a preferred height, allowing for vertical adjustment. Also, while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.