Boyd Specialty Sleep Gets Patent on Air Bed Design

Furniture Today – 04/14/14

ST. LOUIS — Boyd Specialty Sleep said it has received a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on a new air mattress design with contiguous air chambers surrounded by another air chamber. The company, based here, developed the design to minimize the problem of edge sagging that it said is often found in multi-chamber air models, and to increase the structural integrity and overall comfort of the mattress, said Denny Boyd, president.

Boyd, which produces several collections of air beds, will show in Las Vegas this summer two new Broyhill-branded air models that use the newly patented air mattress system. The proprietary design involves two contiguous, inflatable air chambers that are connected side-by-side, and then connected to another air chamber that’s around the perimeter of the contiguous chambers. A remote-controlled air pump is connected to each of the chambers.

“The peripheral chamber makes it much easier for sleepers to get on or off the mattress and virtually removes any possibility of roll-off during the night,” Boyd said. “This innovation successfully addresses edge compression that’s often associated with multi-chamber air mattresses, and accomplishes everything we’d hoped for in terms of edge-to-edge support and comfort.”

Under the licensed Broyhill name, Boyd will introduce two Lux Aire models at $799 and $999 in queen. Available on a foundation or power base, the UPS-shippable beds use layers of visco foam and high-resilience poly foam and are offered in stretch knit covers with cooling capability, officials said.

Boyd also markets a number of air bed designs under the licensed Thomasville Synchrony brand and the company’s own Night Air name.

Boyd has more than 30 patents on various sleep products in its line.