Pillow

Abstract

Pillow 1 according to the present invention includes a main body 3 having a concave portion 7 in the central part, and a cold insulator 5 mounted in the concave portion 7. This concave portion 7 is open in the central part of the main body side wall 8 on the side where the human nape is to be situated. The cold insulator 5 has a film for inclusion 11, and a gel material 9 which is internally included in the film for inclusion 11 and which includes a crosslinked polymer that is not in a swelled state with a medium. It is preferred that the gel material 9 includes an unfoamed polyurethane resin, and has an Asker F hardness of 10 or greater and 50 or less. Also, depth of the opening of the concave portion 7 that is open at the main body side wall 8 is preferably equal to or greater than one third of the height of this main body side wall 8. This pillow 1 is constituted so that the head region can be held with a shape fitting the shape of the neck and head, therefore, any strain is not imposed to the body.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority on Patent Application No. 2003-312629 filed in JAPAN on Sep. 4, 2003, Patent Application No. 2004-204543 filed in JAPAN on Jul. 12, 2004 and Patent Application No. 2004-257170 filed in JAPAN on Sep. 3, 2004. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The present invention relates to pillows. In particular, the present invention relates to pillows for use in cooling human neck and head region. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Conventionally, water pillows have been used for cooling a head region. The water pillow is troublesome in replacement of ice and water. For the replacement, place, vessel and the like for dealing with water are required. A variety of means have been proposed in order to eliminate the burden. For example, JP-A No. 2002-330986 describes an invention concerning a pillow including capsules without need of water. In this pillow, cooled capsules are packed in stead of ice. [0006] Also, JP...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] The cold insulator provided to the pillow of the present invention can keep a temperature giving a moderately cool feeling, i.e., 5° C. or greater and 25° C. or less, for a long period of time through previously cooling it by e.g., storing in a refrigerator, or the like, even if it is left to stand at a room temperature thereafter. This temperature is suited for getting a comfortable quiet sleep through cooling the head region and neck region. In addition, because there is no risk to cause frostbite within this temperature range, it may be used to cool the head region and the like of infants and elderlies without anxiety.

[0017] Because the cold insulator comprises a gel material, and this gel material itself has a shape conservation property and elasticity, when it is used in a pillow, the head region can be held and cooled with a shape fitting the shape of the nape and head thereby imposing no strain to the body.

[0019] The cold insulator included in the pillow of the present invention maintains the compression stress and hysteresis loss within the range described above even if it is cooled to 5° C., thereby exhibiting an appropriate hardness and resilient property. Therefore, the pillow of the present invention is suitable as one bedding for achieving a quiet sleep under hot circumstances such as in summer, particularly on a sultry night.

[0020] When a latent heat storage medium is encased in a capsule, the capsule itself can be retained in a solid or a powder form even when phase conversion is caused in the latent heat storage medium according to alteration of the temperature. Thus, any influence on the entire state of the gel material including the latent heat storage medium can be prevented.

[0021] According to the pillow which comprises a main body having a concave portion in the central part and a cold insulator mounted in this concave portion, the head region is cooled by the cold insulator in a state of holding the head region with a shape fitting the shape of the nape and head thereby imposing no strain to the body. In addition, the cooling effect persists owing to the mounted cold insulator. Also, there exist multiple kinds of cold insulators to be mounted, which can be replaced. Selection of the cold insulator enables adjustment depending on the physical constitution, as well as the user and situation.

Problems solved by technology

To the contrary, when the shape conservation ability is too great, stability at the head region and comfort during sleep may be deteriorated due to inferior shape following capability.

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