Cushioning material construction

A cushioning material construction comprising a mechanical support system having a plurality of repeating module units;

• said module units each including a plurality of displaceable bearing means, particular ones of said bearing means being interconnected to others of said bearing means by a torsionally and flexurally resilient first lever-type arrangement so as to define a grouping of bearing means, said first lever-type arrangement being operative upon displacement of one of said bearing means in a first direction to apply a force to another of said bearing means in an opposite direction, such that the displaceable bearing means will displace to conform to the shape of an imposed load and provide for resiliently constrained distribution of load supporting forces, selected groupings of interconnected bearing means being further interconnected to other groupings of interconnected bearing means by additional torsionally and flexurally resilient lever-type arrangements;
• wherein a plurality of module units are joined together at like portions of at least one of the like lever-type arrangements to thereby form a matrix of repeating module units.

A cushioning matrix comprising a skeletal structure having a plurality of members defining a surface to which a body can be applied, struts interconnected with one another and with said members for developing a plurality of three dimensional pyramidal groups in which, in a direction inwardly from each said member, the strut connected to said member has a point intermediate its ends which point is connected to the end of another strut which, in turn, has a point intermediate its ends which point is connected to the end of yet another strut until the apex of each of said pyramidal groups is reached, said struts being formed from strong polymeric material susceptible of twisting and bending to a limited extent under normal load with the struts being dimensioned and the material selected such that displacement of any one member under said load is accompanied in part by a reaction against the other members and in part by an elastic deformation of said skeletal structure, and means at the apex of each said group for interconnecting said group in back-to-back relationship to another of said groups.

A cushioning matrix comprising a skeletal structure having a plurality of members defining a surface to which a body can be applied, struts interconnected with one another and with said members for developing a plurality of three dimensional pyramidal groups in which, in a direction inwardly from each said member, the strut connected to said member has a point intermediate its ends which point is connected to the end of another strut which, in turn, has a point intermediate its ends which point is connected to the end of yet another strut until the apex of each of said pyramidal groups is reached, said struts being formed from strong polymeric material susceptible of twisting and bending to a limited extent under normal load with the struts being dimensioned and the material selected such that displacement of any one member under said load is accompanied in part by a reaction against the other members and in part by an elastic deformation of said skeletal structure, the apex of each said group being joined in back-to-back relationship to another of said groups.

A cushioning matrix comprising a skeletal structure having a plurality of members defining a surface to which a body can be applied, struts interconnected with one another and with said members for developing a plurality of three dimensional pyramidal groups in which said members are each connected to a particular strut at an end thereof, and a point intermediate the ends of each of said particular struts is connected to the apex of each of said pyramidal groups by the interconnection of struts with the intermediate point of one strut connected to the end of the next strut seriatum to the apex, said struts being formed from strong polymeric material susceptible of twisting and bending to a limited extent under normal load with the struts being dimensioned and the material selected such that displacement of any one member under said load is accompanied in part by a reaction against the other members and in part by an elastic deformation of said skeletal structure, and means at the apex of each said group for interconnecting said group in back-to-back relationship to another of said groups.

A cushioning matrix comprising a skeletal structure having a plurality of members defining a surface to which a body can be applied, struts interconnected with one another and with said members for developing a plurality of three dimensional pyramidal groups in which said members are each connected to a particular strut at an end thereof, and a point intermediate the ends of each of said particular struts is connected to the apex of each of said pyramidal groups by the interconnection of struts with the intermediate point of one strut connected to the end of the next strut seriatum to the apex, said struts being formed from strong polymeric material susceptible of twisting and bending to a limited extent under normal load with the struts being dimensioned and the materials selected such that displacement of any one member under said load is accompanied in part by a reaction against the other members and in part by an elastic deformation of said skeletal structure, and mechanical interlocking means for interconnecting said groups in side-by-side relationship to extend said surface to any desired dimensions.