Stuffed textile article

Abstract

A stuffed textile article and method of manufacturing the same has at least one compartment having a baffle gate which receives a tube-like stuffing tool through which loose stuffing is blown into the compartment. Upon removal of the tool, the surrounding layers and panels which define the compartment are placed under tension by the stuffing causing the baffle gates to automatically close upon removal of the tool permanently preventing migration of the stuffing out of the compartment. The gate has a primary panel secured to the top and bottom layers of the article and an adjacent secondary panel at least partially covering the primary panel. The primary panel has a slit and the secondary panel has a slot. Taken individually, the slit and slot are each preferably longer than the thickness of the stuffed textile article and longer than half the circumference of the stuffing tool. This enables use of the stuffing tool on stuffed textile articles having a thickness which is generally less than half the circumference of the tool. The slit and slot cross one-another preferably at about their mid-points. For easy insertion, the tool is chamfered having a blunt extremity which makes first contact with the panels at about the cross-over point to minimize snagging of the tool.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.