A waterbed or water mattress is a bed or mattress filled with water. A bed is a piece of Furniture (or a location primarily used as a place to Sleep, and often used for Relaxation. A mattress is a mat or pad usually placed atop a Bed, upon which to sleep or lie

Construction

Softside Waterbed 160 × 200 cm with dual heating

Waterbeds primarily consist of two types, hard-sided beds and soft-sided beds.

A hard-sided waterbed consists of a water-containing mattress inside a rectangular frame of wood resting on a plywood deck that sits on a platform. Plywood is a type of Engineered board made from thin sheets of Wood, called plies or veneers Platforms may incorporate drawer systems for storage. Frames may be decorative, with elaborate headboards or tall posts.

A soft-sided waterbed consists of a water-containing mattress inside of a rectangular frame of sturdy foam, zippered inside of a fabric casing, which sits on a platform. The effect is to look like a conventional bed and is designed to fit into existing bedroom furniture. The platform usually looks like a conventional foundation or box spring, and sits atop a much-stronger-than-normal metal frame.

Early waterbed mattresses and many inexpensive modern mattresses have only one water chamber. These mattresses are commonly described in the industry as "free flow" mattresses. When the water mass was disturbed, significant wave action could be felt. They needed some time to stabilize after a disturbance. Later types employed wave-reducing methods, including fiber batting and interconnected water chambers. More expensive "waveless" modern waterbeds have a mixture of air and water chambers, usually interconnected.

Softside Waterbed 160 × 200 cm with two waterchambers and flexible chamberisolation inside

Water beds are normally heated. Temperature is controlled via a thermostat and set to personal preference, but is most commonly average skin temperature, 30 Degrees C or about 96 Degrees F. A typical heating pad consumes 150–400 watts of power. "Hotbag" redirects here For the container used to keep pizzas warm see Pizza delivery. Depending on insulation, bedding, temperature, use and other things, electricity usage may vary significantly. Bedding refers to the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for warmth

Waterbeds are usually constructed from vinyl or similar material. A vinyl compound is any Organic compound that contains a vinyl group (also called ethenyl) &minus C[[Hydrogen H]] =CH sub>2 They can be repaired with nearly any vinyl repair kit.

History

A form of waterbed was invented in the early 1800s by the Scottish physician Neil Arnott. Neil Arnott (b Arbroath, May 15, 1788; d March 2, 1874 in London) was a Scottish Physician Dr Arnott's Hydrostatic Bed was devised to prevent bedsores in invalids, and comprised a bath of water with a covering of rubber-impregnated canvas, on which lighter bedding was placed. Arnott did not patent it, permitting anyone to construct a bed to this design^[1][2]

In 1871 a waterbed was in use in Elmira, NY for "invalids". Elmira is a City in Chemung County, New York, USA. It is the principal city of the 'Elmira New York Metropolitan Statistical Area It was briefly mentioned by Mark Twain in his article "A New Beecher Church" which was published in The New York Times on 1871-07-23. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30 1835 – April 21 1910 better known by the Pen name Mark Twain, was an American Humorist, satirist Year 1871 ( MDCCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Events 1632 - Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe France. There Twain said that: "In the infirmary will be kept one or two water-beds (for invalids whose pains will not allow them to be on a less yielding substance) and half a dozen reclining invalid-chairs on wheels. The water-beds and invalid-chairs at present belonging to the church are always in demand, and never out of service. " This article does not contain enough information to determine the form of the beds involved.

Dr. William Hooper of Portsmouth, England, patented a waterbed in 1883. He devised it to relieve bed sore pains in his patients. Unable to contain the water and control its temperature, his invention was a market failure.

The modern waterbed was created by Charles Hall in 1968, while he was a design student at San Francisco State University in California. Charles Hall may refer to Charles Francis Hall (1821-1871 American explorer Charles Henry Hall (1820-1877 British religious leader San Francisco State University (informally referred to as San Francisco State, SF State, State and SFSU) is a public University California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Fellow SFSU students Paul Heckel and Evan Fawkes also contributed to the concept. Hall originally wanted to make an innovative chair. His first prototype was a vinyl bag with 300 pounds (136 kg) of cornstarch, but the result was uncomfortable. He next attempted to fill it with Jell-O, but this too was a failure. Jell-O is a Brand name belonging to USA -based Kraft Foods for a number of Gelatin desserts including fruit gels Puddings and no-bake Ultimately, he abandoned working on a chair, and settled on perfecting a bed. He succeeded. However, because a waterbed is described in the novels Beyond This Horizon (1942), Double Star (1956), and Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) by Robert A. Heinlein, Hall was unable to obtain a patent on his creation. Beyond This Horizon is a Science fiction novel by Robert A Heinlein. Double Star is a Science fiction Novel by Robert A Heinlein, first serialized in Astounding Science Fiction Stranger in a Strange Land is a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award -winning Science fiction Novel by Robert A Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7 1907 – May 8 1988 was an American Novelist and Science fiction Writer. In 1980 Heinlein recalled in Expanded Universe that:

"I designed the waterbed during years as a bed patient in the middle thirties; a pump to control water level, side supports to permit one to float rather than simply lying on a not very soft water filled mattress. The full title of this 1980 collection of stories and essays by Robert A Thermostatic control of temperature, safety interfaces to avoid all possibility of electric shock, waterproof box to make a leak no more important than a leaky hot water bottle rather than a domestic disaster, calculation of floor loads (important!), internal rubber mattress and lighting, reading, and eating arrangements—an attempt to design the perfect hospital bed by one who had spent too damn much time in hospital beds. "

However, Heinlein made no attempt to build his invention.

Advantages and disadvantages

Waterbeds have several advantages over traditional beds:

• The bed can be heated, which makes it very comfortable in the winter. Falling asleep is easier with the lowered blood pressure that comes from resting in a warmer environment. Blood pressure is also the title of a short story by Damon Runyan in Guys and Dolls and Other Stories The warmth of the water also helps muscles to relax resulting in improved blood circulation while alleviating soreness of stiff muscles and joints.

• Excellent sleeping comfort. The bed shapes exactly to the body, thus minimizing pressure, especially around the joints. Waterbeds remove pressure from the spine allowing the spinal muscles to fully relax, aiding in the treatment of backache. In Human anatomy, the vertebral column ( backbone or spine) is a column of 34 Vertebrae the Sacrum, Intervertebral In paralytic or movement-impaired people they can reduce the risk of bedsores. Bedsores, more properly known as pressure ulcers or decubitus ulcers, are Lesions caused by many factors such as unrelieved Pressure; friction

• It is impossible for dirt and dead skin particles to penetrate the water mattress, which can then be wiped periodically with a cloth and vinyl cleaner. The cover over the mattress can be regularly washed — thus virtually eliminating house dust mites in the bed. The house dust mite (sometimes abbreviated by Allergists to HDM) is a cosmopolitan guest in Human habitation Dust mites can trigger asthma, eczema, and allergies in people sensitive to them. Asthma is a chronic Condition involving the Respiratory system in which the airways occasionally constrict become inflamed, and are Eczema (from Greek έκζεμα) is a form of Dermatitis, or Inflammation of the Epidermis. Allergy is a disorder of the Immune system often also referred to as Atopy.

• A waterbed mattress has an average lifespan of over 12 years.

But there are also disadvantages:

• Heating a waterbed is costly. A waterbed consumes between 500 and 2000 kWh/year, depending on the climate, bed size, and other factors. Thus, a waterbed can easily consume more power than a refrigerator. The energy usage can be decreased by about 60% with the use of a foam mattress pad. ^[3]

• Since some hard-sided waterbeds are of different sizes than other mattresses, bed sheets are harder to find and are in fewer varieties. A bed sheet is a large piece of cloth used to cover a Mattress. Soft-sided mattress are conventionally sized to avoid this problem.

• Moving a waterbed is a more difficult process than a normal bed; the water must be drained and the frame disassembled, then reassembled, the mattress refilled with water, and heated for a period to get the water back to the correct temperature.

• Occasionally, water mattresses may leak. Plastic liners can prevent this, but emptying, patching, refilling, and reheating it (and sleeping elsewhere until all this is completed) is certainly an inconvenience.

Also, seen by some as an advantage and others as a disadvantage, due to its introduction to the masses during the height of the sexual revolution, waterbeds are often thought of as having special sexual significance in popular culture, though this may be diminishing over time. The sexual revolution refers to the well-documented changes in social thought and codes of behaviour related to sexuality throughout the Western world that continues to evolve Ironically, it should also be noted that "free flow" style mattresses are said by some couples to interfere with coitus, due to the significant and prolonged wave action (though some couples can adapt, and modern chambered mattresses may not have this disadvantage). Sexual intercourse, in its biological sense is the act in which the male reproductive organ (in humans and other higher animals enters the female reproductive tract

References

External links

• U.S. Patent 3,585,356  -- "Liquid support for human bodies"
• British Water Bed Association
• Bad Fads Museum