Manufacture of cushions

Claim 1

A method of manufacturing a flexible cushion of foamed plastics material with an integrated cover of cloth that is resiliently stretchable, which comprises placing a flat piece of cloth between complementary members of a preforming frame to dispose the cloth in substantially smooth unstretched condition with its margins projecting between said frame members; exerting sufficient pressure on said frame members to restrain said cloth while permitting it to be slid between said members without causing stretching of the cloth to its elastic limit; depressing said cloth centrally of said frame to draw the cloth margins inwardly between the frame members to cause peripheral contraction of said piece of cloth and to preform a pocket therein wherein the cloth is still in substantially unstretched condition, this pocket forming operation providing the major conformation of the cloth shaping to the mold surface but being discontinued prior to development of plaits in the cloth; fixing the periphery of said piece of cloth in the plane of said preforming frame to retain said cloth as a preformed, essentially unstretched pocket having a peripheral flange and restrain said cloth against return to its original condition; placing said preformed peripherally flanged pocket on a recessed vacuum mold having an inner surface configured to the desired shape of the finished cushion, sealing said peripheral flange of said pocket about the recessed mold and applying a vacuum to the mold to resiliently stretch the preformed pocket to conform it to the inner surface of the mold; and placing a foamable reactive resin mixture capable of forming a resilient cellular thermoset resin in said stretched pocket and allowing it to expand in said mold and become bonded to the cloth therein so as to produce, when a condition of structural integrity of the foam has been reached, said flexible cushion with integrated cover.

Claim 2

A method of manufacturing a flexible cushion of foamed plastics material with an integrated cover of cloth that is resiliently stretchable, which comprises placing a flat piece of cloth between complementary members of a preforming frame to dispose the cloth in substantially smooth unstretched condition with its margins projecting between said frame members; exerting sufficient pressure on said frame members to restrain said cloth while permitting it to be slid between said members without causing stretching of the cloth to its elastic limit; depressing said cloth centrally of said frame to draw the cloth margins inwardly between the frame members to cause peripheral contraction of said piece of cloth and to preform a pocket therein wherein the cloth is still in substantially unstretched condition, this pocket forming operation providing the major conformation of the cloth shaping to the mold surface but being discontinued prior to development of plaits in the cloth; fixing the periphery of said piece of cloth in the plane of said preforming frame to retain said cloth as a preformed, essentially unstretched pocket having a peripheral flange and restrain said cloth against return to its original condition; placing said preformed peripherally flanged pocket on a recessed vacuum mold having an inner surface configured to the desired shape of the finished cushion, sealing said peripheral flange of said pocket about the recessed mold and applying a vacuum to the mold to resiliently stretch the preformed pocket to conform it to the inner surface of the mold; and placing a foamable reactive resin mixture capable of forming a resilient cellular thermoset resin in said stretched pocket and allowing it to expand in said mold and become bonded to the cloth therein so as to produce, when a condition of structural integrity of the foam has been reached, said flexible cushion with integrated cover.