Pillowcase whose internal cavity accommodates an open pocket into which is fitted a neck support cushion

Abstract

A pillowcase having a cavity that accommodates therein a pillow and having an open pocket within the cavity that accommodates therein a neck support cushion. The open pocket has a slit that is fully accessible after folding the pillowcase inside out. The open pocket may be closed by a releasable fastener, such as fabric strips that tie to each other into knots across the slit.

Claims

1. A pillowcase, comprising: two fabric side panels connected together along common side margins and along one common end margin to define a cavity therein, said two fabric side panels being unconnected at a remaining end margin thereof to define an open end in communication with the cavity, the cavity being dimensioned to accommodate fitting a pillow and a neck cushion therein; an open pocket within the cavity and having a pocket panel with two side edges that are connected to one of the two fabric side panels and are laterally offset from outer portions of said common side margins of the two fabric side panels, the pocket panel also having two end edges that are connected to the one of the two fabric side panels, wherein a portion of the one of the two fabric side panels is bounded by the two side edges and by the two end edges of the pocket panel, the open pocket defining a slit that extends lengthwise between the two end edges of the pocket panel and is of a shorter distance than a length of the pocket panel between the two end edges, one of the pocket panel and the bounded portion of the one of the two fabric side panels having the slit therein, the open pocket being configured to accommodate as contents therein the neck support cushion; and a releasable fastener arranged to prevent the contents of the open pocket from leaving the open pocket via the slit with the releasable fastener in a fastened condition and to allow the contents of the open pocket to leave the open pocket via the slit with the releasable fastener in a released condition.

2. The pillowcase as in claim 1, in combination with the pillow and the neck support cushion; wherein said pillowcase and said pillow define respective rectangular edges.

3. The pillowcase as in claim 1, wherein the releasable fastener includes pairs of fabric straps that tie together into knots in the fastened condition and untie in the released condition, pairs of the fabric straps having ends sewn to the one of the two fabric side panels on opposite sides of the slit.

4. The pillowcase as in claim 1, wherein one of the two end edges of the pocket panel and the one common margin of the two fabric side panels are connected together.

5. The pillowcase as in claim 1, wherein open end of the pillowcase is formed by overlapping fabric at the remaining end margin of the two fabric side panels and sewing an end of the overlapping fabric to the two fabric side panels to form a seam, the open pocket extending to the seam and connected to the one of the two fabric side panels at the seam.

6. The pillowcase as in claim 1, wherein the releasable fastener is selected from the group consisting of a zipper, buttons, snap fasteners, hook and loop fasteners, and a string passing through alternating fabric loops from sides of the slit and whose ends are knotted.

7. The pillowcase as in claim 1, wherein the slit is in the pocket panel, said pillowcase being configured to be foldable inside out to enable a full lengthwise distance of the slit of the open pocket to become accessible from outside the pillowcase.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

(1) For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings, while the scope of the invention is set forth in the appended claims.

(2) FIG. 1 is an isometric bottom end view of a pillowcase in accordance with the invention with the pillowcase open end folded.

(3) FIG. 2 is an isometric top view of the pillowcase of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is an inside out view of the pillowcase of FIGS. 1-3 showing the closed opening of the neck support cushion opening with a portion of the neck support cushion visible within.

(5) FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the neck support cushion and depicting its longitudinal seam as well as one of two of its symmetric end seams. Although the neck support cushion is partially seen through the open pocket slit of FIG. 3, the longitudinal seam in FIG. 4 is on the diametrically opposite side to that of the side seen through the open pocket slit in FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) FIGS. 1-3 show a pillowcase 10 having two fabric side panels 12, 14 connected together at two common side margins 16, 18 and at one common end margin 20 so as to define within a cavity. The remaining end is unconnected to form an opening 22 in communication with the cavity.

(7) FIG. 3 also shows an open pocket 30 closed by releasable fasteners that are in the form of knotted or tied together fabric straps 50. The open pocket 30 includes a pocket panel 32 whose two side edges 34, 36 and two end edges 38, 40 are connected to the one of the two fabric side panels 12 to bound a portion of the one of the two side panels 12. A lengthwise slit 42 extends between the two end edges 38, 40, but is shorter than the length of the pocket panel 32. The slit 42 may either be in the pocket panel 32 itself or in the portion of the one of the two side panels 12 that is bounded by the pocket panel 32.

(8) A neck support cushion 60 is inserted into the open pocket 30 when the pillowcase is folded inside out in the manner of FIG. 3. Unlike common pillowcases. the present invention has two compartments, one for the pillow and one for an interchangeable neck support cushion which may be referred to as a loaf. The loaf is a neck support cushion 60 of FIG. 4 that is sized to fill the average gap between our head and shoulders and can be made of tempered foams and/or a sealed pad stuffed with shreds of different shaped substances made from foam, polyester or possibly even feathers. A fabric having two longitudinal edges and two pairs of end edges is wrapped around such contents and the two longitudinal edges are sewn together to form a seam and each pair of the two pairs of end edges is sewn together to form end seams. Each end seam has a portion that is perpendicular to the longitudinal seam and remaining portions that are inclined on either side of the neck support cushion 60 in the manner shown in FIG. 4 for one of the inclined remaining portions.

(9) To access the interior of the open pocket 30, the tied pairs of fabric straps 50 need to be untied. After insertion of the neck support cushion 60 into the open pocket 30, the pairs of fabric straps 50 are tied again. Each pair of fabric straps 50 includes an end of one of the fabric straps 50 sewn to a portion of the pocket panel 32 close to one side of lengthwise slit 42 and includes a further end of a further one of the fabric straps 50 sewn to a further portion of the pocket panel close to an opposite side of the lengthwise slit 42.

(10) As an alternative to fabric straps 50 that need to be tied, any conventional, releasable, fasteners may be used, such magnets, zippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, snap fasteners, buttons, a knotted string inserted through alternating loops, and tied fabric strips. An example as to how such conventional, releasable, fasteners may be used to close a fabric opening is depicted in FIGS. 7 and 12-14 of U.S. Pat. No. 10,499,755, whose contents are incorporated herein by reference with respect to its FIGS. 7 and 12-14 and accompanying discussion.

(11) The neck support cushion 60 may be tubular in shape and fits into the open pocket 30 to become its contents. The open pocket 30 does not necessarily extend the full length of the pillowcase 10. For instance, it is common practice for the open end of a pillowcase to have an edge defined by fabric turning back to overlap itself by a distance. At the end of that distance, the end of the pillowcase is sewn to the pillowcase to form a seam 24. It is at this seam where the proximal end 44 of the open pocket 30 may be sewn to connect with the pillowcase 10 as well so that the open pocket 30 extends from such a seam to the common end margin of the pillowcase. The distal end 46 of the open pocket 30 may be sewn at or neighboring the common end margin 20 of the pillowcase 10.

(12) An alternative might be to make the neck support cushion separate from the pillow. That way, the consumer can keep their choice of pillow. However, people do move around when they sleep so there is little assurance that a separate neck support cushion will retain its position relative to the pillow while the sleeping person moves in their sleep. Indeed, such a sleeping person might even adjust the pillow to change their sleep position and inadvertently leave behind the separate neck support cushion, thereby creating the possibility that the neck support cushion is no longer situated in a comfortable position under the person's neck relative to the change in pillow position. Thus, the sleeping person might wake up to make an adjustment or push aside the neck support cushion altogether, thereby eliminating the comfort the neck support cushion might otherwise provide had it been retained in its appropriate relative position to the pillow. For that reason, it is preferable that the pillowcase 10 have two compartments: one for accommodating the pillow and one for accommodating the neck support cushion (or loaf).

(13) The pillow (not shown) may be any conventional pillow that gets fitted into any conventional pillowcase, such as any of the conventional pillows shown in FIGS. 4-8 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,089,617 B1. Another example of a conventional pillow is shown in U.S. Pat. No. D899,813 S, whose contents are incorporated herein by reference.

(14) While the foregoing description and drawings represent the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be understood that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.