SleepTech July - August 2018

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Headboard: An upright unit of
wood, metal, plastic, or upholstered
material, to be attached at
the head of a bed, usually with the
bed frame.
Helical: A tightly-coiled, elongated
wire used in the manufacture of
innerspring units to join individual
coils to each other and to the
border rod.
High-contour mattress: Measures
9” – 13” thick. A mattress under 9”
thick is considered “standard”; over
13” thick is considered “custom.”
High riser: Usually a frame or sofa
with two mattresses of equal size
without a backrest. The frame
slides out with the lower bed and
rises to form a full bed or two
single beds.
Hog ring: Metal ring used to
secure the insulator and flange material
to the innerspring unit. Takes
its name from its similarity to the
metal ring in a hog’s nose.
Hourglass coils: Coils that taper
inward from top to middle and outward
from middle to bottom, thus
resembling an hourglass in shape.
Employed in bonnell and offset coil
designs.
Hybrid: Commonly used industry
term for a mattress that combines
an innerspring unit with specialty
foams such as visco-elastic or latex.
Ideal weight distribution: Equalization
of support in such a way
as to eliminate pressure points
that cause discomfort resulting in
tossing and turning. Best achieved
with coil on coil construction and
properly designed insulation and
cushioning material.
Innerspring unit construction (for
mattresses): The spring construction
used as the main support system
inside an innerspring mattress.
Some common types are: pocketed
(see Marshall) and all metal (i.e.,
bonnell, offset and continuous
wire).
Insulator: Any material used on top
and bottom of an innerspring unit
to prevent the upholstery layers
from cupping down into the coils.
Some common types are: a fiber
pad, non-woven fabric, netting,
wire mesh or foam pad.
Knit: A basic polyester or nylon
ticking fabric produced through a
knitting process (tricot) rather than
weaving. Designs are printed onto
the surface.
Lacing wire: Finer gauges of wire
used to form helicals.
Latex: A flexible foam created from
a water dispersion of rubber, either
from the rubber tree (natural latex)
or a man-made, petroleum-based
product (synthetic latex). Most
latex used in mattresses today is a
combination of natural and synthetic
latex rubber.
LFK: An unknotted offset coil with a
cylindrical or columnar shape.
Link fabric: A wire foundation for
bedsprings, cots, studio couches,
sofabed mechanisms and gliders.
So called because the fabric is a
succession of metal links.
Marshall: A type of innerspring
construction in which thin gauge,
barrel-shaped, knotless coils are
encased in fabric pockets. Also
known as “pocketed coils.”
Mattress: A manufactured product
to sleep on, consisting of various
resilient materials covered with an
outer ticking. Comes from the Arabic
term “matrah” meaning to throw