Waterbed

A waterbed or water mattress is a bed or mattress filled with water. A waterbed needs to be heated to 32-38 °C to avoid kidney problems and other health risks.

Contents

1 Construction 2 History 3 Advantages and disadvantages 4 External links

Construction

Waterbeds primarily consist of two types, hard-sided beds and soft-sided beds. Early waterbeds were hard-sided consisting of a frame resting on a deck and platform, upon which was the water-containing mattress.

Soft-sided waterbeds look very similar to conventional beds and are designed to fit on existing bedroom furniture.

First generation waterbeds had only one water chamber, hence when disturbed significant wave-action could be felt. They needed some time to stabilize after a disturbance. Later generations employed wave-reducing methods including fiber batting and interconnected water chambers. More modern waterbeds have a mixture of air and water chambers, usually interconnected. A typical heating pad consumes 150-400 watts of power and uses a thermostat. Depending on insulation, temperature, use and other things, electricity usage may vary significantly. The annual electricity cost may be USD 100-500.

Waterbeds are usually constructed from vinyl or similar material. They can be repaired with a bicycle repair kit or a dinghy repair kit.

History

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 design student at San Francisco State University in California. Hall originally wanted to make an innovative chair. His first prototype was a vinyl bag with 300 pounds of cornstarch, but the result was uncomfortable. He next attempted to fill it with Jell-O, but this too was a failure. Ultimately, he abandoned working on a chair, and settled on perfecting a bed. He succeeded. His timing could not have been more perfect: the Sexual Revolution was under way, and Hall's waterbed became enormously popular, making it one of the most notable icons of the 1970s. However, because a waterbed is described in the novels Double Star 1956 and Stranger in a Strange Land 1961 by Robert A. Heinlein, Hall was unable to obtain a patent on his creation. 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. 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. Hall like Edison and Bell gets full credit for creating an industry.

Advantages and disadvantages

Waterbeds have several advantages over traditional beds:

• The bed is always heated, which is very comfortable in the winter. As the body lowers the blood pressure in warmer environments, you are likely to fall asleep easier.
• Excellent sleeping comfort. The bed shapes exactly to the body, thus minimizing pressure especially around the joints.

But there are also a few disadvantages:

• Constant heating is costly, especially in cold environments.
• Moving a waterbed is a more difficult process than a normal bed; the water must be pumped out and the frame disassembled and packed up, then at the destination, the frame is reassembled, the matress refilled with water, and heated for a period to get the water back to the correct temperature.
• Because of the volume of water the overall weight is very high and so the imposed floor loading must be carefully considered.

External links

• British Water Bed Association
• Bad Fads Museum