US 5,060,174 · Granted 1991-10-22
The Pressure-Map Invention That Turned Seat Comfort Into Science
Imagine a seat covered with tiny sensors that measure exactly where your body pushes down and how hard. This patent describes a system that collects all that pressure data and compares it to what people actually say feels comfortable, so manufacturers can design better chairs scientifically instead of guessing.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The patent covers a pressure-sensing apparatus distributed across a load bearing surface like a seat pan, combined with signal processing that measures and evaluates those pressures. What's protected is both the physical arrangement of sensors and the method of analyzing the pressure measurements—either by comparing them statistically to a database of pressure patterns linked to comfort ratings, or by plugging them into a mathematical comfort formula to generate a numerical comfort index.
Why it matters
Before this patent, furniture designers relied heavily on subjective trial-and-error and user feedback to improve seating. By converting comfort into measurable pressure data, this invention gave the industry a quantitative tool to predict and improve seat design. It's particularly valuable for specialized seating in vehicles, offices, and medical settings where comfort directly affects productivity or patient outcomes.
Real-world use
An automotive engineer testing a new car seat design uses this pressure-mapping system to verify that the seat will feel comfortable to a wide range of body sizes and shapes before manufacturing begins.
Original USPTO abstract
A method and apparatus are described for evaluating a load bearing surface such as a seat. Preferred apparatus for the practice of the invention comprises a plurality of sensors which are distributed across a load bearing surface such as a seat pan, apparatus for measuring the pressures exerted on the sensors when a weight is placed on the load bearing surface, and signal processing apparatus for evaluating the pressures that are measured. Advantageously, the signal processing apparatus can be utilized to store data which represents a comfort level for the load bearing surface and to evaluate the measured pressures in light of that data. For example, the data stored can be pressure measurements for a series of seats correlated with subjective appraisals of seat comfort and the evaluation can be performed by statistical analysis and comparison of the pressure measurements for a seat under test with the stored pressure measurements. Alternatively, the data stored can be a mathematical formula which relates pressure as measured at different areas of the seat pan to an index of comfort; and the evaluation can be performed simply by inserting the measured pressures into the formula and calculating the resulting index.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,060,174
- Filing date
- 1990-04-18
- Grant date
- 1991-10-22
- Assignee
- Biomechanics Corporation Of America
- Inventor(s)
- GROSS; CLIFFORD M.
- CPC class
- G01M99/00
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