US 5,226,188 · Granted 1993-07-13
The Ventilated Cushion That Cools You Down While You Sit
Imagine a seat cushion with tiny holes that lets air flow through it. When you sit down, your weight squeezes the cushion and pushes cool air up through those holes to keep you from getting sweaty and hot. It's like having a mini air-conditioning system built into your chair.
The plain-English version
What it protects
The claim covers a cushion design with a foam pad that has holes throughout its upper surface, paired with a seat base that also has ventilation holes. What's protected here is the specific combination of these perforations arranged so that when someone sits and applies weight, air gets forced upward through the holes to cool the sitting surface. Any cushion or seat that uses this through-hole ventilation method to actively blow air upward when compressed would infringe on this design.
Why it matters
This patent addresses a real physical problem: sitting generates heat and moisture, which causes discomfort and can damage fabrics or promote bacterial growth. By creating an active cooling system that requires no electricity or moving parts—just the user's weight doing the work—this design offers a simple, low-cost way to keep seats cooler and fresher. The elegance is in its passivity: the solution activates automatically whenever someone sits.
Real-world use
You'd encounter this technology in office chairs, car seat cushions, or stadium seating designed to keep users comfortable during long sitting sessions without adding bulk or electrical components.
Original USPTO abstract
This invention relates to a cushion and in particular to one including a pad with an upper surface having a plurality of through holes, and a seat having a recess for receiving the pad and a plurality of ventilation holes, whereby when an user seats thereon, the pad and the seat will be deformed thereby causing the air therein to eject upwardly to blow off the heat evolved from the user.
Patent details
- Publication number
- US 5,226,188
- Filing date
- 1992-06-26
- Grant date
- 1993-07-13
- Assignee
- Liou Yaw Tyng
- Inventor(s)
- LIOU; YAW-TYNG
- CPC class
- A47C7/742
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