Innerspring mattress
Colchón de muelles
- Date
- 1871 · confidence medium
- Place
- Germany
- Credited to
- Heinrich Westphal
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A mattress with a core of steel coils covered in padding and fabric that conforms to the body and airs better than wool, horsehair or straw ones. It displaced mattresses stuffed with plant and animal fillings.
Wikipedia attributes the innerspring mattress to Heinrich Westphal in 1871 without giving a town, and earlier US spring-bed patents exist (1850s-1860s); date and place are uncertain.
What it led to
- more hygienic, durable mattresses
- James Marshall's pocketed spring mattress (1899)
- the sleep industry with box-spring beds and latex and foam mattresses