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The following article was sourced from a Wikipedia page at the following address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_bed MURPHY BEDS
A Murphy bed (in North America), also called a wall bed, pull down bed or fold-down bed is a bed that is hinged at one end to store vertically against the wall, or inside of a closet or cabinet. HISTORY The bed is named for William Lawrence Murphy (1876–1959), who applied for his first patents around 1900. According to legend, he was wooing an opera singer, but living in a one-room apartment in San Francisco, and the moral code of the time frowned upon a woman entering a man's bedroom. Murphy's invention converted his bedroom into a parlour, enabling him to entertain. Earlier foldup beds had existed, and were even available through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalogue, but Murphy introduced pivot and counterbalanced designs for which he received a series of patents, including one for a "Disappearing Bed" on June 18, 1912 and another for a "Design for a Bed" on June 27, 1916. Murphy beds are used for space-saving purposes, much like trundle beds, and are popular where floor space is limited, such as small homes, apartments, hotels, mobile homes and college dormitories. In recent years, Murphy bed units have included options such as lighting, storage cabinets, and office components. They have seen a resurgence in popularity in the early 2010s due to the weak economy, with children moving back in with their parents and families choosing to renovate homes rather than purchasing larger ones. In 1989, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the term "Murphy Bed" had entered common usage so thoroughly that it was no longer eligible for trademark protection. DESIGNS AND MODELS Most Murphy beds do not have box springs. Instead, the mattress usually lies on a wood platform or wire mesh and is held in place so as not to sag when in a closed position. The mattress is attached to the bed frame, often with elastic straps to hold the mattress in position when the unit is folded upright. Since the first model several other variations and designs has been made like: Sideway-mounted Murphy beds, Murphy bunk beds, and solutions that includes other functions. Murphy beds with tables or desks that folds down when the bed is folded up is popular, and there are also models with sofas and shelving solutions.
Murphy wall beds include horizontal-oriented beds that flip up from the side and even bunk beds. A piston-lift or torsion springs make modern Murphy beds easy to lower and raise. HAZARDS When attempting to pull a Murphy bed down from the wall, if not installed properly, it is possible that it could collapse on the operator. A man died in 1982 from suffocating inside a Murphy bed and two women were entrapped and suffocated by a collapsing Murphy bed in 2005. IN FILM Murphy beds were a common setup for comic scenes in early cinema, including in silent films. Among the films which use Murphy beds as comic props are Charlie Chaplin's 1916 One AM, several Three Stooges shorts, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, Mel Brooks's Silent Movie, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. TRIVIA In the popular PC Game "The Sims 2" and The Sims 3, the playable characters can be killed from opening the Murphy Bed. This happens very rarely and randomly, mostly if the Sim has a bad mood. For more information about Murphy pull down beds, please click on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_bed |
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy_bed
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