This invention relates generally to waterbeds and more particularly concerns a rake for removing air bubbles trapped inside a waterbed mattress.
Over a period of time air separates from the water in a waterbed mattress and forms large bubbles which are trapped between the water surface and the top layer of the mattress. Several devices have been devised for removing these bubbles from the mattress. They include rollers which extend the width of the bed so that the bubbles can be forced from one end of the bed to the other. Smaller rollers are then used in a direction transverse to the large roller so as to pinch the bubbles to the vent in the top of the waterbed mattress. These devices are generally clumsy and require more than one person for their operation. When properly operated, the bubbles are broken and distributed across the width of the bed and have to be recollected into a central location. These multiple operations generally result in portions of the collected bubbles escaping the confines of the longer roller while the smaller rollers are being manipulated, thus requiring a repetition of the task. A smaller more manipulable device in the form of a straight edge paddle has been devised so that a single person can manipulate a bubble by the application of force at the edge of the paddle. However, the bubbles easily escape the limited confines of the paddle edge and are very difficult to direct along the shortest path to the vent.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a rake which facilitates moving of a bubble in a waterbed mattress to a mattress vent to be exhausted to the atmosphere. It is also an object of this invention to provide a rake which traps an air bubble in a limited geometric area for movement therewith to the mattress vent. Another object of this invention is to provide a rake which holds the bubble in a unified condition, rather than causes the bubble to be broken and dispersed. Yet another object of this invention is to confine a bubble within a geometric area that is readily directable to the mattress vent along the shortest path between the bubble and the vent. Still another object of this invention is to provide a rake which allows a single user to simultaneously apply a downward trapping force and a lateral moving force without the bubble or any portion thereof escaping from the rake.