The present invention relates to a pillow-headrest arrangement for use with a seat and particularly for use by a passenger seated in a mass transportation vehicle, such as a railroad car, a bus, an airplane or even a passenger car.
It is common practice to drape over the back of the seat of railroad coach cars, intercity buses, and more particularly airplanes, a sanitary head cloth or sheet removably attached to the top of each seat back and draped over the front of the seat back to act as a clean and sanitary surface engaged by the back of the head of a passenger sitting in the seat. The head sheets are sometimes made of linen or fabric which are removed and laundered after each use, hopefully, and reused after having been laundered and sanitized. More often, the head sheets are made of relatively inexpensive linen or fabric-like paper material, and are disposed of as trash after use.
Diverse arrangements are provided for attaching the head sheet to the seat back, such as pins and safety pins, snaps, clips and the like. More conveniently, and more particularly in airplanes, the top of the seat back is provided with a band of the hook-type of pile or interlocking fabric, generally sold under the trademark "Velcro," and the head sheet is provided at an edge with a band of loop-type low cost Velcro material for removable attachment to the seat back band of hook-type Velcro material.
On some mass transportation vehicles, more particularly on airplanes, cushions are also readily available to the passengers or are distributed to the passengers by the cabin attendant. Such cushions are contentional in shape, are of relatively small size and are provided with a removable disposable case.
Most passengers are inclined to relax or sleep, more particularly on airplanes where space is somewhat cramped, reclining adjustment of the seat back is rather limited, and walking through the aisles is generally discouraged. However, it is somewhat difficult for most passengers to be able to assume a relaxed and comfortable position, in the rather confined space of the relatively narrow seats, and unless he is able to assume a position permitting him to support a side of his head back against a cushion, when asleep or when dozing, his head tends to wobble from side to side, which leads to irritating rapid successions of periods of rest and periods of full-awakedness. It will be appreciated that a seat back with an appropriate recess for the back of the head or with a built-in headrest may remedy some of the inconveniences of conventional straight back seats, such as, for example, providing a relatively firm support for the head preventing the head from wobbling. However, seats with headrests are not generally provided and, even if provided, they will still present some inconveniences as the position of the headrest is fixed when the headrest is built-in in the seat back.