Brief Tale of Memory Foam Mattress: How Did It Come into Being?

Is it something like the birth of a mattress? If not birth, definitely it was a great innovation to add the visco elastic feature to a mattress. Memory Foam mattress is actually so popular for this particular feature. But Memory Foam was a part of scientific venture which has now taken a shape in the common man's household.

The tale begins at NASA

Very interestingly, sometime around 1970 a project was taken up to challenge the physical constrains faced by the astronauts due to greater gravitational forces at a higher elevation. Theoretically one conclusion was derived that this problem can only be combated with the help of one type of foam which will provide a support to the body and match with the shape of the body to hold the pressure with ease.

Now ordinary foam proved to be inefficient to fulfill the criteria. The foam should be such that it would be able to resist the external pressure and also retain the original shape. How will the astronauts be benefited then? Actually the exertion of the gravitational force will not create a burdensome pressure on the person's body and this particular foam will conform as per the astronaut's shape of the body. On the other hand the foam will not get distorted and retain its original shape.

The visco-elastic quality in the foam

What was being considered as the most important feature of the foam? In scientific term, it was related as visco-quality. With the movements of the body, this type of foam, rather this feature of the foam will allow it to adjust accordingly.

Sometime in the 80s Fagerdala World Foams, a Swedish company brought down this foam from the astronaut's sphere to common man's use. And hence began the manufacturing of mattresses using the same foam with visco-elastic quality. This company found that lying on such a foam mattress will not only support the body weight but provide with full comfort. The weight won't fall on a single point on the mattress but will diverge in uniform parts. Therefore a balance is maintained and when the pressure is taken off the mattress comes to its original shape.

The latter innovations
The 90's saw many renowned foam and mattress manufacturing companies dealing with the Memory foam. Tempur Pedic of Sweden and its branches in North America and Canada explored with this raw material and produced different types of mattresses in a wide range of sizes to be used for various purposes. From the bedroom till the hospital beds, the Memory Foam mattress has gained immense popularity.

Though things got initiated for space people, now it has found space even in your household. This is the tale of Memory Foam's journey from the celestial space to the mundane space.