According to the present invention, an improved method of anchoring floating waterbed mattress inserts is provided. A vinyl tether is provided which is secured at one end thereof to the floating insert. The other end of the tether is welded to a section of fibre mat which in turn is welded to the bottom of the mattress.

A flotation mattress and a method for making same. The mattress is comprised of flexible, liquid-impermeable material sealed to form a liquid impermeable envelope. One or more damping chambers are disposed within the mattress which damping chambers have means for liquid communication between the portion of the liquid within the interior of the chambers and liquid around the chambers. The damping chambers impede wave motion generated by an imposed pressure on the mattress by operating as physical impediments to wave propagation and, additionally, by providing countervailing liquid flow from the interior of said chambers into the surrounding liquid body within the envelope.

A water mattress has a portion of its volume occupied by air or gas filled bodies which lower the total mattress weight and inhibit the under damped natural harmonic motion typical of conventional water mattresses. A method of fabricating the water mattress of the instant invention is also disclosed. The gas filled bodies comprise independent, elongate, parallel chambers having sidewalls which are secured to the bottom panel of the mattress. The chambers are positioned to float between the horizontal midplane of the mattress and its upper surface such that it exhibits the uniform force per area weight distribution characteristic found desirable in such devices. Air is supplied to the chambers through generally aligned access fittings on the chambers and water mattress. The chambers are fabricated of a plurality of staggered, overlapped rectangles of plastic, each having a length substantially equal to the length of the mattress and a width approximately equal to twice the chamber to chamber distance measured along the surface of the chamber structure.

A waterbed mattress has an internal horizontally-extending baffle for reducing wave-like motion of the water in the mattress. The baffle comprises at least two horizontally-extending layers secured together, a first layer denser than water and a second layer less dense than water. The first layer can be a porous mass of bound-together fibers and the second layer can be closed cell polymeric foam. The baffle, which floats spaced apart from the bottom wall of the mattress, is foldable and collapsible, so that the entire mattress can be folded for storage.

A wave-reducing water mattress for water beds has a wave-reducing baffle comprising a flexible fibrous layer, preferably of polyester fibers, occupying a major portion of the horizontal area traversed by the water-filled mattress. The fibrous layer resists flow of water within the mattress so as to restrict wave motion within the mattress. The baffle preferably includes a low-density layer that floats the fibrous layer next to the top surface of the water-filled mattress for restricting topical wave motion at the top surface of the mattress. In one embodiment, the baffle comprises a pair of thin vertically spaced apart upper and lower fibrous layers and a thin low-density, non-water absorptive foam layer between the fibrous layers for floating the upper fibrous layer next to the top surface of the mattress, while the lower fibrous layer "anchors" the baffle within the mattress, without the baffle being attached or sealed to the wall of the mattress. Wave motion generated within the mattress is dampened in a water-filled chamber formed between the lower fibrous layer and the floating upper fibrous layer. In another embodiment, the lower fibrous layer and the floating upper fibrous layer are held in place spaced apart with respect to one another by a series of ties or button tufting mono-filament strings which resist wave forces generated within the inner chamber by preventing the two layers from expanding further than the strings allow.