Derick Close, (left) Springs Creative chief executive officer, and Scott Frisch, president of Spring Creative’s Specialty Products Group, brought the feature-filled Springmaid Accousticot bed to ISPA EXPO 2012.
These beds have nothing on the Springmaid Accousticot, a bed patented in 1951 by Elliott Springs, founder of Springs Mills (later Springs Industries and now Springs Global).
The mattress and bed frame had a host of features designed to enhance sleepers’ comfort: air conditioning, vibration, anti-static sheets, anti-allergy pillows, a heated bedspread and a soundproof center board that could be lowered to provide sleeping partners their privacy. For entertainment, the bed came equipped with a television, phones and a slot machine. For safety, there was an oxygen mask and “automatic fire protection.” A World War I pilot, Springs designed the bed’s controls to look like those in an airplane cockpit.
Derick Close, chief executive officer of Springs Creative and grandson of Elliott Springs, and Scott Frisch, president of Springs Creative’s Specialty Products Group, took the Accousticot bed to ISPA EXPO 2012, where it was displayed in the ISPA Welcome Center. Springs Creative is a supplier of performance mattress fabrics and based in Rock Hill, S.C.
Springs was a master marketer with a ribald sense of humor and the Accousticot was advertised with cheeky headlines, images and text. One ad explains the fragrance feature of the bed: “If the sleeper wants to dream of…tidewater towns, he can have the smell of fresh fish and decayed aristocracy.”
The bed was, in some ways, a spoof of Americans’ love of gadgetry, and new features were added as “reactions from an amused public stimulated Elliott’s creative powers,” according to a company history. The bed was promoted through a nationwide tour of department stores and an appearance by Springs on a popular TV show. According to the company, Elliott priced it “in jest” at $3,500.
What’s in your company’s attic?
The International Sleep Products Association encourages mattress manufacturers and suppliers to search their corporate archives for products from the past. ISPA will celebrate its 100th anniversary at ISPA EXPO 2014 in New Orleans and plans to highlight mattress innovations from the past century during the show. For more information, contact Catherine Lyons, ISPA senior vice president, at [email protected] or 703-683-8371.
