Spring Coil Mattress Information

Spring mattresses are very common among many people. They’re much cheaper compared to other options on the market today. While they aren’t the most comfortable ones, they’re still widely used these days.

Innerspring mattress was first invented in 1871, by Heinrich Westphal, who lived in Germany. Sad, but he has never profited from his invention. Later, this type of mattress was little improved to provide better support for the body. However, it isn’t as comfortable as latex or memory foam mattresses, which are modern and are a result of more advanced technology.

Basic Spring Coil Mattress Parts

Let’s see what the main parts of such type of mattresses are and what you need to know about each of those.

A regular spring mattress consists of three main parts:

The coil spring core (main part)
Fabric that covers the whole mattress

Spring Core

The spring core is the main part of the mattress. It is made of steel coils. Spring mattresses have different amounts of coils. The same size (queen or king size) mattresses may have from 300 to 800 coils in them.

However, it doesn’t mean that more coils will result in more comfortable sleep. The combination and size of coils are also important. If coils are larger in size, then 300 coils may give as much body support as 600 or 800 smaller coils.

Coils in innerspring mattresses are also connected with each other. It is mainly done so that mattress wouldn’t lose its shape over the years. If there are less interconnecting wires among the coils, then the mattress will not last very long.

Different types of coils:

Bonnel coils – These are the most common type of coils. They are still used in cheap spring coil mattresses.
Marshal coils – Marshal coils are usually wrapped in fabric. Such coils may be also pre-compressed, which means that coils become firmer.
Offset coils – These are the most expensive ones to produce. They are similar to Bonnel coils, but the top and bottom part of coils have flat or straight sides. This way, they’re easier to align.
Continuous coils – These coils look like double-wired coils. Continuous coils are connected to each other, thus creating a coils system that is very strong and lasts longer.

Mattress Layers

The core of the mattress is covered by soft layers that should provide comfort. There are basically three types of layers that cover the core of the innerspring mattress.

Insulator – It is the basic layer part. It separates the core of the mattress from the next layer, called “Middle upholstery”. Insulator is usually made of fiber or mesh. Its main job is to keep the middle layer in place.
Middle upholstery – It is the second layer of the mattress cover. Its main purpose is to make the mattress smoother. So this layer usually consists of many types of materials that give comfort. For example: memory foam, polyester fibers, cotton fibers…
Quilt – It is the last (top) layer of the mattress cover. It is made of light foam or various fibers that are stitched to the tick. Quilt may be firm or soft. Tick or ticking is a protective fabric cover that surrounds all the layers. It may be made of natural or synthetic fiber. Tick is visual so it’s usually made of attractive and soft material.

This is very raw information about mattresses, which should give you some basic understanding about the materials used in a mattress.

If you’re planning to buy a coil spring mattress, then this information might be useful. Ask the seller about these parts and materials of a mattress and find out of what materials they use and how they were made.