Many people move mattresses on the tops of their cars, because when you buy a new one there's an exorbitant moving fee, and when you move from one home to another it saves space in the truck for your Falco record collection.

So they tie the thing down using rudimentary knots and a poor understanding of physics, and stay on surface streets rather than freeways for fear of having the darned thing blow off and cause a 400-car pileup.

Enter the mattress clamp.

It's basically two arms of adjustable length made of high-strength plastic, with a large panel joining the two arms. Place one clamp on each corner, and one arm on each clamp goes around a side of the corner. At the top of the clamp is a reinforced eyelet for tie-downs. Simply run the rope through the eyelets, cross them over in the center, and bring them down around your door posts.

Available in black, grey, or metallic purple for when Prince gets himself evicted.
-- shapu, May 21 2006

Moving van schematic http://img.photobuc...shapu/movingvan.jpg
Falco? Bottom left. [shapu, May 25 2006]

How do the clamps attach to the mattress? (That is, why don't they slide off?)
-- jutta, May 21 2006


How do I describe this? I'll give it the old college try.

Take an box, like book mailer, in your hand, with the palm on top. Curl one finger around the side and around the bottom, close to a corner. Take another finger, at a 90 degree angle, around the other side of that corner. Make sure your finger tip goes around. Repeat three more times, once for each corner.

And that's it.

Your palm is where the rope eyelet would go. Your fingers represent the claws on the clamp, and your arm, other two fingers, and thumb represent parts that aren't there on the device.
-- shapu, May 22 2006


This has the advantage of leaving it on and sleeping on top of your car. Also, who told you about my falco collection? RIP F-man.
-- lowbot, May 22 2006


[rcarty]: Roof racks do not solve the problem of how to attach the mattress to the car in the first place. Hence, this idea.

EDIT: [jutta], did you create this category just now or did I miss it when writing the idea?
-- shapu, May 23 2006


The category? Yeah, it's just been created. I'll find more stuff for it eventually.
Thanks for the explanation, shapu. Makes sense.
-- jutta, May 25 2006


To tie a matress to a roof-rack:

Use TWO tidedown straps/lengths of rope in a cross formation.

Or better:

Use a net or a tarpaulin, pull it over the top of the entire thing and tie the corners and sides to the roof rack.

Simple
-- webfishrune, May 25 2006


//it saves space in the truck for your Falco record collection//

[Gets up off the floor still shaking with laughter] Could you provide an illustration for us slower types?
-- energy guy, May 25 2006


[energy guy]: See link. My Falco collection is the thing in the bottom left.

EDIT: Why does everyone seem to assume that I have a roof rack?
-- shapu, May 25 2006



random, halfbakery