Therm-a-Rest
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| Privately Held | |
| Industry | Outdoor equipment manufacturing |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Founder | John Burroughs, Jim Lea, Neil Anderson |
| Headquarters | Seattle, WA, United States |
| Products | Camping Mattresses|Sleeping Bags|Camp Quilts|Cots|Camp Chairs|Hammocks|Pillows |
Therm-a-Rest is an American outdoor product company specializing in camping mattresses, sleeping bags, camp chairs, hammocks, cots and pillows. Therm-a-Rest began as a line of self-inflating camping mattresses, invented in the early-1970s by two former Boeing engineers and avid backpackers. The company was initially named Cascade Designs, which is now the parent company of Therm-a-Rest and other outdoor brands.
The first self-inflating camping mattress was invented by John Burroughs, an engineer at the Boeing Company aerospace corporation, and two friends who had just lost their jobs from Boeing – Jim Lea and Neil Anderson – during the now-legendary Boeing layoffs that brought Seattle to an economic standstill in the late-1960s and early-1970s. As a project, John suggested that Neil and Jim focus on designing the more lightweight, comfortable and durable sleeping pad for camping.
The "Ah-Ha!" moment struck Jim one day while gardening. As he shifted his weight on his foam ground cushion, he heard the air escaping a closed chamber. A deduction was made that if open-cell foam could be secured in an airtight chamber, a valve could control internal air pressure. The combination of foam and air would protect and thermally insulate campers, keeping them warm and comfortable; plus, the tendency of open-cell foam to rebound would allow the pads to self-inflate.
A year and much field-testing later, they had reached a design that offered far superior comfort and performance than anything that had existed before. John dubbed it the "Therm-a-Rest", a patent application was filed and, by 1972, the Therm-a-Rest mattress was on its trajectory to becoming an integral piece of gear for millions of outdoor enthusiasts.
In response to growing European demand, 1984 brought the opening of a Midelton, Ireland production and distribution facility.
A Therm-a-Rest self-inflating mattress consists of an airtight nylon fabric envelope filled with a sheet of low density, open-cell polyurethane foam. When a valve is opened the foam expands and draws air into the mattress. When the mattress has fully inflated, the user simply closes the valve. To increase firmness a few breaths of air can be blown into the mattress. To pack the mattress the valve is opened and it is rolled up tightly to force the air out, whereupon the valve is closed to prevent re-inflation.
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