Murphy bed

A Murphy Bed is a bed that folds down from a wall. William L. Murphy applied for a patent for this idea April 1st, 1916 and was granted Design Patent D49,273 on June 27, 1916. Murphy started the Murphy Wall Bed Company and began production in San Francisco. In January 1990, the company changed its name to the "Murphy Bed Co. Inc." A Murphy bed is used for space-saving purposes, much like a trundle bed is.

These beds make appearances in movies as they lend themselves to slapstick humor in which people are trapped when the bed folds into the upright position, carrying the person on the bed inside. In Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, a hotel's neon sign advertises "Murphy Beds -- Charming to the Unsophisticated".

In 1989 an appellate court held that the term "Murphy bed" is no longer entitled to trademark protection because a substantial majority of the public perceive the term as a generic term for a bed that folds into a wall rather than the specific model made by the Murphy Bed Co.

External links

• The History of Murphy Bed
• Selected retailers of Murphy beds:
  • More Space Place
  • The Murphy Bed Company (requires Macromedia Flash!)
  • Murphy Bed Products
  • Create-A-Bed Inc. - Murphy beds for the do-it-yourselfer
  • American Murphy Bed
  • Murphy Bed USA manufacturers of high-quality Murphy Bed products.
  • Wilding Wall Beds Quality All Wood Murphy Beds