How mattresses are made

The coil spring inside most mattresses was adapted from carriage seat springs of the 19th century.

stations: 6
things upstream: 57
raw sources: 16
steps from the ground: 8

The short version

Most mattresses sold in North America are innersprings. Steel wire is coiled into springs, which are linked into a single unit. Layers of foam or fiber are placed above and below to cushion the sleeper, and a quilted fabric cover called ticking is stitched around everything. The cover is closed and the mattress is packed.

Coil the wire

Machines bend steel wire into hourglass-shaped coils. Thicker wire makes a firmer spring, and 14-gauge wire at 1.63 mm is typical of higher-quality coils. The oldest and most common type is the Bonnell coil, a knotted, round-top coil.

Goes in
Steel wire
Lace into a spring unit

Rows of coils are linked together by interconnecting wires or hinged with helical wires. The connections help the mattress hold its shape. Pocket springs skip the wires and are instead sewn into individual fabric sleeves.
Pour the comfort foam

Flexible polyurethane foam is poured, cured and sliced into sheets, including bumpy egg-crate foam, for the comfort layers. Some mattresses use latex or memory foam here.

Goes in
Polyurethane
Stack the layers

A fiber or mesh insulator goes over the springs to keep the padding from sinking in. The padding goes on next, then a quilt of light foam or fiber.

Goes in
Adhesive
Quilt the cover

Ticking, the protective fabric cover, is stitched to a thin layer of foam or fiber to make a soft quilted top. The fabric can be knit, damask or printed woven.

Goes in
Polyester Sewing thread
Close it up

The cover is sewn around the finished core and padding, and the edges are bound with a border. The mattress is then wrapped for delivery.

Goes in
Sewing thread

End of the lineMattress

Worth repeating

The word mattress comes from an Arabic word meaning something thrown down.
Early mattresses were stuffed with straw, feathers or horsehair.
In the first half of the 20th century, a typical mattress sold in North America had an innerspring core and cotton batting or fiberfill.