The Bed Idea: From the inventors of the Slatted Bedframe

by Darlene Hawthorne February 10, 2018

In 1960, Thomashilfen invented the infamous Slat Bed frame, a design which pioneered sleep engineering trends in the Western market. The slat bed frame instantaneously became the foundation of design for the greater majority of the sleep market, as name brand sleep companies continue to make and market the slat bed frame today.

The Thomas Family started the Thomashilfen company in 1972, when Carl Thomas' wife Anneliese was sick with lateral sclerosis, a type of Muscular Sclerosis which caused Anneliese to experience constant pain throughout the night. Her diagnosis began to affect her life, especially her sleep. Anneliese was unable to sleep through the night, aches and pains kept her awake. Carl was working as a master carpenter and began designing wheelchairs, lifters, and other equipment to help Anneliese with her daily and nightly pain.

Carl designed and built many different sleep systems for his wife to try, each more innovative and detailed than the next. Anneliese's sleep improved night after night with the evolution of Thomas' design. Word spread of his invention, and people started requesting sleep systems from Carl. A few yeaes later Carl Thomas' wife, Anneliese passed away from multiples sklerosis. Carl didn't stop designing. There were millions of people who suffered from the same sleep issues, he was determined to perfect his design.

In 1955, Karl Thomas and his son Wilfried Thomas met a Swiss company that owned a patent for what was to be the basis for the development of a new type of bed. In 1956, envisioning a bed with optimal spring and spinal support, tailored to user’s needs and promoting restful sleep, the company introduced their invention at the furniture trade fair in Cologne. This was the beginning of the first spring support in the world, that was to change sleep patterns in the West, popularly known as the ‘slatted frame’.

The Thomas family capitalized on their invention by developing an international network of specialists, therapists, doctors, scientists and developers to help optimize the concept and provide clinical proof. Decades of sleep studies, developments in technologies’, and sleep system designs later, our most innovative system to date is here, Thevo Bed.