The History of the Pocket Spring

Dating back over 100 years, the first pocket sprung mattress was invented by an English engineer and machinist named James Marshall. In an era of basic open coil and continuous spring mattresses, the introduction of his patented ‘Marshall Coil’ was ground-breaking in the bedding industry. Consisting of individual springs that were placed in connected pockets of fabric, his concept allowed the coils to function independently of each other.

These pocket springs offered unrivalled support compared to the continuous coil mattresses of the time, in which the rows of coils were formed from a single piece of wire. This is because the individually wrapped springs were able to tailor to changing posture and the contours of the body without causing the whole mattress to respond and disrupt sleeping partners.

James Marshall later settled in Toronto, Canada, where he established the Marshall Mattress Company, which has continued to operate ever since! It’s no surprise the bedding industry quickly adopted pocket spring technology, with many of today’s quality mattress companies still incorporating this. However, at Harrison Spinks we didn’t just stop there…

Pocket spring mattresses offer the ultimate in support during sleep, but we’ve gone one better. In 1995 we launched our Millennium Award-winning Revolution® technology, featuring a small pocket spring within a larger pocket spring to offer a double layer of comfort and support. This was a huge step forward from the traditional pocket springs, with the outer spring ensuring comfort, while the inner spring engages to support the areas of the body absorbing greater pressure.

We soon realised that more springs means more comfort, and quickly followed this with the invention of low-height microcoil pocket springs, Posturfil, in 2003. Since then, our springs have been getting smaller and smaller, with the development of our world-leading High Density 4K and Microlution layers. These contain thousands of tiny pocket springs produced in a blanket sheet format to adapt to your body as you sleep.

Striving towards a sustainable future, we have recently launched a new collection featuring a Cortec™ pocket spring unit at the heart. This means that our pocket spring technology is now entirely recyclable at the end of its life, as we have eliminated the use of glue to allow it to be easily stripped.

If the history of the pocket spring has taught us anything, it's that a great idea can always be improved upon. The future of our own pocket spring technology will continue to evolve as we commit ourselves to constantly innovating the best in comfort and support.