When did mattress sizes become King, Queen, Full, and Twin? Who decided? How were the sizes determined?

Answer 1

Mediveil times the king always slept on the biggest bed so that became king size as we know it, queen slept in second biggest, full was the guest bed and 2 of the king and queens children (dont have to be twins) slept in a bed that would support them both.

Answer 2

1871: The German Heinrich Westphal invents the innerspring mattress. He later died in poverty, never having profited from his invention.
Mattresses with stabilizing interior springs, probably the single most significant advance in mattress design, were first developed during the mid-1800s. By placing a set of uniform springs inside layers of upholstery, mattress manufacturers could imbue their product with a firm, resilient, and uniform texture. However, because so-called innerspring mattresses were expensive to manufacture, only luxury ships and hotels that could pass the cost along to their affluent patrons purchased them initially. It was not until after World War I that innerspring mattresses were mass-produced by Zalmon Simmons, Jr., the president of a company that had theretofore produced bedsteads. Despite the fact that Simmons asked 40 dollars—more than twice the cost of the finest horse hair mattress available at that time—for his innerspring mattress in 1926, his products proved so comfortable that millions of Americans purchased them.

To render potential customers more willing to spend what must have struck many as a small fortune on his innerspring mattress, Simmons promoted the advantages of a good night's sleep. The effectiveness of this marketing strategy has only increased over the years, as subsequent research has confirmed that abundant, high-quality sleep constitutes a fundamental component of good health. Today's sophisticated mattresses improve sleeping comfort in several ways. First, through a variety of enhanced innerspring designs, modern mattresses distribute the weight of the body over a broad area; this also helps to prevent differential wear on the mattress. In addition, mattresses offer surfaces of appropriate softness and flexibility to help keep the spine in its naturally curved position. However, contemporary mattress manufacturers carefully avoid excessively soft surfaces that would distort the position of the sleeper's spine, resulting in discomfort or even pain.

Presently, the consumer demand for mattresses is fairly consistent. In 1990, approximately 16 million mattresses were sold in the United States. Together with foundations, mattresses accounted for about $4 billion in retail sales. With the exception of a few large companies, most mattress manufacturers are fairly small, community-based operations. Of the approximately 825 mattress factories across the United States, most are still owned and operated by the founding families.
Today, most mattresses are manufactured according to standard sizes. This standardization was initiated by the industry to resolve any dimensional discrepancies that might occur between companies that manufacture beds and companies that make mattresses. The sizes include the twin bed, 39 inches wide and 74 inches long; the double bed, 54 inches wide and 74 inches long; the queen bed, 60 inches wide and 80 inches long; and the king bed, 78 inches wide and 80 inches long. A mattress should be at least six inches longer than the tallest person who will be sleeping on it.

Answer 3

I don't know how the names and sizes were arrived at, but I'm in Australia. The bed sizes (and names) are:

single (36 inches wide)
king single (used to be called three-quarter) (42 inches wide)
double (54 inches)
queen (60 inches wide)
king (72 inches wide)

I'm not sure about the lengths. They seem to vary.

I think other parts of the world have different sizes and names.
.

Answer 4

Queen

Answer 5

Well, there was this bloke called Matt Ress and one day he decided that it was flippin' uncomfortable sleeping in the bath and decided to do something about it.

Now, Matt Ress had a sister who had married a chap called King Size and - oh sorry, my doorbell's just gone.

Gotta go, it'll be half way down the road by now!