Apparatus for testing the firmness of infant sleep surfaces

Abstract

An apparatus to test, at home, the firmness of a sleep surface to be used by an infant is disclosed. The apparatus is based on the home version of the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 8811.1:2013. The apparatus comprises two pieces, one piece is the support to hold a defined weight, and the other piece is used as a scale to visualize how much the piece with the weight sinks into the sleep surface.

Claims

1. An apparatus to test the firmness of a sleep surface. The apparatus is composed of a support base (10) and a measuring ring (20). The support base (10) accommodates a household product with a defined weight and slides through the measuring ring (20). Both, the support base (10) and a measuring ring (20), have a reference surface used to determine the degree of firmness when the support base (10) sinks into the sleep surface. The relative position of the reference surface (11) on the support base (10) with respect to the reference surface (21) on the measuring ring (20) defines if the sleep surface has a firmness that is within the specified firmness. Wherein the support base (10) can contain a household product of any shape, Wherein the reference surfaces can constitute a calibrated scale that allows to assign a reference number to the degree of firmness, Wherein the measuring ring (20) can have a different shape than a ring.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1A Shows the lateral view of the support base (10) of the firmness apparatus and the reference surface on it (11).

[0005] FIG. 1B Shows the top view of the support base (10) of the firmness apparatus.

[0006] FIG. 2A Shows the lateral view of the measuring ring (20) of the firmness apparatus and the reference surface on it (21).

[0007] FIG. 2B Shows the top view of the measuring ring (20) of the firmness apparatus.

[0008] FIG. 3A Shows the lateral view of the firmness apparatus.

[0009] FIG. 3B Shows the top view of the firmness apparatus.

[0010] FIG. 4A Shows the firmness apparatus as if it were on a hard surface and indicates the height defining the specified firmness.

[0011] FIG. 4B Shows the firmness apparatus as if it were placed on a sleep surface that passed the test but at the limit sinking of the support base to pass the test.

[0012] FIG. 4C Shows the firmness apparatus as if it were placed on a sleep surface that failed the test.

[0013] FIG. 5 Shows the support base (10) holding a two liters bottle of soda (30).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The firmness apparatus is composed of two parts, the support base (10) and the measuring ring (20). The support base accommodates a household product with a defined weight, such as a bottle of soda, and it can slide through the measuring ring (20). The measuring ring (20) has a very small weight and therefore will not sink into the sleep surface when placed on top of it. Also, the measuring ring has such a dimension, external diameter, that it will not be affected by the