Welcome to Cleveland and Research Center. and-
Sealy Mattress Company\'s development lab, where I joined Bruce barman, vice president of Sealy R & D, in the rolling product abuse room.
We were watching a huge mechanical piston relentlessly banging on an unsuspecting mattress like a mob playing a thief.
On the commercial end of the piston is a huge shiny wooden fist carved into life-like
The size of humans.
\"It simulates a person sitting on the bed,\" Barman said . \".
\"We will repeat 70,000 or 80,000 times and then we will remove the mattress and check for wear and tear.
\"We went through the room to the opposite wall, where the other mattress was cruelly bullied by a device that was less likely to be called a roll-laying machine. \" (
Imagine a huge rolling pin trying to flatten your bed. )
\"The weight of the roller is 250 pounds,\" Barman said . \" The mattress behind him trembled under strain.
\"This test simulates the use of a fairly heavy person for 10 years.
\"For researchers, Barman mainly uses the machine to test the new Sealy design, but from time to time he puts the competitor\'s mattress in the right place to make it feel the roll-laying machine
\"We have some mattresses and can\'t take punishment for a long time,\" he said . \".
\"The springs are separated from each other, the mattress becomes unstable, deformed, and finally looks like a big beach ball.
\"Beach balls are very, very bad in the world of quality bedding.
Good consistency.
Consistency is the holy grail, after which barman and his companion mattro-philes quest.
For practitioners of mattress science, \"consistency\" means that the mattress is able to fit the irregular contours of your body while maintaining the correct alignment of the spine.
This is essential for a good night\'s rest, for if your spine is not twisted properly, the muscles in your back will be working all night in vain trying to pull it in
Barman said: \"That\'s why you wake up in the morning with a sore waist and your muscles are tired from working all night.
You need a stronger mattress, right? Not always.
Barman says it\'s wrong to think that a sturdy mattress is always more supportive than a soft one.
A good mattress must be balanced between soft comfort and proper amount of support, he said.