This part 1510 sets forth the requirement whereby rattles (as defined in § 1510.2) are not banned articles under § 1500.18(a)(15) of this chapter. The purpose of these requirements is to ensure that certain infant rattles which may cause choking and/or suffocation because their design or construction permits them to enter into an infant's mouth and become lodged in the throat are eliminated from interstate commerce.

For the purposes of this part 1510, a rattle is an infant's toy, intended to be hand held, usually containing pellets or other small objects and which produces sounds when shaken. Examples of products which may have similar noisemaking characteristics but which are excluded from the scope of this definition are: dolls, stuffed animals, crib exercisers, crib mobiles, pull toys, shoe lace holders, bells which are not part of the noisemaking component of a rattle, plastic keys or other figures on loops or chains which produce sound by striking together, games, puzzles and musical instruments such as tambourines, castanets, and maracas.

No portion of a rattle, when tested in accordance with the procedure of § 1510.4 below, shall be capable of entering and penetrating to the full depth of a cavity in a test fixture with dimensions shown in figure 1. (In determining these dimensions for compliance purposes, the English measurements shall be used. Metric equivalents are included for convenience.) Rattles shall meet this requirement both before and after performing the use and abuse tests of § 1500.51 of this chapter (excluding the bite and flexure tests of paragraphs (c) and (d)).

Place the test fixture shown in figure 1 on a horizontal plane surface. Under its own weight and in a non-compressed state apply any portion of the test sample in the most adverse orientation to the opening in the test fixture. Repeat this procedure after performing the use and abuse tests of § 1500.51 (excluding the bite and flexure tests of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section). In testing to ensure compliance with this regulation, the measurements of the opening of the Commission's test fixture will be no greater than those shown in Figure 1 and the depth of the fixture used will be no less than that shown in figure 1.