force due to the elastic force of springs 10.
At this time, opening forming portion 3a of load applying plate 3 is housed in first region 18b, while indenter pressing portion 3b is housed in hole portion for bouncing indenter 17 and second region 18c (to the left of stopper 11). At this time, therefore, indenter 2 is disposed below indenter pressing portion 3b (hole portion for sliding load applying plate 18) in hole portion for bouncing indenter 17, while being placed on the top surface of resin shock absorber 1.
Referring to Fig. 22(b), the entire indenter pressing jig 16 descends while stopper 11 keeps pushing load applying plate 3 leftward as in Fig. 22(a). As a result, in hole portion for bouncing indenter 17, indenter pressing portion 3b of load applying plate 3 included in indenter pressing jig 16 makes contact with indenter 2 therebelow and applies a load of pressing indenter 2 downward. Load applying plate 3 further moves downward while being in contact with indenter 2 in this manner, causing indenter 2 in contact therewith to be pressed into resin shock absorber 1 therebelow.
Referring to Fig. 22(c), stopper 11 is removed so as to move upward while indenter 2 is maintained in a downward-pressed state. If springs 10 extend rightward at this time by the elastic force, load applying plate 3 moves to the right of the figure, causing an opening in opening forming portion 3a (portion where a plate-like member is not disposed) to be located directly above indenter 2 in hole portion for bouncing indenter 17. In other words, the opening in opening forming portion 3a of load applying plate 3 releases the downward load that has been applied to indenter 2 by !ndenter pressing portion 3b until that time.
As a result, indenter 2 bounces upward by a repulsive force resulting from being Dressed downward.
Inspection apparatus 500 is different from inspection apparatuses 100 to 400 Dnly in that it has indenter pressing jig 16 as the load applying mechanism as described ibove, and is otherwise substantially the same in configuration as inspection ipparatuses 100 to 400. Hence, the same elements are designated by the same signs ind the description thereof will not be repeated. Specifically, although the illustration

of the remaining apparatus body and the measuring mechanism forming inspection apparatus 500 is omitted in Fig. 22, any of inspection apparatuses 100 to 400 of the first to fourth embodiments may be used for this portion. That is, any of the measurement methods of the first to fourth embodiments can be used as the measurement method of this embodiment. Although not illustrated, indenter pressing jig 16 is grasped by linear guide 7 making contact with and fixed to struts 5, for example, of the apparatus body (for example, like load applying plate 3 of the first embodiment), and can move along the direction in which struts 5 extend (along the vertical direction).
The function and effect of this embodiment will now be described.
In this embodiment, indenter 2 having rod-like portion 2a extending in a rod-like manner is caused to bounce upward while being disposed so as to extend along the inner wall of hole portion for bouncing indenter 17. Thus, by setting particularly the width of the inner wall of hole portion for bouncing indenter 17 to be close to the width intersecting the direction in which rod-like portion 2a of indenter 2 extends (to be somewhat small), indenter 2 will reliably bounce upward along the vertical direction. This can reduce the possibility of compromising the reliability of a measurement result caused by indenter 2 bouncing in an oblique direction, for example, rather than bouncing in the vertical direction.
From this point of view, the inspection may be performed by inspection apparatus 500 having indenter pressing jig 16 of this embodiment, by using indenter 2 as a spherical object in the first to fourth embodiments. By so doing, even when indenter 2 as a spherical object is used, indenter 2 can reliably bounce in the vertical direction along the inner wall of hole portion for bouncing indenter 17, thereby improving the reliability of a measurement result.
In addition, since indenter 2 with rod-like portion 2a has spherical portion 2b or polyhedron shape portion 2c, by bringing the portion into contact with, and causing the portion to dig into, the top surface of resin shock absorber 1, damage to the surface of resin shock absorber 1 can be prevented when the portion is pressed into resin shock absorber 1.