Breakthrough in sewing needles

http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/03/16/breakthrough-in-sewing-needles/

by ThomPete • 16 years ago

58 34 16 years ago

bitsandpieces.us

tomerico2• 16 years ago

The last line in the article sums it best: "Why wasn’t this inventer 50 years ago?"

Exactly my thought, this is a bit like inventing a better cd/dvd case now.

barrkel5• 16 years ago

I was wondering, what do you personally do when shirt buttons come off?

tomerico2• 16 years ago

Good point. I'll answer with a question - what do you personally do, when your shoe need repair?

patio11• 16 years ago

I have a little shop at my mall which charges $1 for button repair. The button is $1 extra.

They also repair pants cuffs, which is nice because my bicycle seems to have a taste for them.

clistctrl• 16 years ago

I put the shirt in my suitcase, then after several months a holiday comes. I'll fly home, and find the shirt in my case so i'll give it to my mom. She'll smile say something along the lines of "some things never change" and fix it for me. I'll eat a chocolate chip cookie while I wait.

stcredzero• 16 years ago

I resewed the edging on the laptop sleeve for my 13" Macbook not too long ago. 5 minutes, and I save myself $15. Lots of sewing kits for casual users come with a diamond shaped wire loop that makes it easier to thread needles. Those are dirt cheap. This invention is even more convenient. Kudos!

ThomPete2• 16 years ago

It's quite extraordinary that this hasn't been done before.

I guess most people have thought about it but probably thought, there probably is a reason for this.

Just goes to show, never assume things can't change.

pbhjpbhj2• 16 years ago

I think the article says it has been done before but that the previous version had too wide a gap, and possibly a different morphology, and so the thread would slip out.

This appears to be a rediscovery of an old invention in that case, so presumably a patent won't be granted.

DougBTX• 16 years ago

They though of this: http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/06/self_threading_nee...

jcl• 16 years ago

Moreover, the first comment on that page points out that the self-threading needle is ill-suited for typical sewing because the eye is so big. And the side-threading needle in the article seems to have an even larger eye.

shadowsun7• 16 years ago

This goes to show that innovation exists for even the most mundane things.

I didn't even see the problem until this article came up (much less the possible solution). I'd always assumed that there would be children on-hand to thread needles for their parents, the way I was when I was younger.

In retrospect - really dumb of me.

Mystitat• 16 years ago

Yes, it looks fantastic.

Still, needles are not that hard to thread. It's not like there's a great nationwide backlog of sewing that can finally recommence because people can finally thread their needles again.

cstross• 16 years ago

Needles are hard to thread, if you've got no binocular vision (like me). In fact, they're friggin' impossible.

(I have a hell's brew of retinopathy (it's dormant, but I've only got half the visual field in my right eye), a fovea in the left eye that's held in place by a clip (say goodbye to fine detail!), myopia, astigmatism, and now a forty-something's presbyopia. My vision for close-up detail work is terrible, I have to rely on paralax for judging distances when driving (guess who doesn't drive at night?) and threading a needle has been impossible for me since I was 25. Even the diamond-wire needle threaders barely help. This is the first thing I've seen that might actually work!)

billswift• 16 years ago

Actually binocular vision doesn't help - I almost always close one eye when threading needles. I need to wear reading glasses now though, getting too old to see small stuff clearly enough. (I cheat - I got some extra strong reading glasses for close work like threading needles and removing splinters (3 diopter, normally use 1.0 to 1.5 for reading) - they are a big help.)

zck• 16 years ago

I imagine this might have an unplanned benefit to sewers -- you can use a smaller needle for the thickness of thread you're sewing with. Even using a threader requires you to pull the string through doubled. However, it looks like the eye of the needle is thicker than other needles of the same size. I can't be sure, because I can't tell how big the needle in the picture is.

synnik• 16 years ago

There is a reason that this wasn't invented 50 years ago -- most people who regularly thread needles have been doing it for so many years, that this is a non-issue.

That being said, I asked my wife (who makes her living with needles and fibers) what she thought, and she said that she has seen similar designs before, and thinks they look great, but just never tried them.

This is actually a great product design insight -- what looks like an amazing product isn't solving the problems that the serious "users" actually encounter. It is solving the problem that the casual or new users encounter.

Which shouldn't diminish the fact that it is a great idea. It just probably will have a long ramp-up before it "takes over the world."

ThomPete2• 16 years ago

I think that is a good way to look at it.

Give her one show at Oprah though and she will definitely "take over the world"

fnid2• 16 years ago

I just showed it to my grandmother and she said she has some of them and they do work. If two out of two experts in the field have devices like this, the USPTO is apparently as bad at evaluating sewing inventions as it is at evaluating software inventions. <sarcasm>So obviously we should do away with sewing patents all together.</scarcasm>

pascalchristian2• 16 years ago

It reminds me of surgical needles, which actually is still continuously innovated until today!

theNeedleLady• 16 years ago

Hi guys, I am the inventor of the Spiral Eye side threading needle. Your conversation is very interesting to me. It is from a very different view point than what I usually hear. My needle is new, but I have been selling them for over two years, on line, in some stores and at state fairs and events. There is a huge market for them. A needle is the most ubiquious of tool in the world. It is used in surgery, to mending, crafts, to fishing. The design I came up with has a very precarious geometry to keep the thread inside and not snag the material you are sewing. The technology to make it did not exist fifty years ago. I also have just been written up in a newspaper in Denmark and my website sales have gone through the roof. Maybe the Danes sew more than the Americans.

Breakthrough in sewing needles

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