Patent Application
20240099431
The present invention relates to pins used in connection with sewing; and in particular, to pins with an easy-grasp head to facilitate their use.
Pins with improved heads for sewing applications are known in the art. For example, there is disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. D860,633 a pin with an elongate tapered ribbed head. When the present inventor was seeking to improve his prior pin design disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. D860,633 he found that the seamstresses the present invention is intended to benefit had a number of issues with that prior design which they evaluated as being hard to pick up, hard to grip, manipulate and control, particularly when they were trying to penetrate tougher materials like denim. Accordingly, the inventor provided several tentative designs to be evaluated for possible solutions to the issues they had mentioned. The present design was only one of several submitted to be evaluated. The response was quite surprising, the panels were very impressed by the presently presented design to the exclusion of designs that the present inventor had felt were far more likely to be highly rated when evaluated. In particular, they concluded that they had improved control, particularly with tougher materials and that the present design was easier to pick up, grasp manipulate and control in general; but most emphatically so with tough material like denim.
It has been found in accordance with the present invention that a pin with an elongate tapered ribbed head provided with a plurality of projecting rings proximate the pin shaft is vastly easier to manipulate while making garments, especially when using tough fabrics.
There is provided in accordance with the invention a pin comprising:
Still further features, advantages and further aspects will become apparent from the discussion which follows and the accompanying drawings.
The invention is described in detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like numerals designate similar parts and wherein:
Referring to the drawings, there is illustrated a pin 10 comprising: (a) a pin shaft 12 with a pin point 14; and (b) an elongate pin head 16 attached to an end 18 of the pin shaft distal to the pin point having a pin head length.
Elongate pin head 16 is characterized by an elongate tapered ribbed construction 22 with a plurality of ribs 24 defining a rib profile 26 extending from an outer end 20 of the elongate pin head distal to the pin shaft 18 to an inner end 28 of the elongate pin head proximate the pin shaft, rib profile 26 having a characteristic outer end dimension 29 which is larger than a characteristic inner end dimension 30 of the rib profile proximate the pin shaft Elongate pin head 16 being further characterized by a plurality of outwardly projecting gripping rings 32, 34, 36 located a distance 38 from outer end 20 of the pin head toward the inner end 28 of the pin head.
In a preferred embodiment, pin head 16 has a generally conical shape as shown, such that the rib profile is generally conical as well. So also, the plurality of outwardly projecting gripping rings are located closer to the pin shaft than to outer end 20 of pin head 16.
Typically, characteristic outer end dimension 29 of the pin head profile is from about 2.5 mm to 4 mm; while in preferred embodiments the plurality of ribs defines an intermediate profile 44 between the outer end of the pin head and a first of the plurality of gripping rings. Along intermediate profile 44, the plurality of ribs have characteristic intermediate profile dimensions 46 of from about 1.5 mm to about 3 mm, with the proviso that the characteristic intermediate profile dimensions are lesser than the characteristic outer end dimension 29 of the pin head profile.
The plurality of outwardly projecting gripping rings usually have a characteristic gripping ring dimension 48 of from 2.5 mm to 4 mm, with the proviso that the characteristic gripping ring dimensions are larger than the characteristic intermediate profile dimensions 46.
Generally, the pin head has an axial length 50 of from about 11 mm to 15 mm, referring to the length along the central axis 52 of the pin; while intermediate profile 44 has an axial length 45 (along central axis 52) of from about 5 mm to 9 mm.
In particularly preferred embodiments, rib profile 26 is characterized by progressively smaller characteristic profile dimensions over the length of the pin head from the outer and to an inner end of the pin head as illustrated schematically in
The inventive pin may also be described as a pin for use in sewing having an elongate cylindrical body tapering to a point at a first penetrating end and having a bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement located at an opposed second end of said elongate cylindrical body, said elongate cylindrical body having a diameter of at least about 0.25 mm up to about 1.5 mm, said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement having a pushing portion at a terminus most distal to said point, said pushing portion having a convex cap having a diameter of from about 2 mm to about 5 mm across and a plurality of generally convex grasping rings encircling said elongate cylindrical body formed in said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement, at least two of said grasping rings being spaced from said convex cap of said pushing portion by a distance of from about 4 to 15 mm, the diameter of said grasping rings being at least 0.35 mm greater than the diameter of adjacent portions of said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement and being separated from the next adjacent grasping ring by at least about 2.25 mm.
There is provided as Embodiment No. 1 a pin comprising:
Embodiment No. 2 is the pin according to Embodiment No. 1, wherein the pin head has a generally conical shape.
Embodiment No. 3 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments, wherein the plurality of outwardly projecting gripping rings are located closer to the pin shaft than to the outer end of the pin head.
Embodiment No. 4 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments, wherein the characteristic outer end dimension of the pin head profile is from about 2.5 mm to 4 mm.
Embodiment No. 5 is the pin according to any of the forgoing claims, wherein the plurality of ribs defines an intermediate profile between the outer end of the pin head and a first of the plurality of gripping rings, wherein the plurality of ribs have characteristic intermediate profile dimensions of from about 1.5 mm to about 3 mm, with the proviso that the characteristic intermediate profile dimensions are lesser than the characteristic outer end dimension of the pin head profile.
Embodiment No. 6 is the pin according to any of the foregoing claims, wherein the plurality of outwardly projecting gripping rings have a characteristic gripping ring dimension of from 2.5 mm to 4 mm, with the proviso that the characteristic gripping ring dimensions are larger than the characteristic intermediate profile dimensions.
Embodiment No. 7 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments, wherein the pin head has an axial length of from about 11 mm to 15 mm.
Embodiment No. 8 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments, where the intermediate profile has an axial length of from about 5 mm to 9 mm.
Embodiment No. 9 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments wherein the rib profile is characterized by progressively smaller characteristic profile dimensions over the length of the pin head from the outer and to an inner end of the pin head.
Embodiment No. 10 is the pin according to any of the foregoing Embodiments, having 3 outwardly projecting gripping rings.
Embodiment No. 11 is a pin for use in sewing having an elongate cylindrical body tapering to a point at a first penetrating end and having a bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement located at an opposed second end of said elongate cylindrical body, said elongate cylindrical body having a diameter of at least about 0.25 mm up to about 1.5 mm, said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement having a pushing portion at a terminus most distal to said point, said pushing portion having a convex cap having a diameter of from about 2 mm to about 5 mm across and a plurality of generally convex grasping rings encircling said elongate cylindrical body formed in said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement, at least two of said grasping rings being spaced from said convex cap of said pushing portion by a distance of from about 4 to 15 mm, the diameter of said grasping rings being at least 0.35 mm greater than the diameter of adjacent portions of said bulbous grasping/stopping enlargement and being separated from the next adjacent grasping ring by at least about 2.25 mm.
This application is based on U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/145,696, filed Feb. 4, 2021 of the same title, the priority of which is hereby claimed and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2022/011470 | 1/6/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63145696 | Feb 2021 | US |
