Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop

Details Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop

1990-04-12

1992-07-14

Schroeder, Werner H.

Apparel apparatus

Needles

606224, D05B 8500

Patent

active

051295580

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a sewing needle having a filament loop at its trailing end so that the needle may be easily threaded.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Because of the well-known difficulty of threading conventional manual sewing needles having narrow eyes formed at their trailing ends, a form of needle has been proposed incorporating a closed loop of a thin filament secured to the rear end of the needle. Thread to be used with the needle may be easily passed through the loop, which is substantially larger than the needle eye, and in use the loop is pulled through the fabric, behind the needle, carrying the thread through the fabric.
One form of such needle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,293,660. The loops disclosed in this patent are secured to the needles by passing them through a conventional eye formed on the rear of the needle body.
Another form of looped needle, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,341, is intended primarily for surgical purposes. The needle body is formed with a truncated end having a central, dead-ended cavity opening at the end. The free ends of the filament forming the loop are secured within this cavity and the loop projects from the rear of the cavity. This arrangement necessitates that the needle body have a thickness many times the diameter of the filament and can only be employed with very thick needles or with filaments that are so thin as to be practically invisible.
The deficiencies of these previous designs for needles with following loops have apparently prevented such needles from making any substantial market penetration against conventional needles, despite the obvious advantages of the looped needle.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is accordingly directed toward a looped needle of a unique design which preserves the advantages of looped needles while overcoming the deficiencies of the prior art.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a loop formed of a filament of thin spring steel wire, a plastic, or a similar material which is readily deformable under slight pressures but is highly resilient so as to immediately return to its normal configuration when the deforming forces are terminated and which will not assume any permanent deformation under the range of forces normally encountered in use. The filament is formed into a loop having a normal position, without the imposition of any external forces, lying in a single plane. The loop preferably has a generally diamond shape with two acute angles at opposed ends and two obtuse angles intermediate these ends. The sides of the loop adjacent the needle are preferably shorter than the loop sides remote from the needle so that the adjacent sides are more resistant to closure than the remote sides and so that the angle at the free, remote end of the loop is more acute than the angle at the adjacent end to facilitate the ability of the free end to grasp the thread. The loop is secured to the trailing end of the needle body at one of the acute angles so that the loop lies in a plane including the axis of the needle and, in the absence of any deforming forces, the free acute angle of the loop projects away from the needle body. The sides of the loop adjacent the needle are preferably shorter than the loop sides remote from the needle so that the adjacent sides are more resistant to closure than the remote sides and so that the angle at the free remote end is more acute than the angle at the adjacent end to facilitate the ability of the free end to grasp the thread.
In one embodiment of the invention, the trailing end of the needle body is preferably formed with a pair of concave depressions extending axially on diametrically opposed sides of the body. These depressions may be connected by a slit forming an eye in the manner of most conventional loopless needles or alternatively, the trailing end of the needle may be formed without an eye with just a pair of depressions on diametrically opposed sides. In attaching the filament to the needle the free ends of the fila

REFERENCES:
patent: 424518 (1890-04-01), Van Norman
patent: 1293660 (1919-02-01), Armstrong
patent: 1960117 (1934-05-01), Lydeard
patent: 2167080 (1939-07-01), Mason
patent: 2715486 (1955-08-01), Marcoff et al.
patent: 2826850 (1958-03-01), Loudan
patent: 4090649 (1978-05-01), Cichinski
patent: 4102478 (1978-07-01), Samolov
patent: 4133339 (1979-01-01), Naslund
patent: 4667860 (1987-05-01), Feuerman
patent: 4720026 (1988-01-01), Feuerman

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Sewing needle with easy threading filament loop will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-330563