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In sewing, sewing pins are inserted in the layers of fabric that are to be sewn. The pins attach the fabric temporarily together, and then a sewing machine is used to sew the fabric together permanently. Then the pins are removed.
Proper sewers use tacking stitches instead of pins, but we are not
proper sewers so we don't do that. Pins are also superior because each pin can be individually removed and repositioned without affecting the neighbouring ones.
The problem with all this is that the insertion and removal of pins is done manually, and if the fabric is thick or tough this can be hard on the fingers and fiddly and slow to do.
Proposed is a handheld mechanical device perhaps a bit like a nailgun, but which inserts pins from a magazine feed.
The machine could perhaps incorporate a tong-like arm which bends the fabric from above and below and grips it tightly in the appropriate position before the pin is inserted.
That way you could pin a long seam in tough fabrick just like this:
pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! pin! Done!
There is a second machine which engages with the head and tail of each pin and withdraws it from the fabric and returns it to a magazine.
The magazine is clippable off the extractor and cloppable on to the inserter for maximum pinnability.
Pneumatic Thumbtack Gun
https://www.amazon....djust/dp/B08LNH789B
[Voice, Apr 01 2025]
Use of pins to hold documents together
https://thebookandp...-england-1450-1700/
[pocmloc, Apr 02 2025]
Machine for sticking pins into papers (1841)
https://patents.goo...m/patent/US2275A/en
This machine is similar to my proposal but this one is specifically for inserting pins into the paper packaging which they were sold in, rather than being a general purpose device for insertion into fabric as part of the sewing process [pocmloc, Apr 02 2025]
[link]
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Won't this damage the fabric? |
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Why would it damage the fabric? It operates the same as fingers inserting a sewing pin manually, but mechanised. |
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Fingers insert more slowly, and let the pin move around a bit. This usually puts the pin somewhere between threads. Putting it in hard and fast causes damage. Don't ask how I know that. |
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But now you need to be holding the fabric perfectly while the machine puts the pins in. So you might as well just "hold it perfectly" for the sewing machine to stitch it instead.
Doing pins by hand allows precision & changes on the fly. |
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Yes when I said "perhaps a bit like a nailgun" I did not mean BLAM BLAM BLAM, but a sedate and gentle insertion. |
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In fact scrub the nailgun suggestion, this device would be more like a handheld sewing machine, but without the fabric feed - actually scrub that as well. Perhaps it is more like a stapler. |
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You use your fingers to align the layers of fabric, and then you put the device's tong-like jaws each side of the fabric, and you squeeze the handle, and the mechanism gently arches the fabric and slides a pin in. |
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In fact the stapler comparison makes me think it could actually be used instead of a stapler. In the old days before staplers were invented (i.e. in the 18th and 19th centuries), ordinary dressmaking pins were often used to fasten loose pieces of paper together - I have tried doing this myself, and apart from the stabbing risk of having pins sticking out of all of your paperwork, it is slightly more fiddly to insert a pin than to grab the stapler and press a staple in. I think this could become a retro trend to use vintage-style brass sewing pins to attach your paperwork together. |
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How is this different than a standard staple gun with very minor mods? |
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Is saving the pins an important feature? A magnetic collector would work. |
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//How is this different than a standard staple gun//
(1) By inserting the pin laterally, parallel to the surface being pinned, rather than inserting it perpendicularily.
(2) the pin is not bent (as in a desktop stapler) nor is it driven into a solid substrate (as in a staplegun or nailgun)
(3) The pin is easily removed by sliding it in the reverse direction that it was inserted. The removed pin is undamaged and as good as new and so it makes sense to reuse it. |
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