Sewing needles have not changed much over the millennia. For a flexible fabric thread sewing needles are good. Obliging fabric thread can easily double back 180 degrees and pulling a double wide piece of thread behind the needle does not require an overwide hole thru the fabric.
Other types of thread are less obliging. Plastic or polymer threads like nylon do not double back easily; likewise metal, leather and especially glass. Surgical needles accommodate this by having the needle attached to the thread. This is fine for them as the needle is a single use item anyway.
The chuck head sewing needle has a grabber at the top and a screw fitted collar. As with a drill, screwing the collar down opens the chuck to receive the end of your thread. Screwing it back up tightens the chuck. Now you can sew with a hole only big enough to admit your needle and thread end on.-- bungston, Apr 17 2017 [+]-- 8th of 7, Apr 17 2017 [+], but the chuck mechanism is going to have to be extremely slender.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017 We consider that the best solution would be a sleeve, that slides over the point on the needle and then runs up the shank until it compresses the "jaws" of the chuck. There could be machined grooves in the inside of the sleeve and a ridge on the jaws to engage with it.
A special tool might be needed for small needles.-- 8th of 7, Apr 17 2017 A lot of my students end up working as fashion designers, so I know a bit about the stitching business. My mum was also a stitcher. Changing needles is a pain in every circumstance that I have seen. What is needed is a two part device. You slot the needle into one part, away from the machine, then you attach that part to the machine via a really simple mechanism. This means that several needles could be preloaded.-- xenzag, Apr 17 2017 //A lot of my students end up working as fashion designers// That's sad. You'd expect that at least a few of them would be able to get jobs.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017 /best solution would be a sleeve/ I thought the threads might be necessary to keep it in place. I can envision the sliding sleeve but not the ridge. How would you disengage the ridge on the jaws?-- bungston, Apr 17 2017 [Max] You might want to take a look at how Simone Rocha is getting on. I'm sure you could offer her some helpful career hints! Ha-- xenzag, Apr 17 2017 There is an awful lot of polishing involved in making a needle. Even the slightest roughness on the surface causes it to grab and tear at the fibres it's supposed to be sliding through. The exterior of your chuck will need to be very smooth.
A possibly more practical option would be just an axial hole in the back of the needle, that the thread stuck into, using a glue that could be dissolved later.-- mitxela, Apr 17 2017 //Simone Rocha// Never heard of him.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017 Be curious. You'll find it an interesting experience.-- xenzag, Apr 17 2017 Well, a quick Google only turned up a "Simone Rocha" who designed some dresses. If there's an important or useful "Somone Rocha" that I'm missing, let me know.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017 Life is very short. And there's no time. For fussing and fighting, my friends.
/glue/. The glue would stick onto an area the circumference of the end of the thread. I worry that tiny area will not be enough to support a force able to pull the thread.
The exterior of the chuck should be covered completely by the smooth surface of the device used to tighten or loosen it.-- bungston, Apr 17 2017 //Life is very short. And there's no time. For fussing and fighting, my friends. //
no no no, [bung]. The entire point of life is fussing and fighting. It's, like, the whole basis of evolution.
And, sp.: "ti-eye-eye-eye-ime".-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 17 2017 Oh don't be such an old fart. It's no fun living in a fashionless world. What do you wear all day when you're counting those barrels of Monsanto? I could get my girls and boys to run you up a nice rainbow coloured boilersuit. Ha-- xenzag, Apr 17 2017 How do you feel? SEW SEW.-- popbottle, Apr 18 2017 The limiting factor is the diameter of thread so the needle with the new method has to be slightly bigger.
How about an internal cleated tube. Poke in the thread so it never pulls backwards. Of course their needs to be a hole, further down the needle, to push out an old color/type allowing for a new thread.-- wjt, Apr 18 2017 // fashion designers //
Oh, is that the current euphemism in vogue ? Used to be "model", or "actress", hurr hurr hurr ....
Getting the thread into the shaft of the needle is going to be tricky - trying to push a diminutive, limp object with no mechanical strength into an aperture can be problematic, as [MB] will testify (although he says he has tablets for it now).-- 8th of 7, Apr 18 2017 Wetting the tip and twisting it in will create a bit of compression stiffness and get it there.-- wjt, Apr 18 2017 Yes, apparently he tried that, but he hurt his back and needed to rub special ointment on the affected part, too.
He was walking round with a funny sort of scuttling crouch for days, and the whimpering would have been piteous if it hadn't been so funny …-- 8th of 7, Apr 18 2017 //trying to push a diminutive, limp object with no mechanical strength into an aperture can be problematic// Yes, but it was even more problematic to get you out again.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 18 2017 The thread needs a thread.-- FlyingToaster, Apr 18 2017 // it was even more problematic to get you out again. //
Yes, well, we should have guessed that you family's idiosyncratic version of "Hide and Seek" would be weird in the extreme.
If the needle were a hollow cylinder, the thread could be sucked into the shaft by a pressure differential between the rear and the front. Once through, the sharp point could be pushed into the cylinder, trapping the thread in place.
The idea could be tested with a vacuum pump and a hypodermic needle.-- 8th of 7, Apr 18 2017 There shouldn't be a problem pushing the thread into a hole in the end of a needle, since this needle is only designed for thread that isn't very flexible. If you're using flexible thread, stick with a standard needle.-- scad mientist, Apr 22 2017 What scad said! I did not even think of that obviousness.-- bungston, Apr 22 2017 If you want the needle to grip the thread, check out a leatherworking lacing needle (it's hollow, and threaded inside - screw it onto the thread) or a 2-prong lacing needle (the back spreads open, put the thread in, and squeeze the jaws shut on it).-- lurch, Apr 23 2017 If the needle was basically a tapered hollow cylinder, the thread could be pushed into the end, and then the assembly rolled to a smaller diameter. Rolling, as opposed to crimping, would keep a smooth surface. A once only operation.-- Ling, Apr 24 2017 random, halfbakery