each staple is composed of a length of strong cotton thread with a hard little cap on either end. the cap ends are folded down to form the shape of your traditional metal paper staple and they are glued together with a weak adhesive to achieve a row and boxed up by the hundred to be used in an ordinary stapler.

staple your cloth in the usual manner. the stapler will cut the weak glue as it forces your soft staple into the cloth. after completing a line of staples and mending the rant, I mean rent, you simply remove the little caps on each staple on the back of the cloth.

holes in socks, torn shirts, rips in bedsheets can now be stapled together in a flash.

by using a neat XXXXXXXXXXXX stitch, the staples will remain in place longer until you find somebody deft and daft enough to do your mending.
-- po, Oct 13 2004

Easy Stitch http://www.asontv.c...cts/1046306836.html
Or, you could just get one of these bachelor's best friends. [jurist, Oct 13 2004]

Not sure I totally get it, but I like it.
-- Worldgineer, Oct 13 2004


hmmm, sorry world. imagine the flat top of the staple is a wee bit of strong thread and the side pieces are the same thread but encapsulated in a harder substance (visualising the ends of a shoe lace in miniature). these individual staples are lightly glued together. after stapling your cloth, you slide off the hard pieces leaving just a tacked stitch in the fabric.

a more specially engineered stapler could be devised that actually crosses over threads at the back of the stitch for strength.
-- po, Oct 13 2004


Ok, got it. The only problem I see is having to tie all of the little knots.
-- Worldgineer, Oct 13 2004


I thought about that! the XXXXX stitch will probably keep them in for a while (till first wash at least)
-- po, Oct 13 2004


There are some mechanical issues inside the stapler, as well as keeping the threads in place. The plastic sleeve will have to be wider than the thread, making holes with a wider diameter than your thread. This may make your soft staples fall out easily.

Suggestion: have a mechinism in the sleeve that somehow ties the string upon removal. Perhaps inside there is a loop of string, and pulling on sleeve gathers this loop into a knot.
-- Worldgineer, Oct 13 2004


Nice, you could use high pressure air, sorta the way a tornado causes blades of grass to be like blades. +
-- sartep, Oct 13 2004


Will Soft Staples be available in all the basic colors -- black, brown, taupe, navy blue, light blue, dark red, pink, dark green, light green, grey, and maize, and of course white? Otherwise, won't your staple stitches stand out like, like ...well, like repairs made with a stapler? I suppose you could package sleeves of various colored staples in small assortment packs for the emergency user to keep in the office desk drawer or car glove box. And larger single color economy packs would be available for the home sewing room and soft stapling enthusiasts.
-- jurist, Oct 18 2004


The title reminded me of Paper Paperclips for a minute.
-- vigilante, Oct 18 2004


how did you plan to have the points bind to each other? If we could figure that out it wouldn't be a temp emergency fix but a permanent solution.
-- jiminvents, Feb 07 2007


How about if the two ends of the staple are each coated in one part of a two part adhesive (like epoxy)? Splitting the staple from its neighbor exposes the components which only bind well with the other component, When they come in contact on the back side of the fabric they are strongly bonded together.

Oh and instead of hard caps on the ends, the compound could be layered with a stiffening starch instead which will dissolve in the first wash, leaving only the parts that have bonded together.
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Feb 07 2007



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