Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
The hook-and-loop, aka Velcro®, silencer patch is brought to you by another delighful San Francisco messenger bag maker, Rickshaw Bagworks*. A company, whose Founder and CEO, Mark Dwight, was also Timbuk2 CEO for five years. Rickshaw Bagworks operates out of its own small 12-person factory, in the San Francisco Dogpatch District. The brand's logo is "Bags made fresh daily", which means that you can custom order your Rickshaw bag, right in the shop, and even visit the production room where the bag will be sewn together.
Why a Velcro® silencer patch? Literally, an invention that silences the scratching noise of Velcro® strips coming apart.
While both Timbuk2 and Rickshaw messengers have closure buckles, the front flap is otherwise hurriedly and easily secured in place and opened with Velcro®. Velcro® fasteners that also prompted a host a customer-satisfaction gripes. Gripes about the Velcro® noise when opening and closing the bag in a hushed place such as a library, a classroom, or during a meeting. Gripes about the lint that accumulates on both the Velcro® hook-and-loop sides. Gripes about clothes getting fuzzed when caught on the Velcro® hook side. Also, gripes about the eventual degradation of the hook-and-loop hold strength. And, even the disdainful gripe about Velcro® belonging to lower quality accessories, notwithstanding the universal use of Velcro®. A fastener heralded as game-changing by all those skilled in the art of closures and fasteners, since it was invented, in 1955, by the Swiss electrical engineer, Georges de Mestral.
A problematic situation indeed, which invoked a patented solution. The US utility patent US8578570, titled Silencer patch for hook-and loop closure system was awarded on January 14th, 2009, to Mark Dwight, and assigned to Rickshaw Bagworks in San Francisco.
A bargain solution (less than 5$ added cost) designed to solve all the problems of messenger bag Velcro® closures, whether Timbuk2 or Rickshaw Bagworks, without taking away any of the advantages of the original speedy Velcro® fasteners. The invention consists of one or two patches (depending on the model), comprising one loop side that attaches onto the hook side of the Velcro® bag closure, thus preventing the hook side from attaching to its matching loop side on the bag. As a result, the one or two patches effectively resolve all aspects of the problematic situation. The patches silence the noisy Velcro®, while also preventing lint from attaching, or clothes from getting caught, on the hooks and loops. The bag then also relies exclusively on the front buckles (or single buckle depending on the model) for effective closure that is safe-keeping of the bag’s content, without a hold-strength issue. Finally, for all those who appreciate the speed and ease of the hook-and-loop closures, the solution is repeatedly reversible, each time the patches are simply peeled off.
Below, the patent Figure 5 depicts a messenger bag 500, equipped with Velcro® patches 540 on the inside of the bag flap 520 of the main bag body 510. A silencer patch 580 is shown partially peeled from the Velcro® patch 540, on the bag flap 520, effectively preventing the bag's hook-and-loop closure, and consequently silencing both the noise that the hook-and-loop fastener would make when released, and by the same token all the other gripes. The bag also displays two buckles 550 for securing the flap closed, and an adjustable strap 560 for carrying the bag. An image of one of the stunning, marketed, Rickshaw Bagworks messengers is also included beneath the patent Figure 5.
The abstract of the invention is included below.
A silencer patch including a body having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface; a set of hook-and-loop-type fasteners disposed on the first surface of the body, wherein the set of hook-and-loop-type fasteners includes either a plurality of hooks or a plurality of loops and is configured to releasably secure the first surface of the body to a corresponding set of hook-and-loop-type fasteners disposed on a first separate body; and an alternative fastener disposed on the body and configured to releasably secure the second surface of the body to a corresponding alternative fastener disposed on a second separate body, wherein the alternative fastener is not a hook-and-loop-type fastener. [Abstract US8578570]
*The brand name Rickshaw refers to the 19th-century human-powered transportation, comprising a cart on wheels, pulled by a single rickshaw runner. The term originates from the Japanese term jinrikisha, where this transportation mode was independently invented, and is found throughout Asia.
References
Rickshaw Bagworks (website)
Timbuk2 (website)
