Mmh. I had missed the advent of the one-year expiry date of the posts on this forum. It seems that its usefulness as a repository of gear making wisdom and information is greatly diminished by that. Too bad.

Since I can’t revive the old thread, I’ll have to start a new one. Over four years ago I published on my web page a paper on the effectiveness of tethered springlocks for one-handed use, demonstrating that the bottom-tethered units found on most garments actually work against their intended one-handed use, requiring a much stronger pull on the cord to tighten than the units are capable of holding at rest (http://www.kiddiesgames.com/jacketinserts/othergear.html). This led me to suggest improvements in springlock and cordlock designs to a pretty broad sample of big-name hardware, backpack, garment and shoe manufacturers. In particular, I suggested that, in addition to making springlock designs that require far less force to release, it would make a lot of sense to add tether bails at the back end of cordlocks, thereby creating a handy one-handed pull-pull system for backpack or shoe closure.

I was mentioning recently in a conversation that I could not believe that I have been publishing on, and advocating for better tethered spring- and cord-lock systems for over 4 years to no avail and that prompted me to check on the “to no avail” part with a quick browse through the main websites (ITW Nexus, National Molding, etc.). So you can imagine my shock when I realized that ITW Nexus has in fact produced just what I had specifically recommended to them over three years ago. It’s the Cyberian cordlock and it won the outdoor industry award at the 2008 International Forum Design in Hanover!! Despite that I have not yet seen it on any commercial gear, which goes to show that, even if you’re ITW Nexus and you win an award for a new product, it may still be a few years before the manufacturers that boast so much of being at the cutting edge of innovation actually adopt it.

Stephane





Stéphane