Rainbow Loom

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rainbow Loom logo
Rainbow Loom with "Rainbow Loom Hook"
Using the Rainbow Loom

Rainbow Loom is a small plastic loom that is used to connect colorful rubber bands to bracelets and pendants. It was developed in 2011 by Cheong Choon Ng in Novi (Michigan) . According to the manufacturer, three million sets of Rainbow Looms had been sold by September 2014. The manufacturers of the competing products FunLoom and Cra-Z-Loom were sued by Ng for patent infringements. The bracelets are also called a loop .

description

The Rainbow Loom is a 51 by 200 mm pegboard made of plastic. It consists of three rows of staggered (but not staggered) mushroom-shaped pins, over which small, colorful rubber bands are stretched and connected to one another with a kind of crochet hook . The resulting linkages correspond to models as described by the mathematician Hermann Brunn . They can be combined on the loom to make pendants, bracelets and other items. The pins are notched on one side so that you can use the crochet hook-like Rainbow Loom Hook to reach under the tensioned straps and remove individual ones .

The commercially available sets include the breadboard (also known as the loom board), the rainbow loom hook , plastic clips and 600 small rubber bands of different colors. However, you don't necessarily need the Rainbow Loom for every figure, sometimes you can do it with your own fingers.

history

A herringbone bracelet made from loom ribbons

Developer Cheong Choon Ng is a Chinese immigrant from Malaysia who came to the United States in 1991 to study at Wichita State University , where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering . In 2010 he worked as a crash test engineer for Nissan Motor Company . He watched his daughters make jewelry from rubber bands. It was then that he had the idea to build a toy loom for it. His prototype, which he called Twistz Bandz , consisted of a wooden plate, thumbtacks and hook-shaped dental probes . Encouraged by his family to market the idea, he invested $ 10,000 and hired a Chinese company to make individual parts that he and his wife assembled at home in June 2011. He renamed the product, originally called the Twist Band , after discovering an elastic hair band of the same name on the market. His brother and niece suggested the name Rainbow Loom .

Efforts to sell the loom online and in toy stores initially failed - the customers apparently did not understand how the product worked. Ng set up a website and produced instructional videos in which his daughters and niece demonstrated the application. In the summer of 2012, the first orders came from retailers, here from the US chain Learning Express Toys , which specializes in handicraft items. In June 2013 the chain of stores for handicrafts Michaels started a test sale in 32 locations; in August of the same year it sold the product in all 1,100 US locations. In August 2013, Rainbow Loom was available at 600 retailers at prices ranging from $ 15 to $ 17.

The sets are produced in the People's Republic of China . Ng uses a warehouse near where he lives, from where he oversees trade.

In 2013, Ng partnered with The Beadery and Toner Plastics to produce the Wonder Loom , a redesigned version of the Rainbow Loom that was made in the United States. The Wonder Loom was sold through Wal-Mart . In April 2014, Ng released a smaller version of the Rainbow Loom for on the go, the Monster Tail . The Rainbow Loom has also been available in Germany since 2014 and is widely used in schoolyards and children's rooms.

reception

Colorful rubber bands for use on the Rainbow Loom

Aimed at children between the ages of eight and fourteen, Rainbow Loom gained greater popularity around 2013 during the "Summer Camps" and "Summer Clubs" in the USA. Children make and exchange the jewelry made with them, especially bracelets, similar to friendship bracelets . In addition, thousands of children have put their own instruction videos on the Internet. In October 2013, Rainbow Loom's own YouTube channel showed 66 instructional videos that were viewed nearly four million times. One of the most successful Rainbow Loom videos from August 2013 was viewed nearly 27 million times as of September 2014.

According to the manufacturer, Rainbow Loom had sold over 1.2 million sets of the toy by September 2013, and a year later it was already 3 million.

Some schools in the United States banned Rainbow Loom on the grounds that students would be distracted in class and conflict would arise during breaks.

Numerous celebrities have been seen wearing Rainbow Loom bracelets, including Kate Middleton , Victoria of Sweden , Emma Watson , Felipe VI. , Julia Roberts , Miley Cyrus , David Beckham and Pope Francis .

Warnings

There were reports in the press of a boy whose vision in one eye was destroyed after a loom struck him there. Another child had the rubbers wrapped around their fingers overnight, which almost died. In general, the rubbers are not recyclable and could therefore pollute the environment. Another point of criticism is the possibility that toddlers could swallow the rubbers or the bracelets and choke on them. In particular, copycat products are said to contain toxins.

In October 2014, Stiftung Warentest examined a number of products from various manufacturers for phthalates and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , or PAHs for short, and found none of the problematic substances in the random samples.

Processes

Choon Ng filed a patent for Rainbow Loom with the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2010. On July 16, 2013, he received US Patent No. 8,485,565 for "Brunnian link making device and kit,". Ng was granted a second U.S. patent number 8,684,420 on April 1, 2014. In August 2013 he sued Zenacon LLC, the manufacturer of the FunLoom , LaRose Industries LLC, the manufacturer of the Cra-Z-Loom, and the retail chain Toys “R” Us, the distributor of Cra-Z-Loom . These competitors copied portions of the design of the Rainbow Loom products, Ng believed.

gallery

  • Items made with Rainbow Loom

  • Snake

  • Multi-row bracelet

  • animal

  • bracelet

  • Shamrocks

See also

Web links

Commons : Rainbow Loom  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Claire Martin: Rainbow Loom's Success, From 2,000 Pounds of Rubber Bands. In: The New York Times . August 31, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Rainbow Loom: Even the Pope now wears rubber. In: Spiegel Online from September 13, 2014, online , accessed on September 26, 2014.
  3. ^ Rainbow Loom. YouTube, accessed September 24, 2013 .
  4. ↑ a b c Laura DeMarco: The Rainbow Loom bracelet trend is sweeping the nation - and Cleveland. In: The Plain Dealer . October 25, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  5. ^ A b c d e Sarah E. Needleman, Adam Janofsky: Patent Fight Erupts Over Kids' Fad. In: The Wall Street Journal . September 11, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  6. ↑ a b Nissi Unger: 300,000 Pounds of Rubber Bands and Counting . In: Aim! December 4, 2013, p. 10-11 .
  7. ↑ a b c Amber Katz: The new Silly Bandz: Rainbow Loom bracelets a hit with kids. In: Today . August 15, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Catherine Clifford: Inventor of the Wildly Popular 'Rainbow Loom' Weaves the American Dream With Rubber Bands in a Detroit Basement. In: Entrepreneur . August 26, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  9. ^ Catherine Kavanaugh: Rainbow Loom's creator weaves success from playtime inspiration. In: Crain's Detroit Business. December 15, 2013, accessed October 6, 2014 .
  10. ↑ Rainbow Loom creator unveils newest creation at Elf-stravaganza. In: WCIV . November 10, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Susan Tompor: rainbow loom of Wixom Creates a toy sensation with $ 10,000. In: Detroit Free Press. March 25, 2014, accessed April 17, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Katy Waldman: Rainbow Loom: What happens when a 26-year-old woman tries out the biggest tween fad of the year? In: Slate . December 19, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  13. ^ 'Rainbow Loom' Bracelets Banned From Two NYC Schools, Spark Debate. In: The Huffington Post . October 23, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  14. ↑ Jennifer Gould Keil, Sabrina Ford, Natalie O'Neill: School Bans Rainbow Loom Bracelets. In: New York Post . October 17, 2013, accessed January 3, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Boy goes blind! New toys dangerous for children. In: Focus Online. [1] online, accessed September 26, 2014.
  16. ↑ Loom bands: Samples without PAHs and phthalates , test.de , as of October 23, 2014, accessed on October 27, 2014
  17. ↑ US Pat. 8,485,565, "Brunnian link making device and kit". Retrieved October 6, 2014 .
  18. ↑ US Pat. 8,684,420, "Brunnian link making device and kit". Retrieved October 6, 2014 .