Manufacturers of domestic machines world wide have a unique and exciting opportunity to enter the market with a configuration that will appeal to all new right-handed sewers, as well as catering for millions of existing users who find the present design extremely awkward.

This change of configuration is a marketing breakthrough, as it means users now have a choice of either, a right, or left-handed sewing machine.  This choice provides a manufacturer with a compelling differentiation in the market.  Marketers and sales people therefore, will be able to offer future sewers a choice of designs that would suit their dominant hand.

Industry Differentiation

At the outset of this venture it was very clear that, in order to clarify the reasoning behind this proposed change, an operational and market distinction needed to be made between the commercial and domestic industries.

The manufacturers of industrial machines produce large, powerful, single function units costing thousands of dollars, and which are designed specifically for the commercial market and to carry out one particular function.

Conversely, the makers of the domestic sewing machine produce a multifunctional unit that is comparatively small, portable and priced to suit the family budget, and is designed to carry out a large variety of functions to complete all of the necessary operations involved in constructing a garment from beginning to end.

It is the obvious contrast of size, function and cost that places industrial and domestic machines in two entirely different markets.

Manufacturers, consumers and patent offices throughout the world concur with this difference and patent offices, particularly, have agreed that our application is confined only to the domestic market and it can be clearly shown, therefore, that the reason for the proposed change has not previously been considered and is most certainly not in the public domain.

The very nature of the household machine demands a high level of dexterity in order to carry out approximately 12-16 different functions that should rely on the use of the natural hand.

Hence the reason behind the proposed change.

Previous Configuration Changes (Industrial only)

Naturally, due to the changing demands of the industrial unit, it has been necessary to configure the machines to suit each particular function, and there have been numerous examples of reversing the head to satisfy the need to enable the machine to perform a specific operation.

For example:
Overlockers have faced each other to work in tandem.
Blind stitch machines have been reversed to deal with left and right hand lapels on suits.
Hemming machines have been changed to work both sides of a job in hand etc.

All of the changes, however, have been made to cater for the function or operation of the machine, not the operator.

Reason for the Change

The whole purpose of my proposal to reverse the configuration of the domestic machine is to satisfy the user / operator, not to change the machine’s function.

Of course, both hands are in use during the operation of the machine, but the majority of, if not all, functions that demand dexterity, are more ably carried out by the left-handed operator.

Any demonstration on today’s domestic machine clearly shows that the right-handed operator needs to adapt continually to its configuration.

It is precisely this problem that brought about this proposal.

Support received from the market

During the past 35 years, including 20 years as Australia’s leading single independent retailer of domestic sewing machines, Revcon’s proprietor conducted many thousands of sales, product demonstrations, lessons, and repairs of the domestic sewing machine.  The consistent anomaly that has been ever present with the users of the domestic sewing machine, is that because the configuration places the working area in front of the left hand, the right-hander always has to adapt.  Thousands of observations have shown that the working area for the majority of operators should be placed in front of the appropriate hand on the right side.  Once the anomaly is identified there has been a unanimous awareness that the orientation is back to front.

Revcon has received enthusiastic support from many key players in the Australian market for the invention.  Many market participants believe there will be a strong demand globally for the right-handed sewing machine.

Commercialisation

The next stage in development is commercialisation through selling licensing rights to sewing machine manufacturers in countries where Patent Pending status has been secured or Granted.  Commercialisation of the invention will improve ease of use by the majority of the user population.  Approximately 85-90% of the population is right-handed.  Monopoly rights to the right-handed configuration will also give a manufacturer a significant basis for competitive differentiation, the ability to stimulate new sales, and to capture market share.  The proposed business model is to license the commercialisation rights to sewing machine manufacturers and derive income through the following:

• Up front licensing fees
• Territorial exclusivity fees
• Ongoing royalties based on sales

An expert advisory firm has been engaged to assist in this commercialisation phase and currently expressions of interest are being invited from the manufacturing industry.