40 or 50 years ago there was a firm in Hong Kong manufacturing a small useful laundry accessory called a Sock Sorter. This was a one piece disk shaped clip designed to keep pairs of socks together during the laundry cycle.
The original, well designed product is on the left in brown. It is easy to use, with soft fingers that are easy on the socks. The original firm has long since gone by the wayside but other Chinese companies have picked up on this and are producing copies of a sort. Searching for “Sock Sorters” on Amazon brings up several. Unfortunately the copiers had apparently only seen pictures of the original and did not have physical access to samples. The copies appear to be made of polyethylene like the originals but have much stiffer fingers. The version in the center is more difficult to use and in the case of the item on the right in dark orange the result is too stiff and small to use with any but the thinnest of socks. In an effort to help any other budding entrepreneurs, herewith are the actual dimensions in inches:
Original:
Outside diameter 1.155
Finger Thickness 0.024
Ring Thickness 0.075
Inside diameter 0.922
Tip gap 0.179
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Center (light orange):
Outside diameter 1.211
Finger Thickness 0.044
Ring Thickness 0.121
Inside diameter 0.970
Tip gap 0.181
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Right (dark orange):
Outside diameter 1.103
Finger Thickness 0.042
Ring Thickness 0.121
Inside diameter 0.842
Tip gap 0.137
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As an added benefit, the original at 0.466 grams uses 41% less material than the the 0.787 gram copy.
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