Scissors Design Competition Winners

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Second Annual BYU Design Review Competition! We had some great entries that solved a variety of different pain points for different types of scissor users. Without further ado, the winner is…

First Place: Thomas Geilman

Thomas’ design uses gears to magnify the force output of the scissors.

Here is how Thomas describes his design:

“ While scissors work well in many applications, they do not create a large mechanical advantage for users. This makes using scissors on anything sturdier than paper hard for people with physical disabilities and also can be an annoyance for people constantly using scissors. Another issue is that large fingers can be hard to fit in the handle holes. People come in all shapes and sizes, and so do their fingers. One size doesn’t fit all fingers. Another example of fingers not fitting are with people wearing braces or splints on their fingers. A splint will not easily fit in the handle, nor will it be easy to maneuver the scissors with a splint. In summary, the two main issues with current scissors are that 1) they don’t provide a large enough mechanical advantage to help those physically weak or those who deal with heavy-duty materials, and 2) the handles can be restrictive to people with larger or injured fingers. 

Using internal gears to magnify the applied force, these scissors multiply the applied force anywhere from 6.5X (at the tip of the blades) to 24X (at the base of the blades). While the multiplication is far greater than would be needed for those with disabilities, it demonstrates the large force magnification available in a compact space. Physically it resembles a pair of hand branch trimmers more than scissors, which makes it easier to grab than normal scissors. One feature that came about in the middle of the design process due to necessity was a spring in between the handles (see drawing above). To open normal scissors, the user will pull the handles apart while their fingers are in the holes. That is not possible on scissors that don’t have a hole, so it was necessary to add the spring. Handle and blade shaping on this example was done without much redesigning. Further study and research would be required to find the most comfortable shapes and positioning. The focus of this paper is the use of the gears to create a compact mechanical advantage—handle shape, blade shape, blade beveling, gear ratios for specific uses, and general performance needs will require further product development.”

Second Place: Brinler Tanner

Brinler call’s his design the Auto-Cutting Rotary Blade Scissors

Here is how Brinler describes his design:

“The Auto-Scissor is a rotary blade scissor designed to simplify and speed up the cutting process. With a DC motor driven belt to turn the blade all you need to do is turn on the scissors and get to work. With a retro style that harkens back to the early days of the appliance boom it reminds us that scissors have finally gotten the upgrade they deserve. 

Key Features: 

- Small enough to fit comfortably in your hands as you work. 

- Medium sized rotary blade that allows for cutting of almost any household material (e.g. clothe, paper) but is still small enough to handle curves and turns that you need to cut. 

- Spring held cover means that little hands won’t find their way next to the blade making it safe to have in your home. “

Third Place: Jeremiah Sanders

Jeremiah’s design aims to create ambidextrous scissors

Here is how Jeremiah describes his design:

 “Scissors are most often restricted to one orientation: left-handed or right-handed. Being a “lefty,” right-handed scissors are very annoying and clunky to use, and a good pair of left-handed scissors is always welcomed. 

 Left-handed scissors have the top handle on the left side, and vice versa for the right-handed pair. In my family, we usually kept one pair of both types lying around, but when the left-handed pair would walk off and get lost, I would find myself annoyed at a right-handed pair time after time. 

Why buy two pairs of scissors anyways? My improvement to the scissor design seeks to solve this problem: by designing a pair of ambidextrous scissors, lefties will no longer find themselves longing for that left-handed pair. By incorporating a snap rivet into the scissor design, the scissors can easily by popped apart, switched around so the orientation is opposite of what it was, and popped back together.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in the competition.