George L. Houghton and Fred F. Fredensberg, "Tufting tool for even stitching" (US4011823A)
Patent · not yet checked at the source
- Made by
- George L. Houghton; Fred F. Fredensberg
- Date
- filed 30 Jan 1976, granted 15 Mar 1977
- Held by
- Rug Crafters (assignee)
- Number
- US4011823A
- Themes
- Hand-tufting tools & the gun, Tools & equipment
Cite this source
George L. Houghton and Fred F. Fredensberg, “Tufting tool for even stitching” (US4011823A), filed 30 Jan 1976, granted 15 Mar 1977; assigned to Rug Crafters. patents.google.com/patent/US4011823A/en.
Research notes
A hobby tufting tool with a shuttle and resilient plunger in place of a looper, improving Rug Crafters' earlier "Hooking needle" (US 3,714,915, 1973). The background says tufting "is characteristically carried out by the home craftsman using a hand-operated tufting tool" and calls the 1973 tool "one of the most popular". Evidence, with the Ronco kit and Doyel's patent, of a busy 1970s market for home tufting tools. Patent research (Oct 2026): read from Google Patents.