Grounding wristbands are used by people who want to work with consumer electronics, such as computers, without building up dangerous static electricity. I’ve been reading recently about stretch wristbands that are made using “a patented crochet process” and I have to admit that I’m curious to know more about this. In general, I’m kind of curious about crochet with high-tech materials!
What are grounding wristbands?
Grounding wristbands are simple bands that are worn on the wrist to protect sensitive consumer electronics from static. You may not realize it but as you work away on your computer or play games on your cell phone, you may be building up static electricity that can do serious damage to those electronics, reducing the product’s durability. The grounding wristband prevents this.
The crochet grounding wristband
It’s the crochet part that really interests me, por supuesto,. I’ve been checking out a Dataweek report about a stretch wristband that is described as:
“made from a unique band material manufactured using a patented crochet process, which ensures that the band is comfortably soft and light, yet durable and reliable. The band has total insulation on the outside for maximum protection. The inside of the band is lined with a special yarn that is coated in silver to provide superior conductivity and is constructed to ‘float’ on the underside of the band to offer maximum contact with the skin. The adjustable bands are made to fit any size wrist and the buckles are made with static dissipative nylon material. The backplate is made from anti-allergenic material.”
The two things that jump out at me here are “patented crochet process” y “special yarn coated in silver”. I definitely have to try to find out more about both of these things!
Other high-tech crochet
La “special yarn” part made me think about some cool yarn and thread products I’ve seen in development and sometimes available for sale through sites like Inventables. I’ve mentioned previously that I want to try crocheting with conductive thread. Inventables also offers shimmering fiber, glow-in-the-dark thread and weather-proof thread, all of which might be interesting to try in a crochet project. I’m thrilled by the many different types of products that are emerging on the market and look forward to seeing what people do with these things as they become more readily available.
The image above is an example of a grounding wristband
