Rimco Resources

07/15/2013

We have moved, our new address is:
1718 Ord Way, Oceanside, CA 92056

03/13/2013

Quality Control - during my last trip to China, the factory brought me McDonald's for lunch. Their food in China tastes just as horrible as it does in the USA. So is that good Quality Control?

01/13/2013

Passing through Hong Kong to China. 15.5 hour flight. 2 more hours to go. Then a week of powder coat and anodize color matching, quality control, software development, and more!

11/10/2012

Things I wish I had designed #3, Scooter Poncho
Plenty of scooters over in Asia, so this is a must have! Incorporate a poncho over the front of the scooter for those rainy days. I have been seeing a surge in scooters here in Vista, saving on gas. It'd be a little awkward for me to pick my daughter up from school in a scooter with two backpacks. Well, seems like China is moving on to the automobile. A year or two back, and you could find the whole family on one scooter in China.

07/10/2012

Things I wish I had designed #2, Spork


A spork or a foon is a hybrid form of cutlery taking the form of a spoon-like shallow scoop with three or four fork tines. Spork-like utensils have been manufactured since the late 19th century; patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874, and the word "spork" was registered as a trademark in the US and the UK decades later. They are used by fast food restaurants, schools, prisons, the military, and backpackers.
The word "spork" appeared in the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, where it was described as a trade name and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a long, slender spoon having, at the end of the bowl, projections resembling the tines of a fork".
In the US, patents for sporks and proto-sporks have been issued. A combined spoon, fork, and knife closely resembling the modern spork was invented by Samuel W. Francis in 1874.

06/14/2012

"A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society."
-- Billy Graham

Happy Father's Day!

05/16/2012

Thinks I wish I had designed #1, Flexible Straw

Legend has it that Marvin Stone invented the first paper drinking straw while sipping a mint julep after work. Stone, a manufacturer of paper cigarette holders, was drinking with friends, using the traditional natural rye grass straw. Dissatisfied with the way straws would break down and leave a gritty residue in the drink, Stone fashioned his first straw by winding strips of paper around a pencil, removing the pencil, and gluing the strips together. This improved device was test-marketed at a local drinking establishment and enthusiastically received. Stone then refined his design by using paraffin-coated manila paper to prevent the straws from becoming soggy and disintegrating. He patented the product in 1888, and by 1890 his factory was producing more straws than cigarette holders.
A New Bend

Joseph B. Friedman, inventor of the flexible straw. Joseph B. Friedman Papers, NMAH Archives Center
One day in the 1930s, while sitting in his brother’s fountain parlor, the Varsity Sweet Shop, in San Francisco, Joseph B. Friedman (1900-1982) watched his young daughter Judith at the counter struggling to drink a milkshake out of a straight paper straw. Friedman, an inventor with a natural curiosity and a creative instinct, took the straw and inserted a screw. He then wrapped dental floss around the paper into the screw threads, creating corrugations. After he removed the screw, the altered paper straw would bend conveniently over the edge of the glass, allowing a small child to better reach the beverage. U.S. patent number 2,094,268 was issued for this new invention, under the title Drinking Tube, on September 28, 1937. Friedman would later obtain two additional U.S. patents and three foreign ones in the 1950s related to its formation and construction.

03/25/2012

Design is all around us, sometimes we just don't see it. The other day I was putting my belt on...should I choose the black or brown side? What a cool idea, a reversible belt! So simple, so cool, why didn't i think of it? Two belts for the price of one.

03/15/2012

3d Printing! Take a 3d computer drawing and get a real part right at the office? Until now, 3d printing equipment has been quite expensive for an individual or small business. However, small, simple, 3d printing prices have come down drastically. Prices with 3d printing services have come down as well, but i think I'd be more likely to proof a design if the machine were in the shop. But then again, I learned the trade by carving surfboard foam into the product being designed. Something therapeutic about that! Here's some more information about 3d printing: http://mashable.com/2012/03/13/smallest-3d-print/

Researchers at Vienna University of Technology have created a high-speed, high-precision 3D printer. Using a process called “two-photo lithography” they're able to make structures smaller than a grain of sand.

11/04/2011

over in China last week, meeting with factories and working on customer projects. Then over to Hong Kong for Light Fair...a view from the hotel.

10/21/2011

We found this app recommend on the Apple App Store. Interesting iMag, well designed with a broad range of interesting topics and great images. They also have a website, so if you’re interested in design, or new products, cars and things, check it out.

10/21/2011

Our new office signage, $21 at FedEx Office!