NEW PRODUCTS: Ripping Good

Mrs. Ruth Lawrence of Birmingham, Ala., was pretty quick with a sewing machine. But like other housewives, she found it slow going when she had to rip what she had sewn. With Merritt L. Walls, a gadget-minded ex-G.I, Mrs. Lawrence worked out the first needle that will quickly rip a seam by “unlocking” the bobbin stitch. When the Lawrence-Walls “ripper” was first demonstrated a month ago, Birmingham housewives bought 5,000 (at $1 each) in four hours. Last week the inventors granted exclusive manufacturing rights to the Oilman Corp. of Janesville, Wis., a subsidiary of Parker Pen Co.