I have to admit that I have known about the "Hanson Knot" for sometime, and was never that impressed with it. Even when a scout leader in our district gave me a paper copy of the U. S. Patent document describing the knot and when I knew more of the history, I still did not really tie the knot much. When I found the knot on the NetKnots.com website with a question about its history, I did share what I knew (which you can now find there). But I recently thought that I might try to "enhance" the Hanson knot. Before I attempted to do so, I decided I should examine the original patent document and try to tie all of the variations mentioned there by the originator, Alden Hanson. To my surprise, I found much that I did not know. Based upon that more careful reading, I would like to argue that what is now widely regarded as "the Hanson Knot" was not really the most important fixed loop knot presented in that patent document.
Thus, I would like to start a discussion about how we should name and value some of the many "knots" that can be found (or are implied) in what should be called the "Hanson Knot Family." In particular, I would propose that another knot (which is the inverse of the knot widely shown, switching the standing part and the free end) is more deserving of the name "Hanson Loop." Then maybe we can move on to enhancing some of them in some way.