Italy's Santoni, a Lonati Group company, has announced its latest machinery innovations for ITMA 2011 in Barcelona, including two versions of its Atlas single jersey circular knitting machine in the unprecedented ultra fine gauges of 80 and 90.

The Atlas has been available until recently in ultra fine gauges such as 50 and 60 (needles per inch) but according to Santoni, with its "special and diversely patented system of combining a sinkerless knitting operation and a special underjack as well as other cylinder design developments, it has been able to develop its first ultra fine gauge large diameter machines in the single jersey Atlas series in the unprecedented gauges of 80 and 90."

"The general demand and challenge for ever finer gauges in circular knitted fabrics have been faced and developed by Santoni with our own special patented systems that have already proven their performance in the Atlas single jersey 50 gauge and 60 gauge range and we are now presenting a further advance up to 80 gauge and 90 gauge with some important new evolutions," the company said in a statement today, adding:

"Also keeping in mind that our special Atlas line technology with its reduced friction between the parts has allowed for a distinct reduction in energy consumption."

The 80 gauge OpenWidth Atlas machine on show at ITMA2011 in Barcelona has 30 inch diameter and 220cm unfinished fabric width. The 90 gauge version of the OpenWidth Atlas will also be in 30 inch diameter and have a 220cm unfinished fabric width.

Santoni has not disclosed as yet what applications it is targeting with gauges 80 and 90 but superfine luxury lingerie could be one as could technical applications such as medical and healthcare.

Technical details for the Atlas in 80 and 90 gauge are not being made available as yet, but it is clear that much development has gone on in the field of needles and elements. Let's see what ITMA 2011 brings at the Santoni booth.