Leading German circular knitting machine builder Mayer & Cie will be focussing on highly productive machines both for the garment sector and for the growing elastic mattress tickings fabrics sector at India ITME 2012 in Mumbai next month.

Since the 1980s Mayer’s relative knitting technology with patented stitch pre-forming has been appreciated by the global circular knitting industry. Now the latest version of the ultra high speed series, the Relanit 4.0 UHS, achieves an incredible speed of 70 rpm on a 30 inch diameter machine whilst producing plain single jersey fabric. With a speed factor of 2100 the machine produces an impressive 1500 kg of fabric per day.

The Relanit 4.0 UHS’ belt drive is controlled by special servo motors which can be operated from the display of the machine. This, Mayer says, guarantees exact yarn supply and avoids fluctuations in the yarn quantity supplied, which in general can appear because of lint and oil accumulation when working with belt drives with quality wheels.

In order to further increase the efficiency of the machine, the Relanit 4.0 has a computer-controlled knit-on aid which increases the yarn tension for the knit-on process automatically for a short time and ‘makes knitting-on a piece of cake’, according to Mayer.

Striper options and customer advantage

“Production quantities so far unreached in the production of single jersey striper fabrics do become reality now. The new S4-3.2 R II combines productivity and flexibility in a way so far not imaginable. It is the first striper machine in the world being in a position to produce single striper fabrics with 3 or - by combination of individual feeders also with more colours - at 3.2 knitting feeders per inch,” Mayer says of its S4-3.2 II, which will also be on display in Mumbai.

“While the majority of striper fabrics are generally produced with 1.6 knitting feeders per inch (which corresponds to 48 knitting feeders at 30 inch diameter), the absolute limit for 3 colours was at maximum 2.4 knitting feeders per inch for 3 colours so far,” the company says.

“The patented Mayer & Cie solution offers the possibility to produce single jersey fabrics with 3.2 knitting feeders per inch for the first time (which corresponds to 96 knitting feeders at 30 inch) and this with up to 4 needle tracks.”

Productivity is said to be up by 70 % compared to the current production of 6 colour striping fabrics and there is also the possibility to use this machine as fully-fledged high-performance single jersey machine with a linear speed of 1.56 m/s (corresponds to 39 revolutions per minute at 30 inch).

Mayer says that with this development the high costs traditionally involved in the production of striper goods will in future be reduced noticeably for its customers.

Mattress tickings

More than 10 years ago the success story of knitted mattress ticking fabrics began - initially in Europe and a little later in the USA. The secret to the success of these fabrics over wovens or stitchbonded fabrics is their ability to grip the mattress and stay in place due to the natural elasticity of circular knitted fabrics.

According to Mayer, the elasticity supports the ideal adaptation of the mattress to the shape of the body and also allows the ticking fabrics to be removed from the mattress at regular intervals for laundering - advantages which woven upholstery fabrics cannot offer.

In recent months, such fabrics are beginning to enjoy increasing popularity in the Indian subcontinent and accordingly with the OVJA 1.6 EM, Mayer & Cie presents its ‘bestseller’ in the mattress ticking fabrics industry.

With a top speed of 24 rpm at 38 inch diameter, the OVJA 1.6 EM is said to be the fastest mattress machine in the world.

“At the same time the proven number of knitting feeders (1.6 feeders per inch) allows a maximum degree of flexibility for all fabric qualities presently in demand. Both features together make this machine the worldwide top-selling mattress machine of the past years,” Mayer says.

The 9^th India International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) will be held from 2-7 December 2012 at the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, India. www.india-itme.com

www.mayercie.de