Karl Mayer, a leading German warp knitting machinery builder, has developed a collection of bath towels featuring long repeats, hems and borders at the end of last year and is now carrying out a second series of tests, in order to exploit the potential of its TM 4 TS EL terry tricot machine.

The aim of the recent work is to produce heavyweight fabrics, especially for the hotel sector. Soft, fluffy fabrics having the typical loop strength of warp-knitted fabrics, and consequently their high wash resistance, are mainly used at the premium end of the hotel market.

The TM 4 TS EL at Karl Mayer was threaded with thick yarns in order to meet the appropriate requirements. “We used OE-spun cotton yarns having a count of Ne 12/1 in ground guide bars, GB 1 and GB 4. Cotton yarns in this count have never been processed on tricot machines before,” explained Christiane Litterst, a product developer in textile technology.

The lowest count recommended previously was Ne 16. Despite this, no problems were encountered during the warp knitting process, according to the manufacturer. “Even at a speed of 800 min-1, fly formation was not an issue with the type of pattern and yarns selected,” added Christiane Litterst. To work the ground, cotton of Ne 16/1 was used in GB 3 and polyester of 100 den was used in GB 2.

No changes had to be made to the finishing sequences either. The fabric produced weighs 600 g/m², has a fluffy handle, and is extremely absorbent. The EL pattern drive of the TM 4 TS EL enables loop-free stripes to be worked to produce the pattern, and the fabric edges are worked directly during the process.

This terry tricot machine also enables different loop heights to be worked in the same article, and very lightweight fabrics of the highest quality can also be produced. Even those warp-knitted terry fabrics weighing 200 g/m² have an attractive and extremely stable construction, says the company.

www.karlmayer.com