A new unspooling device for textile machines, and in particular flat knitting machines, has been unveiled by Vandewiele owned Memminger-IRO.

The Memminger-IRO MTD - Positive drive for flat knitting machines, which can unspool metal, fibreoptics, chain, cord, stiff yarns, and other materials easily and controllably is aimed at technical textiles markets. The new device, invented by California knit innovation lab Fab Designs and developed by Germany’s Memminger-IRO, can also unspool multiple components into multiple feeders.

The MTD is a positive drive for flat knitting machines where the material is unspooled in radial (tangential) instead of axial (over-head) direction. This enables twist-free unspooling of the material to be processed.

The MTD is applied in the production of textile fabrics. It can be used for processing wire and monofilament as well as twist-free requirements for aramid, fibreglass and many other materials.

The design of the MTD is characterized by the motor and the dancer unit. The dancer unit regulates the drive of the bobbins depending on the amount of material taken off by the knitting machine. The technology is based on the dancer principle, i.e. the position of the dancer arm determines the speed of the motor. The dancer arm also functions as a recoil arm to take up the yarn during carriage return.

The modular structure consists of a height-adjustable frame, one or two MTD units, one or two dancer units and one power supply unit including a connection box.

The advantages cited for the MTD are twist-free unspooling of yarn, wire processing on flat knitting machines, modular structure, autonomous operation from machine, portable from machine to machine, height-adjustable frame, simple tension adjustment and Plug & Play solution.

Find out how the MTD works by watching the video…

MTD - Positive drive for flat knitting machines