SMIT Textile, with its unique rapier weaving machine technology, always pursues its weaving excellence philosophy to help customers get quality product.
This win-win partnership between the company and its customers has led to the well-known dynamically controlled rapier ribbon system which is the last development of the guideless carbon punched tape technology invented by SMIT Textile in the late 80s. This same philosophy today marks a further milestone with the creation of a new, revolutionary weaving machine – the ONE.
This is conceptually a very simple machine because it makes use of only the right hand gripper. As this gripper does not have to cope with any weft transfer from the left gripper (like the standard gripper machines do), it can be equipped with special pliers that ensure a perfect hold for any weft shape, weight and consistency. This is itself a further guarantee for most reliable weaving.
In order to turn this base concept into reality, SMIT Textile has designed and developed a special, patented mechatronic system that enables the weft pick up with the right gripper, which would be otherwise unsuitable for this. Once the weft is picked on the left side, the single right gripper provides to pull it through all the shed to the right edge just as on a standard rapier machine where the right rapier does from the middle transfer to the right edge.
Now, thanks to the single rapier technology there are no limits to the weft variety that can be woven by the machine: fancy wefts, chenille, thick and thin wefts, multifilament yarns or flat yarns, uneven filling being inserted in the same fabric.
And the same flexibility with all kinds of filling makes the ONE the ideal base to weave technical fabrics as well, with the further advantage of a shed opening that can also be set within a wider range, thanks to the small size of the right hand gripper, which is a must for some technical fabrics.
But not only the customer’ s market competitiveness takes advantage from this amazing technology: as a matter of fact also the weavers’ work is made easier : thanks to the managing easiness of the ONE as all the operations to change weaving width have to be taken only on the right fabric side, leaving everything untouched on the left hand: weft selector device, false selvedge cut, weft cut, leno, and only one rapier stroke to adjust… half work cut at once! No style change can be done easier than this one.
Even unskilled crew can get the best from this user-friendly weaving machine.