From the Sector

BTMA member Sellers Textile Engineers is marking its 110th anniversary this year with the introduction of a new concept in carpet shearing, as the essential final step in ensuring tuft uniformity and ‘just new’ freshness in finished carpet rolls.

The company has for many years offered two options in the construction of its shearing cylinders – the first, namely the ‘strap-on’, incorporates spiral blades bolted to the cylinder body and the second, known as the ‘caulked-in’, includes spirals which are fixed very securely in a machined groove within the machine.

The new Sellers’ Hybrid Shearing Cylinder combines the benefits of both, resulting in an improved cut and finer finish, in addition to longer repeatable finishing and increased rigidity.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder has all the advantages of the ‘strap-on’ spiral blade to provide a sharper and cleaner cut, along with enhanced rigidity which significantly lengthens the intervals between the necessary regrinding of the blade,” explains Sellers Director Neil Miller. “We currently have six Hybrid Shearing Cylinders operating in the field and the earliest, which has been installed in both No1 Head position, where the majority of the shearing operation and heaviest cut is performed, and also in No3 Head, where the sharper cutting angle has resulted in a much improved surface quality.”

Sellers shearing machines have led the field in carpet finishing for many decades, enabling the leading manufacturers to stay competitive by enabling the highest quality of finish to be achieved economically and efficiently.

The latest advanced features of these machines include a load cell tension control drive system, an automated touchscreen for easy operator control and fault diagnosis, an enhanced cleaning system including cylinder and blade separation and fully controllable pivoting beds. Further options include thickness monitoring, seam detection and metal detection systems.

“The Hybrid Shearing Cylinder will become standard on our latest machines and also be made available for retrofitting, to provide significant benefits to our existing users,” says Miller. “All of our equipment is designed, manufactured, assembled and tested at our plant in the UK, and as one of the few remaining European engineering companies to make all of our components in-house – with now over a century of accumulated know-how – flexibility in design allows our finishing solutions to be targeted to specific customers and their product requirements. Aligned to this is a lead in process control systems which ensure the accurate control, reliability and repeatability of the processing parameters on all of our machines.”

Sellers remains committed to providing complete finishing solutions for all carpet, tile and artificial grass products. Its range includes machines for tufted secondary backing, both conventional, powder and extrusion lamination, Wilton and Axminster products, artificial grass and foam lines, coating lines for bitumen, PVC, PU and other polymers, as well as shearing for all carpet products.

Ongoing developments on the company’s coating and drying lines have resulted in improved guiding and product tension control as well as dryer efficiency, reducing heat loss and optimising energy use. These include a re-design of the fan pressure boxes and impingement nozzles to increase airflow efficiency, modulating gas burners and introducing easy clean, accessible filters.

In addition, the proven dual zone system has been enhanced, giving a temperature differential of up to 80°C between top and bottom zones. Dryers can be heated by either gas or steam and operation and access have been simplified with controls via touchscreen and PLC.

An extensive range of ancillary equipment is available to provide maximum flexibility to cover product requirements, for both new processing lines and as upgrades to existing equipment.

“Carpet manufacturing is now based on well-established, tried and trusted processes and it’s rare for new innovations to be introduced into this sector,” says Jason Kent, CEO of the British Textile Machinery Association. “The new Sellers Hybrid Shearing Cylinder can provide a competitive edge for manufacturers which is currently being proven in the field. It’s one of a number of new innovations the company is planning to showcase at next year’s ITMA exhibition in Milan.”

• Heimtextil celebrates its anniversary: from 7-10 January 2020, the global home textiles industry will meet for the 50th time in Frankfurt am Main.

With a great anniversary party, a showcase presenting design classics from the past few decades, an anniversary film and other activities, Heimtextil will review the past half century since its first edition in 1971.

‘50 editions over the course of the past five decades are a rarely experienced phenomenon in the fast-moving global trade fair industry and are practically an eternity’, says Detlef Braun, CEO of Messe Frankfurt. ‘Like no other trade fair, Heimtextil stands for product variety, international clout and undisputed market leadership in the textile sector’. As a design show, it constantly reinvents itself, continues to present
state-of-the-art home trends as it has always done and makes the furnishing trends of tomorrow tangible’.

Big celebration party on the Wednesday of the trade fair

Messe Frankfurt will be inviting exhibitors and visitors to the highlight of the celebrations, the big Heimtextil @ Night party in hall 11.1 on Wednesday, 8 January 2020. Heimtextil exhibitors from the very beginning will be warmly welcomed and paid special attention. As part of the celebrations, Messe Frankfurt will present an anniversary film with a look back at earlier Heimtextil editions as well as music acts from the last five decades.

In hall 9.0, Heimtextil will present design classics from the past 50 years in a special showcase area. Here, the trade fair will invite people to take a journey through time and a tour of discovery through five  decades of Heimtextil history. The presentation is based on editorials from interior magazines. Four rooms incorporate colours, shapes, furniture and design objects from past decades. The showcase is complemented by a café that will be realised in cooperation with Schöner Wohnen, Europe's largest living magazine.

Exclusive offer: anniversary scarf in the Heimtextil look

To mark the anniversary, Heimtextil will launch a textile accessory of its  own creation: a scarf in the look of the current trade fair campaign. The scarf in the unisex colour combination of petrol, turquoise and lilac will be available for exhibitors and visitors to buy during the trade fair.