Rapier, projectile, shuttle and circular weaving

Rapier looms make one of the largest categories in the shuttleless weaving sector. These machines have undergone tremendous improvements over the last few years to cater to the ever growing demands of the weaving industry. Continuous development has made these machines with intelligent filling insertion systems with centre thread transfer and unrivalled versatility which is the benchmark, for creative weavers worldwide. This ITMA saw some remarkably improved versions of the speeds and great many weft colours. The weft insertion rates of the rapier machines have gone up to 1,700 m/min. It was very common to see a number of rapier machines weaving high quality, technical and metal fabrics. It was also interesting to see for the first time a quick changing rapier loom from negative to positive rapier from Panter of Italy. Companies like Dornier, Picanol, SMIT, Vaupel, and Trinca were all exhibiting their latest machines ready to boost the morale of weavers. Although gripper projectile looms have all the advantages of producing good quality fabrics, only, few were presented this time compared with air jets and rapiers. Sulzer Textil, a market leader in this category seems to have reduced its presence at ITMA with only one exhibit in projectile loom category. There was one machine each from Textilmach and Jurgens. Overall, it seemed that the popularity of these machines was declining due to high energy costs involved in picking systems for heavy projectiles. In the wake of the complete disappearance of shuttle looms in the regular weaving sector, the future remains bright for air jets, which have all the advantages although,rapiers do impress with-their latest technological advances for weaving a wide variety of technical and metal fabrics.