Paying tribute to a pioneer in textile technology

Heinrich Mauersberger, the inventor of Malimo stitch-bonding technology, celebrates his 100th birthday

March 2009 - Great inventions often stem from every-day occurrences, a gift for observation and a dogged persistence and finally there comes that ‘Eureka!’ moment. This was also the case for Heinrich Mauersberger, the inventor of the Malimo stitch-bonding technology. The pioneer in textile technology was 100 years old on 11 February this year, and a party was held in Limbach-Oberfrohna, Saxony, to celebrate the milestone and to look back at his life.

Heinrich Mauersberger was born in 1909 in Neukirchen near to the textile town of Crimmitschau. He was a dyer by trade and then became a soldier during the war. He was taken prisoner and returned in 1946, when he worked in a glove factory near Burgstädt. At the same time, this resourceful specialist in chemicals and dyeing, qualified as a master weft knitter to generate extra income using a flat weft knitting machine he had built himself and leftover yarn.

In 1947, his wife gave him an idea. She was using a sewing machine to mend a piece of underwear by sewing rows of stitches up and down and across the damaged section, a process that could be used to produce textile substrates at the speed of a sewing machine. For two years, Heinrich tried a number of different alternatives and finally produced the first, simple machine. In 1949, he finally applied for a patent for his invention, which was a process for producing substrates by sewing on top of fibrous webs and yarn sheets. On 3 February 1949, he was granted patent no. 8194 for a ‘Process for producing a stitch-knitted textile’.

The invention was called Malimo, a word made up of letters from his name and the place where he lived for many years, Limbach-Oberfrohna.

Undeterred by the scepticism of his peers towards his invention, Heinrich Mauersberger continued to work on his idea, and the first machine was soon ready for launching. A Malimo stitch-bonding machine, type Maliwatt 2500, was unveiled for the first time at the Leipzig trade fair in spring 1957. The inventor took it upon himself to present the machine and talk to customers. At that time, i.e. from 1953 to 1965, Heinrich Mauersberger was employed as an engineer at VEB Konstruktion und Entwicklung. One successful outcome of the fair was that the company was able to conclude the first contracts to export the machine, and was subsequently also able to find an American licence holder.

 “At that time, the party leadership and Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic were extremely impressed by the invention, and this support silenced all the critics and detractors.”,  said Dr. Michael Fiedler, Managing Director of the Chemnitz-based Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH, at the party held to celebrate the inventor’s 100th birthday.

Mass-production of the Malimo machines began in 1957 in VEB Tüllmaschinenbau Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was renamed VEB Nähwirkmaschinenbau Malimo in 1963. The technical specifications of the first Malimo 500 mass-produced machine were, a working width of 500 mm, a gauge of 14 F, i.e. 14 needles to every 25 mm, and a speed of 1300 rpm. The articles produced were hand towels, dusters and polishing cloths. “Nowadays, machines having working widths of 6150 mm, gauges of up to 22 F and speeds of up to 2,500 rpm are available”, said Dr. Michael Fiedler.

Over the next few years, other machines based on Heinrich Mauersberger’s machines appeared, including the Maliwatt, Malivlies, and Malipol. Large numbers were manufactured and exported to many countries worldwide. They were mainly used to produce home and household textiles and clothing. However, they soon also became used for producing technical textiles, such as backing substrates for PVC coatings, car headliner and insulating materials. The 1000th stitch-bonding machine was delivered to VEB Malitex in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in 1972. This company was producing roughly nine million square metres of stitch-bonded textiles every year up to 1989.

Prof. Dr.-Ing Holger Erth made particular mention of the change in applications for stitch-bonded technology in a speech he made at the party. Whereas the emphasis was still on the production of home and household textiles during the 1980s, the 1990s saw the rapid development of technical applications, which was promoted by the appearance of the multiaxial and biaxial machines. These included reinforcement textiles for the aerospace industry, cars and ship-building, for producing rotor blades for wind turbines, composite textiles, geotextiles and building materials.

The applications for Maliwatt and Malivlies machines were extended and new end-uses were opened up as backing substrates for coatings, filter fabrics, blankets, insulation materials, hygiene, medical and sanitary textiles, and linings for the automotive industry. The types of textiles that can be produced on the new Kunit and Multiknit machines include textile cushioning materials, sub-cushioning materials for car seat covers, and acoustic insulation.

A decisive factor for the subsequent future development of the technology and the opening up of new applications was the takeover of the two companies, Nähwirkmaschinenbau Malimo and Wirkmaschinenbau Limbach, by Karl Mayer in 1992. “Technology that could hold its own anywhere in the world, based on Heinrich Mauersberger’s inventions and the forward-looking entrepreneurial flair of Karl Mayer Textilmaschinenfabrik GmbH in Obertshausen near Frankfurt am Main, are the reasons for the continuing success of Heinrich Mauersberger’s inventions and the Malimo trademark”, said Dr. Michael Fiedler.

In 1997, Karl Mayer’s subsidiary moved from its location in Annaberger Strasse, where it had been for many years, to new premises in Mauersberger Strasse.

The Karl Mayer Group also began to undertake the strategic reorganisation of the company at that time. Karl Mayer Malimo was extended to become the centre of excellence for the development and production of textile machines for manufacturing technical textiles. The decision to invest in the Chemnitz site was also taken on the basis of the company’s long textile tradition and the expertise and know-how of the specialists based there. Nowadays, Karl Mayer Malimo Textilmaschinen GmbH is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of machines for producing composites.

“Stitch-bonding technology currently occupies a firm place in the ranks of textile manufacturing technology”, said Prof. Dr.-Ing Holger Erth, when assessing the significance of Heinrich Mauersberger’s invention today. “The changeover to specialist articles, and especially technical products, the movement of production away from clothing and home textiles to automotive technology, light engineering and protective textiles have given stitch-bonding technology a new impetus.”

This trend is reflected in the number of patents that have been granted. Since 1990 alone, roughly 65 more patents have been granted for the machine technology and textile products since Heinrich Mauersberger was granted that first patent 60 years ago.

Roughly 60 wide width stitch-bonding machines are currently operating in Saxony and Thuringia. But they have also proved themselves countless times in practice in Italy, the USA, United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Turkey, Tunisia, China, and France and all over the world, in fact. Such is the living legacy of Heinrich Mauersberger’s invention.