Karl Mayer premiered its new TM 4 at last week’s Shanghaitex exhibition, announcing that the new machine will be built by its Karl Mayer (China) subsidiary in Changzhou City.

“With the TM 4, we have completed our twin product line strategy for our tricot machines. For all our two, three and four bar machines; there is now a high-performance, high-tech range equipped with carbon-fibre bars as standard, i.e. our HKS machines and the price-optimised TM series catering for the mid-range sector. We are expecting good sales opportunities in the future, particularly in those applications where there is a need for flexible patterning and shorter runs,” said Oliver Mathews, talking about the sales potential of this latest addition to the TM series of machines.

Karl Mayer completed its TM machine series in time for Shanghaitex but until now, the successful machine series had been made up of the TM 2, TM 3, TM 4-T and TM 4-T EL.

The new machine with four guide bars can produce plain fabrics and complements the TM 4-T, which is designed to produce terry fabrics. The technical platform of both machines is the same and their performance features are comparable. Speeds of up to 1400 rpm, user-friendliness and a high product quality make, Karl Mayer says, the new TM 4 extremely interesting for producing apparel fabrics as well as semi-technical textiles, particularly shoe fabrics.

Technical details

The knitting motion and needle elements of the existing four-bar TM machine were modified to enable plain fabrics to be produced. Just like the TM 4-T, the machine for producing plain fabrics can either be fitted with an EL or an N drive for moving the ground guide bars.

The EL version in particular enables a wider variety of patterns to be produced. In conjunction with the KAMCOS system and the Multi Speed facility for controlling the warp beam let-off and fabric take-down, the TM 4 with electronic control operates sequentially and can, Karl Mayer adds, easily work different sections of the pattern next to each other, for example.

Batchers Nos. 6 and 34 are available for winding up the final fabric. A frame with four positions for mounting warp beams with a diameter of 32 inches is available for delivering the yarn. The standard working width of the new TM 4 is 186 inches and the available gauges are E 28 and E 32. Additional gauges are available on request.