Mayer & Cie., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of circular knitting machines went to Shanghai with rather low expectations. There had been advance indications with organizational shortcomings and difficulty in obtaining visas, that overseas visitor numbers would be down. However, Mayer & Cies’ 250 square metre stand was in actual fact pretty busy with a number of deals being closed during the exhibition and the exhibition team returning home to Germany with the show widely exceeding their expectations.

According to Mayer & Cie its OVJA 2.4 E proved to be of great interest at the exhibition. The electronic jacquard circular knitting machine was exhibited with 92 feeders and a 30“diameter, and its high performance makes this model of particular interest for mattress producers. Mayer & Cie says that visitors to the stand were impressed by the performance of the OVJA 2.4 E with its patented electronic individual needle selection. The company reports that a number of spontaneous purchases were made during the show, underpinning Mayer & Cie’s claim that the OVJA machine series in general and the OVJA 2.4 E in particular represent the international standard in jacquard production.

Mayer & Cie also reports that the affordable D4 and S4 machine series are in high demand in Asia and particularly in China. Representing the D4 double jersey series, the D4-3.2 was featured in Shanghai. The machine has 3.2 / inch and offers better performance than the D4-2.2. The machine on show was in 24 gauge and 30 inch diameter. In the basic version, it comes with 2 needle types and 2 needle tracks in the dial and cylinder cam, with facility for upgrading to 4 needle tracks in the cylinder. According to Mayer & Cie, the D4-3.2 is highly flexible and designed for high performance with production speeds of 1.4 m/s. A new Quick-Change version is also offered for fast gauge changes, which allows the dial to be centred into position from above. This makes for far easier and less time-consuming gauge changes.

The S4 single jersey series currently comprises the S4-3.2 for single jersey, 2 and 4 needle structures and single plated jersey, the SF4-3.2 for three-thread fleece and 4-needle structures, and the S4-3.2 R for fashion stripes. Mayer & Cie says that the modular system design used for the entire machine series makes for optimum flexibility in every model. All the single jersey machines of the S4 series, for instance, can be converted to produce any of the other versions. For example, the S4-3.2 R is capable of being converted into the basic version S4-3.2. Depending on the order situation, this means that production is possible either of fashion stripes or basic fabrics at high output.

The S4-3.2 R exhibited in Shanghai was a 24 gauge machine with a 30 inch diameter and standard frame. It is capable of knitting up to four-colour stripes with 1.6 feeders per inch. By exchanging the striping / miss-knit feeders for knitting feeders, this machine is transformed after a simple conversion into a high-performance single jersey machine with 3.2 feeders per inch. Another special feature of the S4-3.2 R is gauge change using Quick-Change technology, which Mayer & Cie says is both simple and time-saving, as in the striping version the striping attachments remain in situ and even the threads remain tensioned.