More shirt finishing innovations
This is part three of my special Clean Show column. I ran out of space last
month because there was so much to show you.
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Just promise that you don’t consider this video tour a substitute for having attended the show. There is
no substitute for Naw’lins and there is no substitute for the excitement of the Clean Show. It doesn’t cost money to attend a Clean Show. It pays!
The Forenta single buck Magna cabinet shirt press has gone through a major
transformation while still retaining the finishing features that make it
appealing.
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Other features of the Model 811SBV include a modern, sleek overall design with
operator and serviceability factors given high priority.
In addition to our standard heads and buck, Forenta has developed a version of
this model which will accept smaller shirts as required in some export markets.
Forenta has redesigned the single buck body/sleever combination cabinet shirt
press, now labeling it the Magna Model 841SBS. The sleeve pleat pressing
feature has been eliminated in lieu of a simple cuff holding/sleeve stretching
device.
The sleeves are still finished with steam insertion and blown heated air. The
cuff pleats are blown to a soft rolled finish as obtained on the European
bag-type finishers. This machine produces a very attractive sleeve with less
initial investment.
The Magna Model 821SBSP single buck body/sleever combination cabinet press is a
new design to Forenta. However, it contains features that are unique to Forenta
as well as some new concepts. The flat heads, vacuum buck and blown air airbags
of the Forenta Magna Series shirt presses are featured in this model to give a
superior finish to a wide variety of shirt sizes.
This overall design is a concept that has become popular in the industry in
recent years. It features a stationary buck and rear head with the front head
moving left and right. The shirt is dressed in its entirety from one position.
It is not necessary for the operator to walk around the front head in order to
dress the right sleeve.
This unit will finish short and long sleeves. Pleater heads are provided to
press the cuff pleats, but they can be switched to stay open if pressing of the
pleats is not desired.
It has easily adjustable timers to control steam and drying times. A switch can
select adjustable extended drying times for the heavier shirts. At the end of
the drying cycle, the front head automatically moves out of the way giving the
operator immediate access to unload the finished shirt.
All functions related to dressing are controlled by foot switches, leaving hands
free for dressing. I have great movies of all of these shirt units at
www.tailwindsystems.com.
A unique feature of this Model 821SBSP is the ability to add pre-inflation air
into the airbags during the dressing process, giving the operator more control
over the finish of the shirt.
There is a shirt unit made by a company called CDK. The exhibitors were
obviously from a far away continent. Could that be the reason that they didn’t want to show me their shirt unit? To their credit, they didn’t kick me out of their booth. I believe that I was a victim of racial prejudice!
But Weishi did kick me out. Three times. Twice I went back to try to explain to
them that I was trying to help promote their product. The foreigner that was
evidently in charge kept saying “Magazine!” Could “magazine” be a vulgar word in some Asian language? But he also said, “I don’t believe you.” Not sure what he was referring to.
This unit does deserve an honorable mention, in any case, because it is truly
one-of-a-kind. It is a standard type Sankosha-style blown-sleeve unit that
actually presses the cuffs while the sleeves and body are being pressed. Got
that?
The problem is that I can’t really report on it properly because they don’t want me to “steal” the idea, tell you about it and then you will be likely to make your own
machine in the back of your father’s garage.
From the engineering point of view, it’s hard to believe that this idea can work, however. In order to press/dry
fabric, you need a great deal of pressure (this is mechanical pressure, which
is completely different from inlet air pressure). It is physically impossible
to squeeze the cuffs adequately with the tiny air cylinders on this machine.
There is a movie on my website. It got cutoff however, because I was pushed out
of the booth.
Itsumi introduced the “SMART BT50,” a low priced single-buck shirt unit. They claim that the technology is superior
to their previous units, but still the price is lower.
When queried on the plausibility of that, U.S. importer Sammy Ahn likened it to
how a notebook computer used to cost $1,000 and was nowhere near as powerful as
today’s $500 laptop.
Itsumi features a secret orange box at the base of the body buck that can
throttle the airflow into the side airbags of the body. A simple twist of a
timer knob allows the operator to “pop” the airbags full of air instantly for a larger shirt or slowly inflate the bag
for a smaller one. I have always liked pressing on Itsumi shirt units.
Y.A.C. has not released their new unit and the video on my website was not taken
by me at the Clean Show, so I am cheating a little bit by showing it there.
Consider it a sneak preview.
Trevil did something very cool on their new Trevistar shirt unit. Every now and
then, someone comes up with a feature that I really warm up to and this year it
is Trevil’s moment in the spotlight.
Look at the two photos above. Do you see that piece of metal on the collar clamp
and on the cuff clamp? This absolutely forces the operator to dress the machine
correctly! I LOVE THIS!
How much better can a unit be designed than to have a feature that subtly,
passively and constantly trains the operator? Did I mention that I LOVE this
feature?
I predict that in five years, all shirt units will have some sort of passive
operator training tips built into their machines. Mark my words.
Towards the end of the Trevistar’s pressing cycle, super-heated air is blown onto the shirt from above and behind
to dry the yoke. This is in the interest of speeding up the press cycle. Trevil
did a great job with this unit! (A movie and more pictures are on www.tailwindsystems.com.)
Hoffman was challenged to make their single buck shirt unit three feet shorter
along with modifying numerous features. Hoffman features multiple buck sizes
for all sizes of shirts. The 14", 16", 18" and 20" can all be changed at your
plant because of the flathead design of the steam chests.
One of the best things about Hoffman is the super-hot collar and cuff presses.
The steam chests are bigger and the energy consumption is higher, but one
machine can feed a double shirt unit due to the shorter squeeze time.
Well, if you’ve been following this column for the past few months, you probably get the idea
that there were all sorts of innovations at the Clean Show. And hopefully, you
have enjoyed the scores of pictures and movies on my website. I have really
enjoyed bringing this to you.
Next month, there’s more! There were quite a few new products introduced for shirt launderers this
year. I have pictures and movies of those too! Same time, same channel.
“If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got!”
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