Makrolon polycarbonate sheets for marine windows are now available from Tri Vantage®, packaged and shipped economically and safely. Manufactured by Bayer MaterialScience, Makrolon offers glass-like clarity, outstanding impact strength, superior dimensional stability and excellent thermal resistance. It can be sewn into a number of marine enclosures, and is recommended for marine applications that include large [...]

Compiled by Juli Case We need a long-arm sewing machine, one with a double needle and a walking foot and puller. Ideally, we’d like to be able to rent the equipment for a week or two, to make sure it can do what we need it to do. Any suggestions? Long-arm sewing machines, especially with [...]

Miller Weldmaster, Navarre, Ohio, has developed an automatic folding capability for their Impulse Extreme that automatically folds a pocket from 1–12 inches. This automatic feature eliminates the time-consuming task of measuring and laying out fabric prior to welding. A simple rotary wheel changes the size of the pocket and the folding bar creates the precise [...]

The isolated and remote highlands of Papua New Guinea (an island nation north of Australia), house potential oil reserves open to exploration, but only a helicopter can get people and materials from ports to mining camps. Building permanent structures for camps isn’t an option; mobility is a must for exploration. An Australian company, Universal Fabric [...]

In large metropolitan areas, big populations translate to limited space, and that means limited gardening. Pocket rose gardens and green roofs don’t slake the human thirst for flowers and vegetables grown close to home. The BACSAC®, a double-walled geotextile fabric planting container that allows dirt to drain and breathe, is inspiring city gardeners to grow [...]

In June 2010, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) invited university teams to submit concepts for inflatable space lofts to its eXploration Habitat (X-Hab) 2011 competition. The 14-member winning team from the University of Wisconsin deployed the entry at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where the judges tagged the Badger X-Loft as “ready [...]

Chicago’s Adler Planetarium draws tourists from around the world to see out-of-this-world space exhibits and displays. When the museum launched its first major renovation since 1967, tensioned fabric manufacturer Fabric Images Inc., Elgin, Ill., went into warp drive to develop indoor environments that would take visitors to the outer limits. Fabric Images engineered and constructed [...]

The Christian Unified School District of San Diego will take the field this fall on the first-of-its-kind synthetic turf using TenCate Monoslide Ultra™ with XQ™ technology turf blades. TenCate Grass Americas, Dayton, Tenn., developed the three-dimensional monofilament turf blades with a ribbed crescent design to provide resilience and a natural look, as well as the [...]

Over the years, the Textile Protection and Comfort Center (T-PACC) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., has offered safe, controlled, repeatable testing of firefighting protective wear using PyroMan, a manikin with sensors that aid computer analysis of tissue burns. PyroMan, torched regularly in the pursuit of science, works well testing gear for structural [...]

The quality and cachet of Italian fashion, leather goods and wine may soon be matched by Italian textile machinery, according to the Association of Italian Textile Machinery Manufacturers (ACIMIT). Exports of Italian machinery have risen 37 percent during the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year. “The growth of our export [...]