Top-quality performance and unrivalled cost savings in calendering and de-watering will be presented to textile finishers attending ITMA Asia + CITME 2012. Latest equipment from specialist UK producer Richard Hough Ltd, (RHL) features unique recent technological breakthroughs in calender bowls and squeeze roller coverings, including the novel Resilio high-expression rolls based on specially-developed rubber compounds for the ultimate in liquid extraction.

RHL, headquartered at Bolton, Lancashire, has a proud 200-year history of manufacturing calender and de-watering rolls for the textile processing industry, supplying to major OEMs such as Ramisch Guarneri, Andritz Kuesters and Benninger, as well as pioneering its own technology for these applications.

RHL expertise in cotton bowl manufacture enables the longest cotton fibres to be oriented around the bowl circumference, while still achieving maximum bowl hardness of 83 Shore D. This gives the bowl superior elasticity, combined with extreme durability, producing a soft feel in the finished fabric - features, which no other bowl manufacturer can match.

The world-famous Roberto&™ roll was named after its inventor, Robert Oliver, of David Bentley/Modern Rollers, and many thousands of these rolls have been sold worldwide. Since 2005, RHL has owned the Roberto technology, which uses a special microporous covering as a high-performance replacement for conventional rubber or PU rolls, for efficient liquid extraction from woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics.

RHL's latest developments are the Syncast&™ polyamide rolls and sleeves and Resilio&™ rubber squeezing rolls. Syncast products are made on the world's most technically-advanced centrifugal casting machine, operating at 2,000 metres per minute to produce a polyamide sleeve of far superior quality to the outdated extruded type, without impurities or air bubbles. The Syncast rolls are based on a highly-elastic thermoplastic polymer, specially developed for textile calender rolls. They offer high performance and rapid payback, avoiding the need for a major calender rebuild.

The Resilio rubber covering breakthrough is RHL's latest patent-applied-for development. It is a 2-layer compound giving 30% better extraction than the previous leading cover. Taking squeeze roll expertise a revolutionary stage further, the latest Resilio high-expression rubber squeezing rolls combine the best features of existing hard and soft covering compounds to create a unique, dual-layer squeezing concept. The hard sub-layer acts as the nip, while the softer top layer pushes into the fabric interspaces, where water droplets gather. Continuing advances with the Resilio, based on a novel compound material, have now enhanced the dewatering effect still further.

Both the Roberto and the Resilio extract the maximum liquid from the fabric - achieving 30% less residual moisture than normal rubber rolls, with consequent massive cost savings. Says RHL Managing Director Mr Anthony Ashton: "The full RHL range provides unbeatable options in squeezing and calendering technology for finishers in China and the whole of Asia and we are looking forward to introducing the enormous benefits of these products to them. We are delighted to have the chance to participate in the exciting future growth potential of a region, which is the global leader in textile manufacturing."