DREF goes silver!

25 years in production and DREF friction spinning machines are still very much in a class of their own!

Dr. Ernst Fehrer invented and patented the DREF friction spinning process in 1973. He had begun work on the development of this alternative to mule, ring and rotor open end spinning at the beginning of the decade with the objective of surmounting the physico-mechanical limits on capacity and yarn engineering and production speeds to which these traditional systems are subject.

By 1975, Dr. Fehrer already had a 3-head machine undergoing trials and in 1977 the first DREF 2 for the coarse yarn count range came onto the market. In view of its success, Dr. Fehrer then created the DREF 3, which was designed for the medium yarn count range and made its debut at the ITMA ’79 in Hanover, before entering serial production in 1981.

New generations of the DREF 2 followed in 1986 and 1994 and the DREF 3/96 was launched at the ITMA in Milan. The 1999 ITMA in Paris witnessed the arrival of the DREF 2000, the first of which was sold prior to the fair. Full production of the DREF 2000 commenced in the autumn of 1999 in co-ordination with presentations at the ATME, USA and the SIMAT in Argentina. In 2001, the DREF 2000 also went on display in Asia at the ITMA Singapore and in Central America at the EXINTEX, Mexico.

The final chapter in the DREF story up to now is comprised by the arrival of the DREF 3000, which has been available for testing in the new DREF facility at FEHRER headquarters in Linz since the autumn of 2001 and is set to make its public entrance at the ITMA in Birmingham in 2003.

The achievements of the FEHRER friction spinning system are best underlined by the fact that at present, over 9,000 DREF 2/ DREF 2000 spinning heads are in operation around the world, manufacturing some 380,000 t of yarn annually. The products involved extend from recycled goods, blankets, cleaning rags, mops and secondary carpet backings, to filter cartridges, asbestos substitutes and upholstery fabrics. Moreover, it is a significant fact that 65 DREF machines are to be found at textile research institutes, universities and colleges across the globe.

DREF friction spinning offers an unparalleled range of advantages for niche products and has created its own separate area of textile technology. As Manfred Gsteu, the DREF sales director, explains, “Market acceptance has confirmed that DREF is a technology, which provides customers with enormous flexibility with regard to fibres, yarns and products, possibilities for long-term production diversification and an ability to respond quickly to shifts in the market. In other words, DREF machines may have been in production for the past 25 years, but nonetheless they represent a perfect answer to the challenges of the 21st century!”