Poll of a Billion Monkeys

Thursday, October 09, 2014

ULTRASONIC UNIFORMS

Superb! (Not the price, the idea and technique.)

Navy tests out new way of making clothes: Welding

Oct. 8, 2014 - 06:00AM   |  
A swatch of fabric with a welded seam, top, is displayed resting on a piece of U.S. Navy camouflage fabric, below, that utilizes a traditional seam sewn using thread, at Propel LLC, a textile technology research company, in Pawtucket, R.I. The Navy could be turning to ultrasonic welding to make its uniforms lighter, stronger and cheaper.
A swatch of fabric with a welded seam, top, is displayed resting on a piece of U.S. Navy camouflage fabric, below, that utilizes a traditional seam sewn using thread, at Propel LLC, a textile technology research company, in Pawtucket, R.I. The Navy could be turning to ultrasonic welding to make its uniforms lighter, stronger and cheaper. (Steven Senne / AP)
Clare King, of Providence, R.I., displays a zipper attached to a swatch of fabric using a welded seam, foreground, while a U.S. Navy camouflaged parka, that was sewn together using traditional thread, rests on a table in the background, at Propel LLC. (Steven Senne / AP)
PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Welding isn’t just for aircraft carriers anymore.

The U.S. Navy could be turning to ultrasonic welding to make its uniforms lighter, stronger and cheaper. And if the project by a Rhode Island company and the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility is a success, it could help bring manufacturing back from overseas.

Welded seams — created when two pieces of fabric are essentially melted together by sound waves — are already used in some clothing that some Americans have in their closets. Patagonia and North Face both sell models of jackets with welded seams. But so far, most, if not all, of that manufacturing is done overseas...

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