Problem: All-day sun control may detract from an otherwise appealing setting. Solution: Tendal One is a motorized, retractable solar awning system designed for balconies, decks, terraces and roof gardens. The unit extends from overhead, partially or fully, out and down to the ground, enclosing the area to control the sun’s glare, while allowing light and [...]

[NMT Medical Inc.] Boston, Mass., U.S.A. NMT Medical’s STARFlex® cardiac septal repair implant was developed for patients with ventricular septal defects (VSD), the most common type of congenital heart defect. The implant provides an alternative to open heart surgery in a minimally invasive procedure. Constructed from a framework with spring coils to which a knitted [...]

Geosynthetic technologies have emerged as a major tool in the battle against shoreline erosion, and TenCate Geosynthetics, Almelo, The Netherlands, has given the sturdy textiles a new form. The Geotube® system involves filling very large tubular textile containers with local sand or sludge to hold unstable banks in place. Shoreline stabilization frequently is accomplished with [...]

[InPro Corp.] Muskego, Wisc., U.S.A. Waukesha Memorial Hospital, Waukesha, Wisc., U.S.A., is the first hospital in the U.S. to use Shield™ infection control fabric privacy curtains throughout most of its facility. The hospital was a participant in the “5 Million Lives” campaign, implemented by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a project that included initiatives for [...]

[Gentex Corp. Respiratory Systems] Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., U.S.A. Air Force aero-medical units around the world will soon be using the Gentex® Patient Isolation Unit (PIU), a temporary, single-use, portable structure designed to contain and transport a patient and prevent particulate cross-contamination between the patient, the external environment and the caregivers. Made of a breathable, HEPA [...]

[Sylvester Solutions] Jessup, Pa., U.S.A. [CMI Enterprises] Miami, Fla., U.S.A. Lackawanna College, Scranton, Pa., has declared war on germs, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus/MRSA. The school upholstered their state-of-the-art fitness centers in Dimensions™ upholstery vinyl with Nanocide® antimicrobial, made by CMI Enterprises and offered by Sylvester Solutions, creating the beginning of an environment that offers a greatly [...]

Science North, a science museum and family attraction in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, wanted visitors to experience the inner workings of a human cell. Its Club Génome exhibit opened in March 2009, a fabric structure and multimedia space where the red glow of blood cells and a hanging nucleus complement up-tempo music and an educational program [...]

University of California–Riverside researchers have discovered a reliable way to incorporate color into paints, printing inks and displays—and change the color instantly, and reversibly, with magnetic fields. “For the first time, stable photonic materials with tunable colors can be fabricated on a large scale,” says Yadong Yin, an assistant professor of chemistry at UC–Riverside. Yin [...]

In 1667, the English Burial in Wool Act required people to be buried in wool shrouds to stimulate the struggling woolen industry. A. W. Hainsworth and Sons Ltd., a West Yorkshire fabric company, takes the concept to a whole new level with its Natural Legacy coffins and burial urns made of biodegradable woven wool and [...]

Few security cameras provide a 360-degree view, but researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Mass., have created and tested light-detecting fibers that, when woven into a web, become a flexible fabric camera. A potential application is camera fabric clothing that can provide soldiers with an all-around view, transmitted from the fabric to [...]