Lambeg Industrial Research Association and McCleery & L’Amie: The ATOZ Process

Abstract

A joint Queen’s Award to the Linen Industry (later Lambeg Industrial) Research Association (LIRA) and McCleery & L’Amie Ltd was given for innovation in the production of knitting yarns. McCleery and L’Amie was formed to produce and market ATOZ and other acrylic yarns. The ATOZ process was essentially a means of producing a high-bulk acrylic yarn by varying the amount of potential shrinkage in heat-stretched fibres. These fibres were cut into staples, and then carded, drawn and spun, to produce a yarn which contained different short lengths of fibre of different potential shrinkages. When this yarn was passed through a steam chamber the desired range of shrinkages was achieved and a high-bulk yarn was produced. Prior to the ATOZ process it was only possible to produce a yarn of maximum bulk by combining two types of fibre, one having maximum shrink potential, 25 per cent, the other with none, so that the yarn had a central shrunk core with the unshrunk fibre distributed round it like wings. The ATOZ process essentially offered versatility by allowing an adjustable range of potential shrinkages.