LINE MARKING
Line marking comes of age In 1866, Sherwin-Williams, a company in United States opened for business and would become one of the largest global paint makers. The company invented ready-to-use paint, releasing its first product, raw umber in oil, in 1873. Times have certainly moved on and that US inventor could not have imagined in his wildest dreams the impact such an introduction and what followed would have on the world paint industry. Well, fast-forward some 200 years and the same level of innovation and impact occurred in the turf industry with the introduction in the UK of the first Impact readyto-use pitch line marking paint. Before the introduction of Impact, groundsman had very little choice in the selection of products available for the marking out of sports ground pitch lines. In the main the paints were expensive in terms of litres used per pitch and had to be diluted, with
often large quantities of water and therefore a water supply needed to be available. The paint had to measured, diluted and poured into a marking machine tank and then this process repeated when the tank became empty. The paints also had to be applied frequently because when it rained they were easily washed off; Good for the paint supplier but not the club! All this changed, almost overnight, with the introduction, through Rigby Taylor, of the Impact, Integrated Spray Technology system. For the first time, groundsman could mark out pitches using a ready-to-use (RTU) paint formulation that could mark multiple pitches without constant refilling. Impact required no added water, no measuring, no mixing, no pouring and left little mess. Since this introduction, there has been a huge switch over by groundsmen from dilutables to RTU products as they prefer paint that requires minimum handling, with
little or no direct contact with the material and marking can start almost immediately without all the prepreparation associated with dilutables. How has this been achieved? The manufacturer of paint use similar raw materials (though of differing quality), but the processes and balance of formulation is where the real skill lies. Just like a winning football team, it’s all about getting the right players in exactly the right positions, in the right formation, performing together harmoniously. One of the major factors in paint production is water quality. At Linemark UK Ltd, with their manufacturing plant situated in the centre of the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, they are extremely fortunate to have access to very soft water, which contains just the right amount of calcium/magnesium ions. Combined with carefully sourced, best in class, raw materials, many years of scientifically exacting and perfecting