ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 1995 TAG: 9512060058
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
Vinton mill a part of `Best of What's New'
A new automotive airbag design that uses material woven at Precision Fabrics Group mill in Vinton has won a Best of What's New award for 1995 by Popular Science magazine.
The Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., and Precision Fabrics, based in Greensboro, N.C., developed the compact, lightweight air bag. It inflates to the same size as conventional auto air bags but is less than half the size and weight when it's packed.
The editors of Popular Science review thousands of new products, technology developments and scientific achievements each year before they select 100 items for their Best of What's New distinction. This year's winners are featured in the December issue.
Precision Fabrics, a maker of engineered industrial textiles for the aerospace, medical and computer industries, worked with Sandia for three years in developing the new air bag. The fabric is made in Vinton, and the bags are assembled at a plant in Greensboro.
The air bags could give Precision Fabrics a big new market. Automakers plan to use 40 million of them in the 1997 model year. Precision plans to enter the air bag market in the 1998 model year.
- Staff report
Grundy doctor buys old W.Va. resort
SWEET SPRINGS, W.Va. - A Grundy, Va., doctor has bought a 200-year-old Monroe County spa once frequented by George Washington, John Marshall and Robert E. Lee.
Sweet Springs Resort was auctioned last week for $259,000 to Dr. Vasu Arora. The spa includes 23 acres and several buildings, including one in which a warm mineral spring bubbles. Arora was not available for comment.
``He said he's looking into either bottling water, processing food, caring for the elderly or even turning it back into a resort,'' said Del. Mary Pearl Compton, D-Monroe.
Monroe County, which owned the resort, had borrowed $1.3 million to convert it into an addiction-treatment center. The plan fell through and the county defaulted on the loan.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
The Roanoke office of the Virginia Employment Commission has scheduled an open house Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., to explain its services for job seekers and employers. The event will be at 5060 Valley View Blvd. For information, call 561-7474.
U.S. coal production totaled 17.6 million tons in the week ended Nov. 25, down from 19.5 million tons the previous week and 17.9 million tons in the same week last year, the Department of Energy reported. Virginia mines produced 502,000 tons that week, down from 687,000 tons the previous week but up from 490,000 tons last year. So far this year, production has totaled 926 million tons, slightly behind last year.
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