This year marks the 25th anniversary since the inception of the James Heal Titan range of universal testing machines. The past two and a half decades of crafting Titan instruments has seen immense success, with these instruments being sold and used in over 60 countries across the world, becoming a firm laboratory favourite.
With the recent launch of our brand new Titan 25, and newly refined Titan 10 models, we have created this retrospective look at our most iconic and market leading universal strength testers.
Explore the BRAND NEW Titan 25, and newly refined Titan 10, on the Universal Testing Machines section of our website.
1990's
Before we established our more contemporary universal testing machines, we offered the Alphatens model 400. This instrument was floor standing and was quite a large machine, as most were at this time due to the size electromechanical components of the early 90's.
1998
Neil Pryke (pictured) was at the time a Mechanical Design Engineer in our Design Team. It was Neil who lead the Titan Project to revolutionise universal testing machines at James Heal.
1999
The arrival of the first Titan series universal testing machine, the Titan model 510. This bench top instrument was now one of the most streamlined and contemporary of the universal testers on the market.
2005
The next instrument in the Titan range emerges, Titan model 710, with improved design and with more tests available in the Titan Software.
2009
The third installation of the Titan range of universal testing machines, Titan 3 model 910, restyled and with capability of testing in compression mode. The Titan Software was also made to be compatible with Windows 7.
2011
James Heal undertook an extensive rebrand, working with the Design Council to position the James Heal brand as the contemporary, market leader in the textiles testing field. This rebrand introduced the compass which we now see as the James Heal icon.
2011
The Titan 4 was reimagined into the style that we are more familiar with today, with a sleek, monochrome build, featuring the James Heal column lighting. The Titan 4 was released at ITMA Barcelona in 2011, along with our game changing TestWise software.
2015
The highest capacity universal testing machine so far, the Titan 5 was released with an extensive range of tooling. At this point there were already several hundred standards with parameters built into the TestWise software, proving to be a favourite for laboratories across the world.
2017
James Heal's first ever dual column universal testing machine. Titan 10 performs tension and compression testing up to 10 kN, expanding the capabilities of testing to cover materials testing far more than just traditional apparel textiles.
2024
This year marks the release of our most advanced and high capacity universal testing machine. Achieving highs of 25 kN, this instrument has the capability to test items such as safety footwear compression testing, safety harness tensile testing, and many more, with over 750 test methods programmed into the TestWise software.
Titan 25
Discover our brand new Universal Testing Machine with TestWise™ software
Titan 25 is the highest capacity universal strength tester in the James Heal range, suitable for testing a diverse range of applications - including apparel, footwear, nonwovens, safety harnesses and straps, and other non-textile materials.
