When i started working on pool tables back in the early 80's there was no Simonis cloth on any pool tables, i had never even heard of it. From the 50' through the mid 80's the best playing cloth there ever was, was the Stevens 22oz superweave, all tournaments were played on it, Brunswick sold it under a different name, of which i can't remember for the life of me. To this day, i still believe it was the best playing cloth to ever be installed on a pool table. Balls skidding was like the chance odds of seeing a volcano eruption live, unless the cloth was dirty as hell, or completly worn out. When the Mali cloth company bought the Stevens mill out, then changed the weave, the new weave was changed to be just like all the other Mali cloths, of which i refused to install on pool tables if i myself wouldn't play on it. So, one time recovering a 6'×12' snooker table at the 211 club in Seattle, the owner John, gave me a cloth to install in the table, of which I'd never seen before, Simonis 760 snooker cloth!! I think that was around 85' or so. I was so impressed with how it rolled, and the speed of the cloth, i thought to myself...this cloth could replace the Stevens cloth....oh hell yeah!! So, i started installing the 760 on bar tables in my area to begin with, then, next thing you know, my accounts grew to 328 bars and a 1,000+ tables a year getting Simonis 760 installed. The only drawback was the burn marks predominantly showing up on the tables. Then, everyone started having it installed, and even though it marked up, it was better than the alternative of having to play on Mali cloth. Next thing you know, Granito cloth was introduced to the market place as a cloth that played great, like the 760, but didn't show the break lines, only problem was, after XX amount of hours of usage, it started to develop tears in the cloth going across the table in the ghost rack wear behind the rack area on the table. Then along came Championship with their 3030 cloth that played like I'd installed a canvas material on the slate, got faster and faster as it wore, BUT...didn't show nick marks in the cloth, and it wore like canvas too, but played like shit after it was worn out....but bar owners thought....hey, it still LOOKS ok, nope, not changing the cloth right now...SO, bar tables started playing like shit until they FINALLY changed the 3030.
So, bottom line, i don't know the history of the 760, i just know it's intended use was on snooker tables....and i pioneered it on bar tables first, then pool room second. Then as fast as it came into the market place, it left just as fast, being replaced by the Simonis 860 which is another history lesson, BUT the 860 we first started with in this country was a thicker thread, 70%wool, 30% nylon descendent of the 760, and showed the break lines just as much, still a down fall of the cloth. THAT cloth is whats sold in Europe today, and is a humidity resistance cloth because of the 30% nylon in the weave. That is when Simonis changed to the 860 90%wool, 10%nylon as a way of combating the predominant break lines, but the added wool slowed down the cloth horribly in my opinion. Then, along comes the 860HR....high resistance, 70%wool 30%nylon only the dominant break lines don't show up anymore because the finishing process was changed, and now you have todays Simonis 860HR.
