Process and apparatus for the continuous finishing of webs of textiles, artificial leather and the like

Abstract

An apparatus for treating a web of material of indefinite length consists of a generally rectangular chamber having a single opening at the top and a screen arranged within the chamber to asymmetrically sag in a shape of approximately elliptical cross-section and means for introducing a web treatment medium into the chamber. This apparatus is advantageously combined with a flow-through reversible drum treatment chamber having within a casing a periodically reversed rotating drum through which a web of material is received in the relaxed state travelling continuously through the interior of the drum and means for controllably conditioning air and introducing the air into the drum. The apparatus can further consist of a casing enclosing a chamber containing a plurality of upper and lower rollers arranged within the casing such that the web of material traversing the chamber passes around the rollers in a vertical zig-zag path of loops with upper and lower distributor means positioned within the chamber for distributing diverse treatment media to preselected regions of the chamber and directing the diverse treatment media on preselected portions of the web. The apparatus is most advantageously used in the process of continuously finishing a web of material of indefinite length by wetting the web of material to a uniform moisture content of about 20-50%, heating the web, moving the web in a relaxed state through a rotating reversible drum and flattening the web to an easily transported shape.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.