Apparatus for drying and stabilizing pieces of woven or knitted fabric

Apparatus for drying pieces of woven or knitted fabric formed as an endless loop of material, comprising an enclosed main housing having a front wall and a rear wall, a hatch in said front wall, means for providing dry air, a dry air inlet in said rear wall for passing dry air into the main housing, a moist air outlet in said rear wall, at least one transverse rotatable shaft, means for driving said shaft in rotation, an openwork barrel-shaped drum disposed on said shaft opposite said moist air outlet, said drum supportingly receivable of a first portion of said endless loop of material, a downwardly sloping partition extending from said rear wall at a point below said moist air outlet towards said front wall and having a smooth surface directed towards said drum, at least a portion of said smooth surface being concave toward said drum, said smooth surface being slidingly supportable of a second portion of said endless loop of material formed in regular and natural folds, an upwardly directed channel communicating with said partition, an outlet from said channel situated at a point not higher than the bottom of said drum, and at least one deflector at said outlet directed towards said transverse shaft, said dry air inlet being disposed beneath said partition, whereby, in operation, rotation of said drum causes rotation of said endless loop of material about said drum causing fabric to be lifted from said smooth surface passed over said drum and returned to said smooth surface, said fabric returned to said smooth surface forming regular and natural folds which slide down said smooth surface, while dry air enters through said inlet, passes beneath said partition, upwardly through said channel and channel outlet and passes through said material and said drum and is removed via said moist air outlet.