Process and apparatus for treating articles and preventing their wrap around a roller

Apparatus for chemically treating flexible, generally flat discrete articles that have leading and trailing edges and which are sufficiently thin to have a tendency to wrap around a nip roller when leaving a roller nip in the presence of a liquid, when the treatment is in a chamber with a liquid treatment fluid, wherein the fluid is applied to articles being delivered along a path of travel for the articles, the apparatus comprising:

• (a) means providing a substantially closed chamber for treating articles therein;
• (b) means for serially delivering the articles along a path of travel through the chamber;
• (c) means for applying a liquid treatment fluid to the articles being delivered along their path of travel through the chamber;
• (d) means comprising opposed rotating cylindrical surfaced roller members mounted in the chamber to engage the articles in a nip therebetween to keep treatment fluid that is being applied to articles in the chamber from passing downstream of the nip;
• and
• (e) means for contacting the flexible discrete articles as their leading edges pass downstream of and while close to the nip of the roller members and urging the articles away from a surface of one of said roller members to restrain the flexible articles coming out of the nip from adhering to the surface of said roller member.