GB2078268A

GB2078268A - Continuous Treatment of a Cloth

Info

Publication number: GB2078268A
Application number: GB8119332A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sando Iron Works Co Ltd
Priority date: 1980-06-23
Filing date: 1981-06-23
Publication date: 1982-01-06
Also published as: DE3124327A1; GB2078268B

Abstract

Continuous treatment of a cloth, such as a pretreatment, dyeing or print dyeing wherein the cloth 3 to be treated is soaked in an air vessel 1 with treatment liquid, air within the vessel 1 being maintained at high pressure but at ordinary temperatures. The resultant cloth is then fed through a transfer passage 8 into a steamer vessel 2 where the cloth is subjected to a wet-heat treatment, the interior of the steamer vessel 2 being maintained at conditions of superatmospheric pressure with steam at about 100 DEG C. The transfer passage 8 is provided with rolls 8l which guide the cloth without subjecting the cloth to any squeezing action, and is also provided with an arrangement 8a to prevent mixing of air from vessel 1 and steam from vessel 2. This arrangement 8 includes two pressure reducing chambers 8b and 8c arranged in series and exhaust pipes 8h and 8l gradually to bleed air or steam as appropriate from the associated chamber. A cloth inlet to the air vessel 1 and a cloth outlet from the steamer chamber 2 are fitted with respective seal mechanisms 9 and 10. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATIOn Method and Apparatus for the Continuous Treatment of a Cloth This invention relates to a method and to apparatus for the continuous treatment of a long cloth, such as a pretreatment including at least one of desizing, scouring and bleaching or a dyeing or print dyeing treatment.

For the continuous commercial treatment of a long cloth, the use of a high pressure steamer has been recently developed, and the present applicants have proposed various inventions concerning such steamers. It is usual to provide conventional high pressure steamers for the continuous treatment of a long cloth with an inlet seal mechanism and an outlet seal mechanism, each of which mechanisms includes a pair of rubber seal rolls urged together to define a nip through which the cloth can be transported continuously while maintaining the wet-heat conditions at superatmospheric pressure within the interior of the steamer vessel without allowing any substantial leakage.Such a high pressure steamer has the serious drawback that a cloth soaked with a treatment solution outside of the steamer vessel is unavoidably squeezed on passing through the inlet rubber seal rolls due to the nip pressure thereof, and this reduces the water content of the cloth. Consequently, the wet-heat conditions in ths steamer vessel may be insufficient to proceed satisfactorily with the wetheat treatment of the cloth, resulting in insufficient and nonuniform treatment. Moreover, the rubber seal rolls of the seal mechanisms are exposed to the high temperature wet-heat in the steamer vessel, and this shortens the life thereof, giving rise to the need frequently to effect repairs.

Another proposal made in an attempt to reduce the problems concerning the squeezing of the cloth is to apply a treatment solution to the cloth or to supplement the water content thereof in the interior of the steamer vessel at the high temperature there, but uniform and satisfactory treatment of a cloth can hardly be done thereby.

The cloth to be treated, on entering the steamer vessel is at ordinary temperatures, so that it is difficult to keep the temperature of the treatment solution or water to be applied constant, preventing the uniform application of the treatment liquid to the cloth. In particular, if the cloth is immersed in the treatment solution in a liquid tank arranged within the steamer, the treatment solution is unavoidably diluted due to the condensation of steam in the steamer vessel.

In the case of dyeing a cloth, a dye solution also is frequently degraded at higher temperatures.

In view of the foregoing, a principal aim of the present invention is to provide an improved method or apparatus both for the continuous treatment of a long cloth such as a pretreatment including desizing, scouring and bleaching or a dyeing or print dyeing treatment, utilising a wetheat process in a high pressure steamer.

Accordingly, one aspect of this invention provides a method for the continuous treatment of a cloth in apparatus including an air vessel, a steamer vessel and a transfer passage interconnecting the two vessels, in which method the interior of the air vessel is maintained at conditions of superatmospheric pressure with air at ordinary temperatures, the interior of the steamer vessel is maintained at conditions of wetheat with steam at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature in excess of 1 000C, and the cloth is fed continuously into the air vessel, soaked with treatment liquid therewithin, passed through the transfer passage into the steamer vessel without being subjected to squeezing, and then subjected to wet-heat treatment in the steamer vessel, the transfer passage being arranged to prevent mixing between air in the air vessel and steam in the steamer vessel.

The treatment solution employed may for example be a caustic alkali solution or a dye solution or even water, in the case of a print dyeing treatment.

In a preferred method of this invention, the wet-heat treated cloth is further treated with cleansing water for cooling, cleansing and setting the cloth in a further air vessel the interior of which is maintained at conditions of superatmospheric pressure with air at ordinary temperature, which further air vessel is connected to the steamer vessel by means of a further transfer passage through which the cloth is guided on leaving the steamer vessel, the further transfer passage being arranged to prevent mixing between air in the further air vessel and steam in the steamer vessel.

Another aspect of this invention provides apparatus for the continuous treatment of a cloth, comprising an air vessel provided with means to maintain air within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and with means for soaking a cloth with a treatment liquid on the cloth passing therethrough, a steamer vessel provided with means to maintain steam within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature above 1000C, a cloth transfer passage interconnecting a cloth outlet from the air vessel and a cloth inlet to the steamer vessel, the passage being provided with means to guide a cloth continuously therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing and with means to prevent mixing of air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel, and means continuously to transport a cloth into, through and out of the air vessel into the cloth transfer passage, and on leaving the transfer passage into, through and out of the steamer vessel.

In a preferred form of the apparatus, there is a further air vessel by a further cloth transfer passage, the further air vessel being provided with means to maintain air within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and the further cloth transfer passage being provided with means to guide a cloth therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing and with means to prevent mixing of air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel, the continuous cloth transport means being adapted to transport the cloth from the further cloth transfer passage into, through and out of the further air vessel.

The (or each, in the case of the provision of two air chambers) cloth transfer passage is advantageously provided with a plurality of guide rolls over which the cloth passes without being squeezed and without touching the sides of the passage, so as not to affect the water content of the cloth. Moreover, the mixing preventing means may comprise a pressure reducing arrangemnt for gradually exhausting therethrough air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel, and that arrangement advantageously comprises two pressure reducing chambers, one associated with the air vessel and the other associated with the steamer vessel, and means to bleed air from the one chamber and to bleed steam from the other chamber before mixing of the air and steam takes place.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that in this invention, a cloth to be treated is soaked with a treatment liquid in an air vessel containing air at a high pressure but at an ordinary temperature, whereafter the cloth is transferred without being squeezed into a steamer vessel the interior of which is maintained at conditions of high pressure wet-heat to effect the required treatment on the cloth. The wet-heat treated cloth can further be cleansed, cooled and set in another air vessel also containing high pressure air but at an ordinary temperature. In this preferred arrangement, the seal mechanisms at both the cloth inlet to the apparatus and the cloth outlet therefrom are protected from the hot steam in the steamer vessel.

By way of example only, four specific embodiments of this invention will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic transverse sectional view of the first embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, arranged for the continuous treatment of a cloth; and Figures 2 to 4 are similar views of the second to fourth embodiments of this invention, respectively.

In the following description of the four preferred embodiments, like parts or parts which perform generally similar functions all are given like reference characters, and after the first description of such a part, it will not be described in detail again.

Example 1 In Figure 1 there is shown an air vessel 1 and a steamer vessel 2. The air vessel 1 is provided with a cloth inlet 4 and a cloth outlet 5, through which a cloth to be treated may be continuously transported. The steamer vessel 2 is similarly provided with a cloth inlet 6 and a cloth outlet 7.

The air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2 are arranged in series, the cloth outlet 5 of the air vessel 1 and the cloth inlet 6 of the steamer vessel 2 being connected by a cloth passage 8 provided with suitable means for guiding the cloth therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing, and with means for preventing the mixing of high pressure air within the air vessel with high pressure steam within the steamer vessel. The cloth inlet 4 of the air vessel 1 is provided with an inlet seal mechanism 9 which enables the continuous passage of a cloth 3 therealong whilst allowing the maintenance of the interior of the air vessel at a prescribed high pressure, and the cloth outlet 7 of the steamer vessel 2 is provided similarly with an outlet seal mechanism 10.

Various proposals have been made by the present applicants for seal mechanisms for high pressure vessels, and the seals to be used in this embodiment of the present invention may be selected from those proposals. For instance, in this embodiment, the inlet seal mechanism 9 comprises a pair of rubber seal rolls 9, pressed into engagement with each other to define a nip, and air supply pipes 92 for supplying air at a high pressure but at ordinary temperatures to the air vessel 1.The outlet seal mechanism 10 of the steamer vessel 2 comprises a pair of rubber seal rolls 10, pressed into engagement with each other to define a nip, a substantially J-shaped slow cooling tank 1 02, a liquid supply pipe 103 for supplying slow cooling and washing liquid to the slow cooling tank 1 02, and a guide wall 1 04 firstly to direct the slow cooling and washing liquid on to the rubber seal rolls 101 to cool the rubber seal rolls 10, and then to direct the liquid into the slow cooling tank 102.

The cloth passage 8 is provided with a number of cloth guide rolls 8, for transporting the cloth continuously therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing. Also provided is a pressure reducing arrangement 8a to prevent the mixing of air under high pressure within the air vessel 1 with steam also under high pressure within the steamer vessel 2. The pressure reducing arrangement 8a comprises first and second pressure reducing chambers 8b and 8c arranged one above the other, in series. The first pressure reducing chamber 8b is provided with a nozzle 8 a port 8e corresponding in form to the nozzle 8d and an exhaust pipe 8h to allow the gradual bleeding of high pressure air in the air vessel 1.

Similarly, the second pressure reducing chamber 8c is provided with a nozzle 8f, a port 8g corresponding in form to the nozzle 8f and an exhaust pipe 8 to allow the gradual bleeding of high pressure steam in the steamer vessel 2. As a consequence, the mixing of high pressure air in the air vessel 1 and the high pressure steam in the steamer vessel can satisfactorily be prevented, without any mixing taking place.Drain pipes 82 and 83 are provided to discharge water condensing in the pressure reducing chambers 8b and 8c. By the way, for such circumstances where the pressures within the air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2 are not too high, one pressure reducing chamber may be sufficient simultaneously to exhaust the high pressure air in the air vessel 1 and the high pressure steam in the steamer vessel 2.

A plurality of cloth guide rolls 11 are provided in the air vessel 1 to define a zigzag path for the cloth 3, the lower rolls 11 being disposed in a liquid tank 12 which can be filled with a pretreating solution such as a caustic alkali solution or a dye solution. Thus, a cloth 3 to be treated can be transported along the path having generally vertically extending runs while being soaked sufficiently and repeatedly with a treating solution. For some circumstances, a treating solution may preliminarily be jetted on to the cloth by means of liquid jet nozzles 14.

A plurality of cloth guide rolls 1 5 are provided in the steamer vessel 2 to define a zigzag path along which the cloth can be transported continuously while being wet-heat treated by the high pressure steam in the steamer vessel 2.

Tension control rolls 1 6 are provided at suitable locations, and a steam pipe 1 7 is disposed for blowing super heated steam into the vessel to maintain the interior thereof at the required conditions of wet-heat at the prescribed temperature.

Continuous treatment of a long cloth 3, for instance a pretreatment, using the apparatus is performed as follows. At first the interior of the air vessel 1 is maintained, for instance, at a pressure of 5 kg/cm2 by blowing air under pressure but at ordinary temperatures into the air vessel 1 by means of the air supply pipe 92l and the liquid tank 1 2 is filled with the required pretreating solution 13, for instance a caustic alkali solution, also at ordinary temperatures.The interior of the steamer vessel 2 is maintained at a pressure substantially equal to that in the air vessel 1, for instance 5 kg/cm2, by blowing super heated steam into the steamer vessel 2 through the steam pipe 1 7. Water at ordinary temperatures or cooled water is supplied circulatively to the slow cooling tank 102 of the seal mechanism 10, so as to maintain the temperature of the water in the slow cooling tank 102 at about 500C.The internal pressures within the air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2 are kept constant (at 5 kg/cm2) due to the sealing effect of the seal mechanisms 9 and 10, and the mixing of the high pressure air from the air vessel 1 and the high pressure steam from the steamer vessel 2 can satisfactorily be prevented due to the effect of the pressure reducing arrangement 8a which is provided in the cloth passage 8 connecting the air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2. The two vessels thus exist independently as an air vessel and a steamer vessel, both being maintained at the prescribed equal pressures (for instance 5 kg/cm2). Since the interior of the air vessel 1 is isolated from the high temperature steam in the steamer vessel 2, the temperature of the pretreating solution 1 3 in the liquid tank 12 can be kept constant at ordinary temperatures.

Then the long cloth 3 to be pretreated is supplied to the air vessel 1 where the cloth is immersed repeatedly in the pretreating solution 13 to soak the cloth uniformly and sufficiently with the pretreating solution at a constant ordinary temperature. The cloth containing a sufficient amount of the pretreating solution 3 is continuously transferred through the cloth passage 8 into the steamer vessel 2 with no squeezing of the cloth taking place and with no mixing of the high pressure air in the air vessel 1 and the high pressure steam in the steamer vessel 2.In the steamer vessel 2, the cloth is guided along the zigzag path defined by the plurality of cloth guide rolls 1 5 including the tension control rolls 16, while the cloth is wet-heat treated effectively in the presence of the large amount of water under the saturated steam atmosphere at a high temperature and pressure in the steamer vessel 2. As a result, the continuous pretreatment of a cloth including desizing, scouring and bleaching is satisfactorily performed in a short time.

Following the pretreatment, the cloth is cooled and washed preliminarily on passing through the slow cooling tank 102, and is then taken out of the steamer vessel 2 for further processing. As mentioned above, for some circumstances, the pretreating solution may be jetted to the cloth in a preliminarily step by means of the liquid jet nozzles 14 in the air vessel 1. The dyeing and print dyeing of a long cloth can similarly be done continuously in the described apparatus.

Example 2 As shown in Figure 2, the apparatus of this embodiment comprises an air vessel 1, a steamer vessel 2 and another air vessel 22, all arranged in series. The three vessels are connected to one another by means of cloth passages 8 and 8' which are provided respectively with cloth guide rolls 8, and 8,', and pressure reducing arrangements 8a and 8al. The air vessel 1 has a cloth inlet 4 and the air vessel 22 has a cloth outlet 23, which inlet 4 and outlet 23 are respectively provided with an inlet seal mechanism 9 and an outlet seal mechanism 10.

The constructions of these mechanisms are are the same as in Example 1, but the outlet seal mechanism 10 does not here utilise a guide wall for cooling the rubber seal rolls 101. In this example, since both the inlet and the outlet of the steamer vessel 2 are connected to the air vessels 1 and 22 by means of the cloth passages 8 and 8', steam at high pressure in the steamer vessel 2 cannot enter the air vessels 1 and 22 because of the use of the pressure reducing arrangements 8a and 8al and neither seal mechanism 9 nor 10 is heated by the wet-heat treatment steam.

Therefore, this apparatus has the merits that the sealing of the apparatus can be done more effectively and the rubber seal rolls 91 and 101 are quite durable.

In the air vessel 1, there is a plurality of cloth guide rolls 11 defining a zigzag path along which the cloth 3 to be treated can be transported, and a plurality of liquid jet nozzles 14 for jetting a treating liquid on to the cloth. In the steamer vessel 2, a plurality of cloth guide rolls 1 5 including tension control rolls 1 6 are provided again to define a zigzag path for the cloth. In the air vessel 22, there is a pair of endless net conveyors 23, and 232 provided one above the other with their runs parallel, to form a cloth passage 24 therebetween.

A plurality of liquid nozzles 25 are provided alternately above and below the passage 24, for jetting cleansing water on to the cloth being conveyed therealong.

To use the apparatus for instance in dyeing a long cloth continuously, the cloth 3 is fed into the air vessel 1 where the cloth is sufficiently soaked with the dye solution by jetting the dye solution thereon by means of the liquid nozzles 1 4. The cloth is then transported into the steamer vessel 2 through the cloth passage 8 with no squeezing taking place and with no mixing of the air at high pressure in the air vessel 1 and the steam at high pressure in the steamer vessel 2, and is passed through the steamer vessel 2 while the cloth is wet-heat treated, as in Example 1. The dye is fixed effectively in a short time, and continuous dyeing of a cloth is performed satisfactorily to produce a uniform and excellent product.

In this example, the effectively dyed cloth is further transported through the cloth passage 8' into the second air vessel 22, and cleansing water is jetted on to the cloth alternatively from both sides thereof by means of the liquid nozzles 25 while the cloth passes along the cloth passage 24. The cloth takes up a snake-like undulating attitude but is not subjected to tension, and consequently the cloth is cooled, cleansed and set very effectively.

In print dyeing a cloth continuously using the apparatus of this example, a cloth printed previously with a dye solution outside of the apparatus is fed into the air vessel 1 where water is jetted from the liquid nozzles 14 on tohhe cloth, sufficiently to supplement the water already on the cloth. Further processing of the cloth is the same as has heen described above, and thus the continuous print dyeing of a cloth can be done most effectively.

Example 3 The apparatus of this embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3, is a modification of Example 2 shown in Figure 2. In this embodiment, the transportation means for the cloth 3 in the air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2 respectively comprise a pair of endless net conveyors 26 and 27 to form cloth passages there between, in a similar manner to that in the case of the air vessel 22, and 28 and 29 are jet nozzles provided alternately above and below the cloth passages respectively in the two vessels, for jetting treating solution and super heated steam respectively to the cloth passing along the passages. The cloth thus takes up a snake-like undulating form under conditions of no tension as the cloth passes along the cloth passages, while being treated with the treating solution and steam in the two vessels respectively.

Whereas the cloth is transported through the air vessel 1 and the steamer vessel 2 along generally vertically-extending runs of the zigzag paths while being subjected to tension in the case of Example 2, here in this Example 3 the cloth is transported in an undulating state without being subjected to tension throughout the whole process. Consequently, this apparatus is particularly suitable for the continuous treatment of a knitted cloth.

Example 4 In this fourth embodiment of apparatus of this invention shown in Figure 4, the steamer vessel is divided into two vessels 2 and 2' interconnected by means of a cloth passage 30 which is provided with a number of cloth guide rolls 31. Apart from this difference, the construction of this apparatus can be understood from the preceding examples, and so far as is possible like reference characters are used for like parts. More than two steamer vessels may be arranged in series, in a similar manner to that just-mentioned. Since the wetheat treatment of a cloth is in this embodiment done in a plurality of steamer vessels, the unit size of each steamer vessel can be made relatively small to allow the wet-heat treatment of a cloth to be performed more effectively.

As is apparent from the foregoing description of the four embodiments, a long cloth to be treated is subjected to a treatment such as a pretreatment including desizing, scouring and bleaching, or such as dyeing or print dyeing, by being transported continuously through the apparatus which includes an air vessel in which air at ordinary temperatures is maintained at an elevated pressure, and a steamer vessel in which there is steam at a superatmospheric pressure and temperature above the boiling point of water.

In the air vessel, the cloth is soaked with a treating liquid and then the cloth is transferred through a cloth passage into the steamer vessel, the cloth passage being provided with means for guiding the cloth continuously without subjecting the cloth to squeezing and being provided with means for preventing the mixing of high pressure air in the air vessel and high pressure steam in the steamer vessel.

The cloth sufficiently soaked with a treating liquid at ordinary temperatures in the air vessel so as to contain a large amount of water is wet-heat treated under the conditions of saturated vapour at a high temperature in the steamer vessel. In this way, the cloth is treated sufficiently in a short time to produce an excellent product. Since the treating solution is applied to the cloth in the air vessel at ordinary temperatures by preventing high pressure steam in the steamer vessel entering the air vessel, there is no danger that the treating solution will become diluted due to the condensation of water vapour from higher tdmperatures, so that the application of the treating solution to the cloth can be done sufficiently and uniformly, continuously to produce a uniform product.

If a further air vessel is provided in which cleansing water is jetted onto the treated cloth after the cloth leaves the steamer vessel, not only is the cloth cooled, cleansed and set but also the outlet seal mechanism of the apparatus can be isolated from the heating effect of the steam, so as to seal the apparatus more effectively and to prolong the life of the outlet rubber seal rolls. Furthermore, by dividing the steamer vessel into two or more smaller vessels, the unit size of each steamer vessel can be made smaller, to allow more effective wet-heat treatment of a cloth.

Claims

1. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth in apparatus including an air vessel, a steamer vessel and a transfer passage interconnecting the two vessels, in which method the interior of the air vessel is maintained at conditions of superatmospheric pressure with air at ordinary temperatures, the interior of the steamer vessel is maintained at conditions of wetheat with steam at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature in excess of 1000C, and the cloth is fed continuously into the air vessel, soaked with treatment liquid therewithin, passed through the transfer passage into the steamer vessel without being subjected to squeezing, and then subjected to wet-heat treatment in the steamer vessel, the transfer passage being arranged to prevent mixing between air in the air vessel and steam in the steamer vessel.

2. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to claim 1, in which the treatment effected comprises a pretreatment including at least one of desizing, scouring and bleaching, the cloth being soaked with a caustic alkali solution in the air vessel.

3. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to claim 1, in which the treatment effected comprises dyeing the cloth being soaked with dye solution in the air vessel.

4. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to claim 1, in which the treatment effected comprises print dyeing, the cloth being printed with dye before entering the air vessel and being soaked with water in the air vessel.

5. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to any of the preceding claims, in which the wet-heat treated cloth is further treated with cleansing water for cooling, cleansing and setting the cloth in a further air vessel the interior of which is maintained at conditions of superatmospheric pressure with air at ordinary temperature, which further air vessel is connected to the steamer vessel by means of a further transfer passage through which the cloth is guided on leaving the steamer vessel, the further transfer passage being arranged to prevent mixing between air in the further air vessel and steam in the steamer vessel.

6. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to any of the preceding claims, in which the pressure maintained in the steamer vessel is substantially equal to the air pressure maintained in the or other air vessel.

7. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth according to any of the preceding claims, in which the or each transfer passage is provided with two pressure reducing chambers arranged in series, one for the adjacent air vessel and the other for the adjacent steamer vessel, air or steam as appropriate being bled out of the pressure reducing chambers to prevent mixing of the air and steam therewithin.

8. A method for the continuous treatment of a cloth substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. Apparatus for the continuous treatment of a cloth, comprising an air vessel provided with means to maintain air within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and with means for soaking a cloth with a treatment liquid on the cloth passing therethrough, a steamer vessel provided with means to maintain steam within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature above 1000C, a cloth transfer passage interconnecting a cloth outlet from the air vessel and a cloth inlet to the steamer vessel, the passage being provided with means to guide a cloth continuously therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing and with means to prevent mixing of air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel, and means continuously to transport a cloth into, through and out of the air vessel into the cloth transfer passage, and on leaving the transfer passage into, through and out of the steamer vessel.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9, whercin there is a further air vessel a cloth inlet to which is connected to the cloth outlet from the steamer vessel by a further cloth transfer passage, the further air vessel being provided with means to maintain air within the interior thereof at superatmospheric pressure and the further cloth transfer passage being provided with means to guide a cloth therealong without subjecting the cloth to squeezing and with means to prevent mixing of air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel, the continuous cloth transport means being adapted to transport the cloth from the further cloth transfer passage into, through and out of the further air vessel.

11. Apparatus according to claim 9 or claim 10, wherein the steamer vessel is divided into two or more vessels connected in series by means of one or more cloth passages provided with means for guiding the cloth continuously therethrough.

12. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the means for guiding the cloth continuously along the cloth transfer passage comprises a plurality of cloth guide rolls suitably disposed for the cloth to run thereover without contacting the transfer passage.

13. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 12, wherein the mixing preventing means in the or each cloth transfer passage comprises a pressure reducing arrangement for gradually exhausting therethorugh air from the air vessel and steam from the steamer vessel.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the pressure reducing arrangement comprises two pressure reducing chambers, one associated with the air vessel and the other associated with the steamer vessel, and means to bleed air from the one chamber and to bleed steam from the other chamber before mixing of the air and steam takes place.

1 5. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 14, wherein an inlet seal mechanism is provided at the inlet to the air vessel, and an outlet seal mechanism is provided at the outlet from the steamer vessel or at the outlet from the further air vessel if provided, the seal mechanisms serving to allow the continuous transporting of a cloth therethrough without allowing any substantial leakage of the air or steam present at superatmospheric pressure within the associated vessel.

1 6. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 15, wherein the continuous transport means includes a plurality of guide rolls disposed in at least one of the vessels to define an alongate path of zigzag form along which the cloth is transported whilst being treated.

1 7. Apparatus according to any of claims 9 to 16, wherein the continuous transport means includes a pair of conveyors disposed one above the other in at least one of the vessels such that the adjacent runs define a passage along which the cloth is transported whilst being treated.

1 8. Apparatus for the continuous treatment of a cloth, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in any one of Figures 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings.