GB2084615A - Apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material - Google Patents

Abstract

Apparatus for the continuous or semi-continuous washing of roller towels or other elongate webs of textile material comprises a 'J'-box or soak tank (4), a vibratory dry sieve filter (16) arranged to separate fluff, lint, dirt and the like from rinsing water, a rotary perforated scroll (22) located in a scroll tank (55) that contains hot rinse water, the interior of the rotary scroll (22) being subject to a source of suction, stacks of rotary drying cylinders (27) and a magazine scray (64). The mouth of the 'J'-box or soak tank (4) is provided with a guide assembly and with a grooved driving roller (3) and a cooperating displaceable roller (31). The rollers (3) and (31) are grooved and the grooves receive rods of a guide assembly in such a way that, during use of the apparatus, a towel or other elongate web passing between the rollers and between co-planar pairs of rods of the guide assembly will be concertina-folded into the box/tank (4) until a weight-sensitive switch is tripped when said box/tank (4) is substantially full. The speed of movement of a towel or other web through the apparatus is such that each region thereof will remain in a concertina-folded condition in the 'J'-box or soak tank (4) for a sufficient length of time to become thoroughly soaked by heated aqueous detergent solution or other liquid contained therein. The apparatus is used in such a way that dirty towels or other webs are tack-stitched or otherwise temporarily connected to one another adjacent to a supply hopper (28) of the apparatus and are disconnected from one another after the tripping of a detector switch (66) by such a temporary connection adjacent to a re-winding mandrel (65) for the successive towels or other webs. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material This invention relates to apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material and particularly, but not exclusively, to apparatus for the washing of roller towels of the kind that are employed in offices, factories, hotels, kitchens, workrooms and so on.

Conventionally, such roller towels are washed in batches and require a considerable amount of handling by operatives despite the use of various labour saving devices to reduce the manual work that is necessary.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus for washing roller towels and other elongate webs of textile material in a continuous or semi-continuous, as opposed to batch, manner, the apparatus advantageously being capable of dealing simultaneously with a plurality of towels or other textile webs. An apparatus in accordance with the invention produces an entirely satisfactory result whilst significantly reducing the amount of heavy manual labour involved as compared with traditional washing techniques.

According to the invention, there is provided an apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material in a continuous or semi-continuous manner, the apparatus including a 'J'-box or soak tank and means to feed webs of textile material into said 'J'-box or soak tank over a guide assembly in such way that the webs are concertina-folded into the 'J'-box or soak tank, the webs being moved through the apparatus, during the use thereof, at such a speed that each region of each web will remain in liquid contained in the 'J'-box or soak tank for a sufficient period of time to become thoroughly soaked in that liquid.

For a better understanding of the invention, and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be#made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIGURE 1 is a side elevation diagrammatically illustrating an apparatus in accordance with the invention and intended for the continuous or semicontinuous washing of elongate roller towels.

FIGURE 2 is an isometric view, to a considerably enlarged scale, illustrating that region of the apparatus in which, during use, one series of endto-end connected roller towels is fed into a 'J'-box or soak tank of the apparatus.

FIGURE 3 is a plan view illustrating the same region of the machine as Figure 2 but making it clear that there are a plurality of successively neighbouring nip rollers that, in use, cooperate with a common driving roller but with corresponding ones of a pluramity of said roller towels or other webs of textile material.

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation substantially corresponding to Figures 2 and 3, FIGURE 5 is a side elevation of a guide assembly that is employed in a towel-receiving region of the 'J'-box or soak tank, and FIGURE 6 is a front elevation of the guide assembly of Figure 5.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the apparatus that is illustrated therein is constructed to enable six elongate roller towels to be washed in a continuous or semi-continuous manner but, since all six towels are dealt with in substantially exactly the same way, it is only necessary to describe the apparatus and its use in detail in relation to one of the towels and the 'multiple lane' feature is readily apparent only in Figure 3 of the drawings. Naturally, the apparatus could be constructed to deal simultaneously with either more or less than six towels or could be constructed as a 'single lane' apparatus which would wash single towels joined end-to-end.

The left-hand side of Figure 1 of the drawings shows an inclined feeding table 1 on which lies a number of dirty roller towels in the conventional rolled-up form in which they are collected, by van, from roller towel machines. The supply of dirty towels on the inclined table 1 is of course, regularly augmented when the apparatus is in use.

The towels for each of the six lanes are loaded, one-by-one, into a supply hopper 28 from which, as will be described below, they are progressively unrolled for advance through the continuous or semi-continuous washing apparatus. When a towel is exhausted in the supply hopper 28 and reaches its lengthwise end, the next dirty towel is passed from the inclined feeding table 1 into said hopper and its outermost free lengthwise end is quickly tack stitched, preferably by the use of a known machine (not illustrated), to the trailing end of the towel that is moving upwardly out of the hopper 28. The initially separate towels are thus temporarily joined together, end-to-end, for movement through the apparatus in the form of a continuous web. They are, of course, eventually separated from one another for re-use, in a clean condition, as will be described below.The towels in each lane move upwardly out of their supply hopper 28 over a roller 29 and over the top of a gantry 30 (Figure 2) from whence they move downwardly through a 90 degree bend and into a driven nip 2. This nip 2 is located at the mouth or receiving region of a corresponding one of six compartments of a common 'J'-box or soak tank 4.

The driven nip 2 comprises a grooved cylindrical driving roller 3 that extends throughout the width of the six similar lanes of the apparatus so as to be rotatable at a slow rate about its own longitudinal axis with the aid of a sprocket wheel and cooperating drive chain (Figure 3) that are located at one axial end thereof. The towel under consideration is pressed against the driven roller3 by a corresponding roller 31 that is individual to the lane concerned. As can be seen best in Figure 2 of the drawings, each roller 31 is freely rotatable about a central shaft 32 whose opposite ends are connected to two arms 33 which arms, in turn, are pivotable about the axis of a substantially horizontal shaft 34 that is parallel to, but spaced from, the shaft 32.The shaft 34 is carried by two lugs 35 which are fixedly secured to an upright wall of the gantry 30 and between which, in use, passes the towel under consideration in the direction indicated by an arrow in Figure 2 of the drawings.

It will be seen from Figure 2 that each individual roller 31 is formed in its cylindrical surface with four regularly spaced apart circumferential grooves 36.

These four grooves 36 cooperate with portions of a corresponding guide assembly whose operative position can be seeen best in Figure 4 of the drawings but whose construction is shown in greater detail in Figures 5 and 6 of those drawings. Each guide assembly comprises four pairs of mild steel rods 37 and 38, the two rods 37 and 38 of each pair having their longitudinal centre lines contained in a single plane which is vertically or substantially vertically perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the two shafts 32 and 34. Each pair of rods 37 and 38 is spaced from the or each immediately neighbouring similar pair by the same distance as the regular spacing between the roller grooves 36.

The four rods 37 of each guide assembly are inclined downwardly to the right (as seen in the drawings) from their upper left hand end and initially extend rectilinearly whereafter they merge into regularly downwardly curved portions whose lowermost ends are vertically or substantially vertically disposed. These lowermost ends merge integrally into shorter oppositely curved portions whose lowermost ends, in turn, merge integrally into straight portions whose lowermost right hand extremities (in the drawings) are welded or otherwise rigidly secured to one longer horizontal limb of a rectangular hoop 39. The last mentioned straight portions of the rods 37 are contained in a plane which is inclined to the horizontal at substantially, but not necessarily exactly, 60 degrees.The general plane of the rectan gular hoop 39 is at right angles to the plane which has just been mentioned and is thus oppositely inclined to the horizontal at an angle of substantially, but not necessarily exactly, 30 degrees. The rods 38 are disposed generally to the right of the rods 37 as seen in Figures 2,4 and 5 of the drawings and each of them comprises an uppermost rectilinear portion that is inclined downwardly to the left at only a few degrees to the vertical, the lowermost end thereof merging integrally into a curved portion that is directed to the right as seen in Figure 5 of the drawings to merge integrally, at its lowermost end, into the upper end of a relatively long straight portion which is parallel to, but spaced from, the lower straight portion ofthecorresponding rod 37.It will be noted from Figure 5 of the drawings that the curved portions of the rods 38 are spaced from the corresponding rods 37, at their closest points of approach, by only a very short distance which may advantageously have a magnitude of substantially 4 mms. The long straight portions of the four rods 38 pass downwardly through the open interior of the rectangular hoop 39 and, at their lowermost ends, merge into relatively tight 180 degree bends whose opposite extremities merge into shorter straight portions which are, of course, parallel to the lower straight portions of the rods 37 and to the longer straight portions of the rods 38.The shorter straight portion of each rod 38 extends upwardly, away from the corresponding bend, to pass through the rectangular hoop 39 at a location where it abuts against the longer substantially horizontal limb of that hoop 39 that is remote from the limb thereof which is directly secured to the lower ends of the four rods 37. The shorter straight portions of the rods 38 are welded or otherwise rigidly secured to said limb of the hoop 39 at the four points of abutting contact between said hoop and the rods 38.

A bar 40 of circular cross section is formed with four transverse holes and these holes adjustably receive the upper left hand ends (in Figure 5) of the initial rectilinear portions of the four rods 37, set screws being employed to secure the rods 37 in appointed positions in the holes in the bar 40.

Further bars 41 and 42 extend parallel to the bar 40 and to the shafts 32 and 34 and are adjustably connected to the upper ends of the four rods 38 and to the upper free ends of the shorter straight portions of the same bars 38, respectively, in the same way as the bar 40 is adjustably connected to the rods 37, said further bars 41 and 42 again being of circular cross section, being formed with transverse holes for the adjustable reception of the rods 38 and with screw threaded holes for securing set screws. As can be seen in Figu re 4 of the drawings, the opposite ends of the bar 40 are pivotally connected to lugs 43 which depend from the gantry 30 whereas the opposite ends of the further bar 41 are pivotally connected to the two arms 33 at locations spaced from the pivot shaft 34 of those two arms 33.The further bar 42 carries a yoke 44 at a location midway along its length, said yoke 44 being screw threaded for the reception of the screw threaded free end of the piston rod of a double-acUng pneumatic piston and cylinder assembly 45. Figure 4 of the drawings shows that each assembly 45 has its cylinder nosemounted on brackets that are rigidly secured to fixed parts of the apparatus.Figure 4 shows pneumatic or other fluid pressure ducts leading to the opposite ends of the cylinder of one assembly 45 and similar ducts for the assemblies 45 which correspond to the other five lanes of the apparatus and it will be appreciated that, depending upon which end of the cylinder of each assembly 45 pressure is supplied to, the corresponding arms 33 and individual roller 31 will be urged under pressure about the axis of the shaft 34 either towards, or away from, the driving roiler 3.

It has previously been mentioned that the surface of the driving roller3 is grooved and these grooves are indicated by the reference 46 in Figure 4 of the drawings. They are formed in the curved surface of the roller 3 in groups of four to match the groups of four grooves 36 in the curved surface of each individual roller31. Each groove 46 is thus in registering relationship with a corresponding one of the grooves 36 and it is also apparent from Figure 4 of the drawings that the larger curved portions of the rods 37 fit in the grooves 46 whereas the upper curved portions of the rods 38 fit in the grooves 36 of the respective individual rollers 31. The grooves 36 and 46 are of sufficient depth to accommodate the respective mild steel rods 37 and 38 so that, as shown in the drawings, the six individual rollers 31 may be pressed firmly towards the driving roller3 with towels that are undergoing treatment by the apparatus nipped between them. Each such towel, it will be appreciated, passes downwardly through the driven nip 2 which coincides with the point of closest approach between the two rods 37 and 38 of each pair and then between the spaced but parallel straight portions of said rods 37 and 38 until it passes through the interior of the rectangular hoop 39.

As the towel is fed downwardly into the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 from between the rods 37 and 38 of the corresponding guide assembly, said towel accumulates within the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 and effectively exerts a back pressure. This back pressure combines with the shape of the guide assembly and the cooperating rollers 3 and 31 in forming the towel into a tight concertina-folded configuration as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings.Figure 2 also shows that, after the concertina-folded towel, whose folds have been produced between the parallel but spaced straight portion of the rods 37 and 38, leaves the rectangular hoop 39, further folding takes place as shown in Figure 2 so that it may be said that, at this point, each towel has a 'folded-folds' configuration where an initially concertina-folded length of towel has been turned successively back upon itself to produce the folded folds which have just been mentioned. In use, the concertina-folded towel builds up in the 'J'-box or soaktank4 until a predetermined weight of the respective compartment of said box/tank 4 and its contents is reached at which time a weight-sensing switch (not shown) is tripped thus reversing the pneumatic or other fluid pressure medium supply to the corresponding piston and cylinder assembly 45.The piston rod of that assembly 45 is thus retracted urging the corresponding individual roller 31 away from the driving roller 3.

The roller 3 continues to rotate but no longer feeds the towel downwardly through the corresponding guide assembly into the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 compartment concerned. As the towel is fed progressively out of the compartment of the box/tank 4 under consideration to further parts of the apparatus that will be described below, the weight of that compartment of the common boxitank 4 and its contents decreases until a point is reached at which the corresponding switch is tripped in the opposite direction thus re-establishing the towel drive through the corresponding nip 2.

Each compartment of the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 is heated, during the use of the apparatus, by steam coils (not shown) and is so designed that it holds each successive roller towel in an angled section thereof (see Figure 1) thus allowing said towel to soak thoroughly in a hot aqueous detergent solution that is contained inside that compartment. The common 'J'-box or soak tank 4 is formed from stainless steel plate and is compartmented by the internal provision of perforated stainless steel guide plates. It will be remembered that over-filling of each compartment of the box/tank 4 with concertina4olded towel is prevented by the corresponding switch that responds to the total weight of that compartment and its contents.

Each thoroughly soaked towel is fed upwardly from the bottom of the corresponding compartment of the box/tank 4 in an unfolded condition through at least one known centraliser 5 from which it passes over a roller 47 and downwardly to move between a pair of rollers constituting a mangle nip 6. The mangle nip 6 removes a large proportion of the hot, or at least warm, aqueous detergent solution from the wet towel, this solution dropping into a funnel collector 48 from whence a duct 49 leads to a reservoir tank 7 via a filter tray 50 that will, of course, require periodic clearing even though not much filterable dirt, fluff and so on is released from the towels by the mangle nip 6.

A pump 8 extracts hot, or at least warm, aqueous detergent solution from the reservoirtank 7 and feeds it to the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 at a location close to the top thereof. The box/tank 4 is fitted with a level-sensitive switch (i.e. a float switch) so that, when the level of the aqueous detergent solution therein falls below a predetermined minimum due to progressive depletion by removal in the soaked towels, said switch is closed and the pump 8 operated to replenish the box/tank 4. A further levelsensitive switch 9 is provided in the reservoirtank7 and, when this switch 9 detects a low level in the reservoir tank 7, it operates a three-way valve 10 to connect the inlet side of the pump 8 to a supply tank 11 of fresh aqueous detergent solution, rather than to the reservoir tank 7 of the re-cycled solution.Once the reservoirtank7 has been replenished from the supply tank 11 via the pump 8, the box/tank 4 and the mangle nip 6, the level-sensitive switch 9 resets the three-way valve 10 to connect the inlet side of the pump 8 to the reservoir tank 7 instead of to the supply tank 11.

The mangle nip 6 is driven and, after passing therethrough, the towel moves through a compensator 12 which comprises three rollers of which the central one is movable upwardly and downwardly to a considerable extent so as automatically to accommodate the degree of slack that may exist in the towel at this point. The towel passes downwardly from the final roller of the compensator 12 into a spray tank 13. There are at least three successive rollers 14 in the spray tank 13 and at least two of these rollers 14 are formed from perforated stainless steel sheet. Each of the two perforated rollers 14, preferably the second and third such rollers in the tank 13, has a corresponding spray bar 15 located close to it, each spray bar 15 carrying a row of spray nozzles.It will be clear from a study of Figure 1 of the drawings that one spray bar 15 is located at one side of any towel passing through the tank 13 whilst the other spray bar 15 is located at the opposite side of that towel. The spray nozzles of the two spray bars 15 are fed with plain rinsing water at high pressure so that both sides of the towel are subjected, in the tank 13, to a very thorough rinsing action.

The rinsing water, which will become contaminated to some extent by residual detergent and with fluff, lint and dirt from the towel, falls under gravity to the bottom of the spray tank 13 and through a funnel-shaped exit thereof into a vibratory dry sieve filter 16. The filter 16 may be the filter that is available commercially from Russell Finex Limited under the trade name "Finex 44" and it is noted that, whilst such vibratory dry sieve filters normally deal with dry materials or with dry materials in a damp condi tion, the filter 16 is here employed to deal with rinse water containing a relatively small proportion of fluff, lint, dirt and the like.

These contaminants are discharged from the filter 16 into a waste container which, of course, will require periodic emptying. The filtered rinsing water, from which the insoluble contaminants have been removed, falls from the filter 16 into the bottom of a surrounding dwell tank 17. The inlet side of a high pressure pump 18 is connected to the dwell tank 17 and the outlet side of that pump directly feeds the two spray bars 15. In order to prevent the slowly accumulating detergent in the spray water from becoming too concentrated, the tank 17 is conseantly fed, during operation, with fresh water at a location which is preferably close to the inlet connection of the pump 18. The dwell tank 17 is provided, at a location remote from this point, with an overflow pipe that leads, via a heat exchanger 19, to a drain.It will be appreciated that the rinse water is much more efficient in operation if it is heated and the tank 17 preferably contains steam pipes (not shown) for this purpose. The heat exchanger 19 enables a large proportion of the heat energy in this water to be re-used and the water which is drained to waste is at a temperature which is only marginally, if at all, above that of the fresh water that is supplied to the tank 17.

After passing through the spray tank 13, the towel moves upwardly over a guide roller 58 and downwardly around a further guide roller 60. It then pas sesthrough a centraliser 20 of known construction and obliquely upwardly into a driven mangle nip 21.

Most of the waterthat is squeezed out of the towel by the mangle nip 21 drops into a funnel collector 51 from whence it is fed by a duct 52 to the inlet of the vibratory dry sieve filter 16. After leaving the mangle nip 21, the towel passes around drums 53 and 54 and downwardly into a scroll tank 55. A large rotary scroll 22 is arranged inside the tank 55 in such a position that the moving towel will pass slowly therearound. The tank 55 contains further hot rinse water and the scroll 22 is perforated and its interior is connected to a source of suction. Thus, as the towel moves slowly around the rotating scroll 22, the hot rinse water within the tank 55 is positively sucked through the fabric of the towel and into the interior of the scroll 22.An overflow duct 56 connects the interior of the scroll tank 55 to the dwell tank 17 and a further duct 57 supplies clean hot water to the tank 55. Rinse water sucked from the interior of the scroll 22 by a suction pump (not shown) is also returned to the dwell tank 17 by a duct that is not illustrated. In order to avoid over-filling of the tank 55, the duct 57 may be supplied with a float-controlled valve at the point where it enters the tank 55.

The thoroughly rinsed, but still wet, towel that has passed around the rotary scroll 22 moves upwardly out of the tank 55 around a guide roller 60 and thence through a driven mangle nip 23 that extracts a large proportion of the rinse water from the towel.

The recovered rinse water drops into a funnel collector 61 from whence it is drained, by gravity, back into the scroll tank 55. After leaving the mangle nip 23, the towel passes around a spring-loaded or weighted compensating roller 24 that will accommodate any slack in, or temporary tightening of, the moving towel, said towel then passing successively over or through a guide 25, a known centraliser 26 and a guide roller 62. The towel passes, from the guide roller 62, to the foot of a first stack of, for example, eight rotary drying cylinders 27.The towel passes successively around the cylinders 27 and, from the top of the stack, substantially horizontally across to the top of a second stack of similar cylinders 27 around which it is threaded so as eventually to leave the bottom of the second stack in a completely clean and completely, or substantially completely, dry condition. The rotary drying cylinders 27 may be perforated and fed, under pressure, from their interiors by warmed drying air and/or the towel passing around them may be subjected externally to a current of warmed drying air.

The clean dried towel passes from the foot of the second stack of cylinders 27 over a driven guide roller 63 to fall into a magazine scray 64. The towel is wound onto a mandrel 65 from the scray 64 passing over a detector switch 66 between these parts. The switch 66 detects the tacked joint between longitudinally interconnected roller towels and, when it is tripped by such a joint to stop the drive to the mandrel 65, an operative quickly removes or cuts the tack stitching at the joint leaving a short trailing end of the towel that is already wound on to the mandrel 65. This towel is then removed from the mandrel 65, the leading end of the next towel is "started" into winding on the mandrel 65 and the switch 66 is manually re-closed to recommence power drive to the mandrel 65.Preferably, the greater part of the apparatus is covered by a cowl 67 provided with an extractor fan 68. This allows steam and humid air to be extracted from the prmises in which the apparatus is used for harmless disposal into the atmosphere.

An important feature of the invention resides in the concertina-folding of the towel into the 'J'-box or soak tank 4 where, due to this folding, it can be reside for a sufficient period of time to become thoroughly soaked in the aqueous detergent solution contained within said box/tank 4. The towels are moved through the apparatus at a speed which will allowthis required residence time of the folded towel in the box/tank 4 to occur. Advantageously, the towel is moved through the apparatus by the driven rollers at such a speed that a towel having a length of 138 feet (42 metres) will take not more than one minute to pass whollyfrom the supply hopper28 to the final towel-rewinding mandrel 65. Clearly, although the apparatus which has been described with reference to the drawings is intended for the continuous or semi-continuous washing and subsequent drying of roller towels, substantially the same apparatus cou Id be used for the treatment of elongate webs, such as piece goods, of textile materials that are not necessary roller towels. It might be necessary to make some minor adjustments to the guide assemblies for this purpose and variations in the quantities and/or concentrations of the liquids in the tanks 4,7, 11, 17 and 55 might also be required.

Claims (22)

1. Apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material in a continuous or semi-continuous manner, the apparatus including a 'J'-box or soak tank and means to feed webs of textile material into said 'J'-box or soak tank over a guide assembly in such a way that the webs are concertina4olded into the 'J'-box or soak tank, the webs being moved through the apparatus, during the use thereof, at such a speed that each region of each web will remain in liquid contained In the 'J'-box or soak tank for a sufficient period of time to become thoroughly soaked in that liquid.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means to feed webs of textile material into the 'J'-box or soak tank includes a driving roller and a roller which is displacably mounted in such a way as to be capable of being urged either towards, or away from, the driving roller whereby a web entered between said rollers in the use of the apparatus will either be drive forwardly through the apparatus, or be undriven depending upon the position of the displaceable roller.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein both rollers are formed in their curved surfaces with circumferential grooves which grooves in the two rollers register in position with one another, and wherein rods forming part of said guide assembly are entered in said grooves.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the guide assembly comprises a plurality of substan- tially coplanar pairs of said rods, the two rods of each pair each including a curved portion that, in the use of the apparatus, is entered in one of the grooves of a corresponding one of said rollers, and wherein the two rods of each pair include straight portions that are parallel to, but spaced apart from, one another and that lie beyond said rollers with respect to the intended direction of movement of webs through the apparatus.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein the two rods of each pair are spaced apart from one another by a minimum distance where their curved portions are entered in said grooves and coincide with the "nip" between the rollers which is established when the displaceable roller is urged towards the driving roller.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said minimum distance has a magnitude of substantially 4mm.

7. Apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the guide assembly also includes bars that extend perpendicular to the planes which contain the longitudinal centre lines of said pairs of rods, said bars interconnecting the rods in such a way that the latter are adjustable in position relative to the bars.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4 or in any one of claims 5 to 7 when read as appendant to claim 4, wherein a rectangular hoop whose general plane is perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the straight portions of said pairs of rods has one of its longer straight limbs rigidly secured to the straight portion of one rod of each pair whilst the straight portion of the other rod of each pair is entered freely through the opening defined by said hoop but is bent back through substantially 180 degrees at a location spaced from that hoop to have the bent back portion, which is also straight or substantially straight, rigidly secured to the other longer straight limb of said rectangular hoop.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7 or in claim 8 when read as appendantto claim 7, wherein a plurality of the bars which interconnect said rods are provided, at least two of said bars being pivotally connected to fixed parts of the apparatus whilst a third bar is coupled both to said rods and to pivotally mounted arms which carry the displaceable roller.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said third bar is linked to a double-acting fluid pressure operated piston and cylinder assembly which is operable to displace the arms, and the roller which they carry, either towards, or away from, the driving roller in response to the positioning of a weightsensitive switch that is arranged to be tripped by the 'J'-box or soak tank when the weight thereof reaches a predetermined value upon being substantially filled by at least one concertina-folded web.

11. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus includes at least one rinsing water spray bar that will act upon a web passing through the apparatus at a location which is downstream of the 'J'-box or soak tank relative to the intended direction of movement of a web through the apparatus.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein a vibratory dry sieve filter is provided to receive rinse water from the or each spray bar, after it has acted upon a web moving through the apparatus, the sieve filter being arranged to remove fluff, lint, dirt and the like from the rinse water.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the rinse water is partially recycled whilst being continuously augmented, during use of the apparatus, by fresh water, and wherein an overflow from a dwell tank for said rinse water to drainage includes a heat exchanger arranged to minimise heat loss.

14. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a scroll tank intended to contain hot rinsing water is provided, said scroll tank containing a rotary perforated scroll whose interior is subject, during the use of the apparatus, to a source of suction so that said heated rinse water will be positively drawn through atextileweb moving around the rotary scroll.

15. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus includes a drying mechanism for webs that are washed thereby, said drying mechanism comprising at least one stack of rotary drying cylinders around which, during the use of the apparatus, pass previously washed and rinsed webs.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein a magazine scray is provided downstream of said drying mechanism, with respect to the intended direction of movement of webs through the apparatus, said magazine scray being followed in said direction by a winding mandrel constructed and arranged to re-wind webs that have undergone treatment by the apparatus.

17. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein parts of the apparatus are driven, during its use, at such a speed that a web having a length of substantially 138 feet (substantially42 metres) will be passed through the whole of the apparatus in a time of not more than substantially one minute.

18. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is of multiple-lane formation enabling a plurality of webs to be dealt with simultaneously in identical or substantially identical lanes of the apparatus.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the apparatus comprises six lanes.

20. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim and constructed, arranged and adjusted for the washing of roller towels.

21. Apparatus for washing elongate webs of textile material in a continuous or semi-continuous manner, the apparatus being constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

22. A method of washing roller towels or other elongate webs of textile material in a continuous or semi-continuous manner by apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the method involves collecting dirty webs on a feeding table or the like, supplying them individually to a hopper so that they can be unwound from that hopper for passage through the remainder of the apparatus, tackstitching or otherwise temporarily securing successive dirty towels to one another in end-to-end relationship at a location adjacent to said hopper and providing a detector switch at a location downstream of washing, rinsing and drying mechanisms of the apparatus, with respect to the intended direction of travel of webs therethrough, the detector switch being constructed and arranged to be tripped by the passage therepast of a tack-stitched or other temporary end-to-end joint between successive webs so that tripping of the detector switch will temporarily discontinue drive to the interconnected webs in the corresponding region of the apparatus to allow said temporary connection to be broken to separate the webs from one another.