US3319275A

US3319275A - Process and apparatus for treating materials with a fluid which is under pressure

Info

Publication number: US3319275A
Application number: US330827A
Authority: US
Inventors: Fleissner Heinz
Original assignee: ESTABLISHMENT FOR AUTOMATION
Current assignee: ESTABLISHMENT FOR AUTOMATION
Priority date: 1962-12-15
Filing date: 1963-12-16
Publication date: 1967-05-16
Anticipated expiration: 1984-05-16
Also published as: CH412766A; GB1038991A; ES287803A1; DE1460224A1

Description

May 16, 1967 H. FLEISSNER 3,319,275

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING MATERIALS WITH A FLUID WHICH IS UNDER PRESSURE Filed Dec. 16, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l w V TA;

uwgu ron ay 96 H. FLEISSNER 3,319,275

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING MATERIALS WITH A FLUID WHICH IS UNDER PRESSURE Filed Dec. 16, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTO N Y United States Patent 3,319,275 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR TREATING MA- TERIALS WITH A FLUID WHIQH lS UNDER PRESSURE Heinz Fleissner, Egelshach, near Frankfurt, Germany, assignor to Establishment for Automation, Vaduz, Liechtenstein Filed Dec. 16, 1963, Ser. No. 330,827 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Dec. 15, 1962, 14,756/ 62 12 Claims. (Cl. 8-1493) The present invention relates to the treatment of textile materials, and especially to the treatment of textile materials with a fluid under pressure which may also be at an elevated temperature.

As is well known, such treatments are required in order to steam, bleach, or dye textile materials or the like, and suitable treatments of the above type can indeed be carried out in a batch-wise manner by placing the material which is to be treated in a suitable container which is then closed in a fluid-tight and pressure-tight manner, after which the treating fluid which is under pressure is introduced into the closed container to treat the material therein for a certain length of time, after which the material can be removed upon opening up the container and of course after the delivery of treating fluid under pressure has terminated. While treatments of this latter type are entirely satisfactory, they of course suffer from the great drawback of requiring the material to be treated in batches so that the output is of course greatly reduced.-

Naturally, it is possible to avoid this latter drawback by treating the material while it continuously moves through a suitable treating area, but then there is the problem of maintaining the treating area sealed off from the surrounding area so that the treating fluid at the treating area can be maintained at the necessary pressure. Up to the present time this problem has not been satisfactorily solved. It is known, for example, to feed the material which is to be treated between rollers and the like to and from the treating chamber, but with such devices it has not been possible to seal off the treating area from the surrounding atmosphere to an extent suflicient to maintain a high pressure in the treating area.

I It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus which will avoid the above drawbarks, making it possible on the one hand to continuously treat the material without interrupting the movement thereof through the treating apparatus while at the same time making it also possible to seal off the treating area in such away that a treating fluid under considerable pressure can be reliably maintained at the treating area without the danger of escape of pressure therefrom.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus of the above type which make it possible to provide a thorough and very intimate treatment of all parts of the material which is to be treated while at the same time maintaining the seal so that the treating fluid which is under pressure can be reliably maintained at a relatively high pressure.

It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus as referred to above which can treat materials not only at an elevated pressure, during continuous uninterrupted movement of the materials, but also at an elevated temperature.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process and apparatus which makes it possible to adapt the manner in which the material is handled to the characteristics of the material itself so that a reliable seal can be maintained in a manner which is par- 3,319,275 Patented May 16, 1967 ticularly suitable for the characteristics of the material which is being treated.

With the above objects in view the invention includes, in a process for treating materials such as textile materials and the like, the steps of continuously transporting the material through a treating zone while introducing a treating fluid under pressure into the treating zone and while compacting the material just prior to and just beyond the treating zone to seal the latter off with the compacted material itself so as to prevent the escape of fluid under pressure from the treating area.

Also, with the above objects in view the invention includes, in an apparatus for treating textile materials or the like, an elongated treating conduit having an elongated inlet portion and a elongated outlet portion, and an intermediate treating portion situated between the inlet and outlet portions. A suitable means communicates with the intermediate treating portion for delivering thereto a treating fluid under pressure, and a pair of means are respectively situated at the inlet and outlet portions for respecitvely feeding material to and withdrawing material from the intermediate portion while at the same time compacting the material which is to be treated at the inlet portion and at the outlet portion so that the compacted material itself will seal olf the intermediate portion to prevent the escape of fluid under pressure therefrom.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together, with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing in a partly diagrammatic manner one possible embodiment of a structure according to the present invention;

FIG. 1A is an end view showing the structure at thev outlet end of the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of another embodiment of a structure according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of still another embodiment of a structure according. to the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a still further structure according to the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown therein an elongated treating conduit having, as viewed in FIG. 1, an upper elongated inlet portion and a lower elongated outlet portion, while between these inlet and outlet p0rtions is situated an intermediate treating portion in which the material to be treated is subjected to the influence of a treating fluid under pressure. This treating fluid may, for example, be steam, and the material which is to be treated can be a textile material in the form of yarns or fibers or even in certain cases in the form of a woven fabric. At each of the inlet and outlet portions are provided a means for transporting the material as well as for compacting the material in such a way that the material itself will form a seal preventing the escape of fluid under pressure from the intermediate treating portion. Thus, in the case of FIG. 1, it will 'be seen that the elongated outlet portion 16 of the treating conduit is curved so as to change the direction of movement of the material and in addition the wall of the conduit tapers at its outlet portion to form in this way a means for compacting the material by retarding the flow thereof out of the treating conduit and thus preventing the escape of the fluid under pressure through the elongated outlet 16. The elongated tubular conduit can have any desired cross section. As is indicated by the arrow 17,

the material is fed into the treating conduit at its inlet portion, and in the illustrated example the means for transporting the material at the inlet portion includes a pair of rollers 7 between which the material passes, this material being fed by gravity, for example, from a suitable hopper aligned over the rollers 7 into the nip therebetween, and any suitable motor may be connected through pulleys or the like to the rollers 7, as shown diagrammatioally at the upper portion of FIG. 1, for rotating the rollers in opposite directions so as to feed the material in the direction of the arrow 17. The conduit has just beyond the rollers 7 in the elongated inlet portion walls which are curved toward each other as indicated so as to reduce the cross section of the conduit at this portion and thus also compact the material at the inlet portion.

At its elongated intermediate treating portion the conduit has an inner perforated wall 4, and it will be noted that the cross sectional area of the conduit portion defined by the wall 4 is larger than the throat of the passage provided by the walls 15, so that the material fed through the rollers 7 into the passage defined by the walls 15 will be compacted therein to seal off the treating chamber surrounded by the perforated Wall 4. At its intermediate portion the conduit also has an outer wall surrounding in a fluid-tight manner the perforated wall 4 and defining with the latter an elongated tubular or annular space 29 to which a conduit 28 leads, thus conduit 28 having a branch 27 which passes fluid-tightly through the outer wall into the chamber 29 so as to feed into the latter a treating fluid such as steam at a suitable pressure, this treating fluid of course passing through the perforated wall 4 into the interior of the intermediate treating portion to treat the material therein, and in this intermediate treating portion the material is in a looser condition than in its compacted condition while passing through the throat of the area defined by the walls 15, so that an intimate thorough treatment of the material is provided without interrupting the movement thereof downwardly through the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. By introducing the treating fluid such as steam at a relatively high pressure it is possible to reduce the time during which the material must remain in the intermediate treating portion while passing therethrough, so that the elevated pressure makes it possible to move the material more rapidly through the apparatus to increase the output while at the same time providing a thorough treatment.

In addition to the retarding of the movement of the material by the change in direction at the outlet portion and the tapering of the wall thereof to reduce the cross section of the conduit at its outlet portion, the outlet end carries spring-pressed doors 13 which are hingedly con nected to the edges of the conduit, in the manner shown in FIG. 1A, and suitable springs 14 cooperate with the doors 13 to urge them to their closed position where the door sections adjoin each other to almost completely close the outlet end of the conduit. The configuration of the conduit at its outlet end may 'be square, as indicated in FIG. 1A, and in this case each of the four doors is in the form of a right triangle having its hypotenuse edge hingedly connected to the conduit and having legs of equal length, so that four such doors can substantially close the entire outlet end of the conduit. Thus, in order for the material to issue out of the treating conduit this material must not only pass through the tapered outlet portion which is in addition curved, but it must also be able to push open the doors 13, and thus the movement of the material out of the conduit is retarded so that the material will be compacted and will itself provide a seal preventing the escape of fluid under pressure to the outlet. Moreover, in order to reduce the cross section of the passage through which the material moves just after the treating chamber, there is provided at the junction between the treating chamber and the elongated output an inflatable member in the form of a tube 18 made of a stretchable material such as rubber and having the configuration of an inner tube of an automobile tire, for example, and this inflatable member 18 is connected to a suitable source of fluid under pressure which can be produced for stretching or deflating the member 13 so that in this way the cross sectional area of the conduit can be adapted to the particular material under treatment thereof to provide a compacting which will reliably prevent escape of the fluid under pressure through the elongated outlet portion of the treating conduit. It is particularly advantageous to use the inflatable member 18, which enables the cross sectional interior of the passage to be adjusted, the same fluid as that which is introduced into the treating chamber through the perforated wall 4, and thus it will be seen that the supply conduit 28 for the treating fluid such as steam under pressure has in addition to the branch 27 referred to above a second branch 26 which communicates with the inflatable member 18 so as to feed to the interior thereof a treating fluid at the same pressure as that which is introduced through the branch 27, and thus the adjust ment of the extent of stretching of the member 18 to the particular fluid under pressure which is used for treatment will be automatically regulated in this way as well as :liminating the necessity of an independent source of "uid under pressure for the inflatable member 18.

In the embodiment of the invention which is illustrated in FIG. 2, the material is also fed into the apparatus,

through a hopper, but in this case the elongated tubular treating conduit is horizontal although it still has an elongated inlet portion followed by the intermediate treatment portion which is in turn followed by the elongated outlet portion. This elongated outlet portion includes the tapered section 5 which reduces the cross section of the conduit at its outlet portion so as to form at the outlet portion a means for compacting the material as it moves through the apparatus so as to provide in this way a seal which prevents escape of fluid under pressure through the outlet. The intermediate treatment portion 9 includes also an inner perforated wall 4 surrounded by an outer wall 6 which defines between the wall 4 and the wall 6 a chamber which receives the fluid under pressure such as steam introduced as indicated above through a conduit 27' which communicates with the supply conduit 28, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 2.

In the case of FIG. 2, there is located at the elongated inlet portion a rotary screw 2 which is driven through a motor and suitable drive, as indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 2, and this rotary screw will transport the material through the elongated inlet portion 1 while at the same time compacting the material which it withdraws from the supply hopper so as to provide in this way also through the material itself a seal which prevents the escape of fluid under pressure through the elongated inlet portion. In fact, with such a construction it is possible to provide the shaft of the rotary screw with an axial bore 12 through which the fluid under pressure may also be introduced as indicated, and in this way it will be seen that the fluid under pressure itself contributes to the loosening of the material in the intermediate portion which is of course of a greater cross sectional area than the area of the conduit at its elongated inner inlet and outlet portions, the space which is occupied by the screw 2 naturally reducing the space which is available for the material itself, so that a compacting thereof necessarily takes place in the elongated inlet portion. Thus, it will be seen that the embodiment of FIG. 2 is also capable of producing the above-described results. In addition, it will be noted that because the elongated conduit 3 has an elongated bored rotary screw member through which a treating fluid such as steam under pressure is introduced, the elongated inlet portion of the conduit 3 can form a preheating zone in which the material is preheated before reaching the treating zone, and of course the movement of the material is retarded at the elongated outlet portion of the conduit 3 which is provided with the reduced section 5.as indicated above.

Of course, where a treating fluid at an elevated temperature is used, such as steam, the outer surface of the elongated treating conduit will be provided with a suitable insulating material, and while such insulating material is not illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 it can of course be included. In the embodiment of FIG. 3 it will be seen that there is indeed an insulating structure surrounding the elongated conduit for insulating the latter so as to prevent cooling of the treating fluid, and in the illustrated example the insulating structure includes insulating material 25 housed between the exterior surface of the treating conduit and an outer jacket 26', as diagrammatically indicated in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 shows how the material is fed between the rollers 7 which are driven as described above and which feeds the material through a constricted portion provided as described above in connection with FIG. 1 through suitable walls 15 which are curved inwardly as indicated, and at the elongated outlet portion there are one or more sets of rollers 7' similar to the rollers 7 continuously withdrawing material from the intermediate treating portion and in addition there is in the elongated outlet portion a curved wall structure 10 providing a constriction as indicated above with respect to the inlet portion. The treating zone itself again includes an inner perforated wall 4' surrounded by an outer wall 6 spaced from the inner wall and defining with the latter a chamber which receives the fluid under pressure which may, for example, be steam. Moreover, it will be seen that a loosening means 11 is provided at the junction between the inlet and intermediate portions for loosening the material, and this loosening means can take the form of an endless belt mounted on suitable pulleys in the interior of the treating conduit with one of the pulleys driven from the exterior thereof to a suitable drive which passes fluid-tightly through the wall of the apparatus, and the endless belt carries suitable pins 11 or the like which project therefrom so that the movement of the belt will serve to reliably loosen material to enhance the intimate and thorough treatment thereof in the elongated intermediate portion which it will be seen has a cross sectional area larger than that at the throat of each of the inwardly curved wall portions in the inlet and outlet of the treating conduit, so that the embodiment of FIG. 3 will also produce the result of treating the material While it is in a relatively loose condition While at the same time preventing escape of the fluid under pressure by the compacted material itself which is situated both at the inlet and at the outlet of the treating conduit.

The inwardly curved wall portions such as the wall portions 10 of the FIG. 3 or 15 of FIG. 1 can take the form of inflatable assemblies similar to the element 18 described above, so that in this way it is possible to adjust the extent of constriction of the passage of the material so as to contribute in this way also to the compacting thereof in an adjustable manner which is particularly adapted to the particular material which is being treated and the particular treatment thereof. FIG. 4 shows such a construction. Referring to FIG. 4 it will be seen that the mate- 'rial 17 is introduced by the rollers 7 into the elongated inlet portion of the treating conduit, and in this way the material reaches, after passing through the elongated inlet portion, the treating conduit portion 30 which is intermediate the elongated inlet and the elongated outlet of the conduit. At the inlet there is provided an annular flexible stretchable member 31 made of rubber, for example, and through a conduit 12 which can be provided with a non-return valve 19 more or less fluid under pressure is delivered to the chamber which surrounds the flexble, stretchable wall 31 so as to stretch the latter and thus provide it with contours such as those indicated in dotted lines. As may be seen from the left portion of FIG. 4, it is possible to provide the solid-line contour where the extent of stretching is a minimum and the cross-sectional area of the inlet is 'at a maximum, or through providing more fluid under pressure it is possible to provide the contour 21 so as to reduce the cross-sectional area through which the material must pass, and then it is possible to provide even more pressure so as to further reduce the cross section by further stretching the material until it has the contour 20, and in this way the material which moves beyond the rollers 7 will necessarily be compacted at'the elongated inlet portion of the conduit to seal off the treating portion 30 thereof and thus prevent the escape of fluid under pressure through the elongated inlet by the compacted material itself. The extent of contraction of the passage in the inlet will depend, for example, on how much material is moved through the treating conduit. The treatment of the material with a medium such as steam, for example, can be provided through nozzles 32 which are diagrammatically indicated and through which the steam is introduced into the interior of the in termediate treating portion 30 of the conduit, and the steam can be delivered through pipes 23 which communicate with nozzles 33. The steam will in this way be blown into the treating portion 30 where the material 17 is in a relatively loose condition so that it is thoroughly treated with the hot steam and thereafter the material reaches the elongated outlet portion 34 which is again provided with a cross sectional area less than that of the portion 30. One or more sets of driven rollers 8 are provided at the outlet portion 34 to transport the material in the direction of the arrow 35 away from the intermediate treating portion while the stretchable wall 37 defines with the outer wall of the conduit a chamber 36 receiving fluid under pressure through a conduit 12, which may also be provided with a non-return valve, so that the extent to which the stretchable wall 37 is stretched can be regulated to provide either the solid-line contour or the dotted-line contour 38 which further restricts the passage, and in this way the compacted material itself will necessarily seal off the intermediate portion 30 so as to prevent the escape of fluid under pressure through the elongated outlet.

While in the above-described embodiments of the invention only rollers have been referred to for transporting the material, it is of course possible to use also chains or cooperating endless bands between which the material is fed.

The inlet surface of the treating conduit is very smooth so that the material can slide therealong with a minimum of friction, and while the conduit may have any cross section a cylindrical cross section is preferred. Moreover, instead of providing one pair of rollers at the inlet portion and at the outlet portion of the treating conduit, it is possible to provide a plurality of pairs of rollers, and a rotary worm screw as shown in FIG. 2 can be used in any of the other embodiments in place of the rollers.

It is also possible to provide a series of treating chambers with rollers therebetween for transporting the material between the chambers and of course the material can be compacted between such a series of treating chambers. Where three treating chambers are provided the intermediate chamber will have the highest pressure while the chambers before and after the intermediate chamber will have somewhat lower pressures so that in this way the escape of the treating fluid under pressure is reliably avoided to a very large extent.

As has been indicated above in connection with FIG. 3, a loosening means 11 may be provided to loosen the material as it moves into the treating chamber, and instead of a simple endless belt having projections it is possible also to use other loosening devices such as endless chains, rotary combs, and the like.

With the structures of the invention the material is maintained in continuous movement With the volume of material which moves through a given distance being maintained substantially constant. For example, in the case of FIG. 2, the volume of material flowing through the treating portion 24 of the conduit in a given unit of time will be substantially equal to the volume of material which flows through the constricted portion where the material is compacted so as to provide a seal as the above description indicates. In this way the material is continuously transported while it is treated and at the same time a building up or accumulation of material at any one location is reliably avoided.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of treating devices for textiles differing from the types described above.

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in treatment of materials with a fluid at high pressure, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any away from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore, such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A continuous process for treating material such as textile material with a fluid which is under pressure comprising the steps of continuously moving the material between a first pair of rollers rotating in opposite directions at a predetermined speed; moving the material through a first compacting zone adjacent said rollers and compacting the material to a predetermined degree between the inner surface of said zone; moving the material through a treating zone adjacent said compacting zone; introducing a treating fluid under pressure into said treating zone to treat said material; moving the material between a second pair of rollers rotating at a predetermined speed; moving the material through a second compacting zone and compacting the material to a predetermined degree between the inner surface of said second compacting zone, the compacted material in the first compacting zone jointly with the first pair of rollers and the compacted material in the second compacting zone jointly with the second pair of rollers sealing off the treating fluid in the treating zone.

2. A process as set forth in claim 1 wherein the material is preheated in the first compacting zone and the movement of the material is retarded in the second compacting zone.

3. In an apparatus for treating textile materials and the like, in combination, an elongated tubular treating conduit having elongated inlet and outlet portions and an intermediate treating portion between said inlet and outlet portions, said intermediate treating portion including an inner perforated wall and an outer wall surrounding and spaced from said inner wall; means communicating with the space surrounded by said outer wall for introducing into said space a treating fluid under pressure which flows through said perforated inner wall into said intermediate portion to treat material therein; roller means at said inlet portion for feeding material through said inlet portion into said intermediate portion While compacting the material in said inlet portion for sealing said inlet portion to prevent fluid under pressure from escaping through said inlet portion; and roller means at said outlet portion for Withdrawing material from said intermediate portion and for compacting the material at said outlet portion to seal off said intermediate portion at the region adjacent said outlet portion so as to also prevent the escape of fluid under pressure through said outlet portion.

4. In an apparatus for treating textile materials or the like, in combination, an elongated conduit having elongated inlet and outlet portions and an intermediate treating portion situated between said inlet and outlet portions and having a cross sectional area greater than that of said inlet and outlet portions; means communicating with said intermediate portion for introducing into the latter a treating fluid which is under pressure; roller means at said inlet portion for feeding material therethrough into said intermediate portion while compacting the material to seal off said intermediate portion at said inlet portion so as to prevent the escape of fluid under pressure through said inlet portion; and roller means at said outlet portion for withdrawing material from said intermediate portion while also compacting the material at said outlet portion to seal off said intermediate portion and prevent the escape of fluid under pressure through said outlet portion.

5. In an apparatus for treating textile materials and the like, in combination, an elongated tubular treating conduit having an intermediate treating portion and an inlet end portion just prior to and an outlet end portion just subsequent to said intermediate treating portion, said inlet end portion and said outlet end portion being narrower than said treating portion; means communicating with said intermediate treating portion for introducing into the latter a treating fluid under pressure; roller means adjacent said inlet portion for feeding material to said treating portion while compacting the material so that the material itself jointly with said roller means forms a seal which will prevent the pressure of the treating fluid from escaping through said inlet portion; roller means adjacent said outlet portion for withdrawing material from said treating portion and transporting the material out of said conduit while also compacting the material at said outlet portion for sealing the treating chamber at the portion thereof which is adjacent to said outlet portion to also maintain the fluid under pressure in the treating portion jointly by the compacted material and by said roller means; and loosening means located at the region of said intermediate portion which is adjacent to said inlet portion for loosening the material which reaches said intermediate portion.

6. In an apparatus for treating textile materials or the like, in combination, an elongated treating conduit having elongated inlet and outlet portions and an intermediate portion between said inlet and outlet portions; means communicating with said intermediate portion for introducing into the latter a treating fluid under pressure; roller means adjacent said inlet portion for feeding material to said intermediate portion; means for reducing the cross sectional area of said conduit at said inlet portion while compacting the material fed through to said intermediate portion so that the compacted material itself will act as a seal to prevent escape of fluid under pressure through said inlet portion and through said roller means adjacent thereto; means at said outlet portion for reducing the cross sectional area of said conduit at said outlet portion; and roller means for withdrawing the material from said intermediate portion while compacting the material so that the material at said outlet portion will also form a seal preventing the escape of fluid under pressure through said outlet portion and through said roller means adjacent thereto.

7. In an apparatus as recited in claim 6, said means for reducing the cross sectional area at said outlet portion including a wall portion which is curved inwardly toward the axis of the conduit to provide a cross sectional area at said inlet portion substantially less than the cross sectional area at said outlet portion.

8. In an apparatus for treating textile materials, in combination, an elongated treating conduit having an elongated inlet portion, an elongated outlet portion, and an elongated intermediate portion situated :between said inlet and outlet portions; means communicating with said intermediate portion for introducing into the latter a treating fluid under pressure; and a pair of roller means respectively situated at said inlet and outlet portions for respectively feeding material into and withdrawing material from said intermediate portion and for compacting the material in said inlet and outlet portions for sealing off said intermediate portion to prevent the escape of fluid under pressure therefrom, said means for compacting the material in said inlet and outlet portions including at least one of said portions an adjustable wall capable of being adjusted to reduce the cross sectional area of said latter portion to a selected extent.

9. In an apparatus as recited in claim 8, said adjustable wall being in the form of an annular stretchable member and a means for directing fluid under pressure against said member to stretch the latter to a selected extent for controlling the cross sectional area of the conduit at said stretchable wall thereof.

It). In an apparatus as recited in claim 9, the fluid under pressure which is directed against said stretchable wall being the same as the fluid under pressure which is introduced into said intermediate chamber.

'11. An apparatus for treating textile materials and the like comprising, in combination, an elongated tubular treating conduit open on both ends having an intermediate treating portion, an inlet end portion and an outlet end portion, a part of said inlet portion and a part of said inlet portion and a part of said outlet portion constituting compacting zones having a cross-sectional area smaller than the remaining part of the conduit; two pairs of rollers, one of which is disposed closely to the inlet of said inlet end portion and substantially closing said inlet, the other one being disposed between said intermediate portion and the outlet end portion and substanti ally separating said two portions said two pairs of rollers moving at a predetermined speed said material through said inlet end portion into said intermediate treating portion and subsequently into said outlet end portion thereby compacting said material as it is forced to pass said compacting zones of said inlet end portion and said outlet end portion; and means communicating with said intermediate treating portion for introducing therein a treating fluid under pressure for treating of the material, said material, passing said comp-acting zones forming jointly with said two pairs of rollers a seal for said fluid introduced into said intermediate treating portion.

12-. An apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein said compacting zones have gradually narrowing and subsequently gradually widening walls.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,001,435 8/1911 Palmer 68178 1,915,812 6/ 1933 WOllenberg.

1,921,080 8/1933 Hammond 68-181 X 2,089,992 8/1937 Campbell et a1. 68-5.4 X 2,460,206 1/1949 Wentz 6815 X 2,647,285 8/1953 Pfau.

3,175,375 3/1965 Yazawa et a1 685.5 3,241,343 3/1966 Yazawa 685.5

FOREIGN PATENTS D19,828 10/ 6 Germany.

IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A CONTINUOUS PROCESS FOR TREATING MATERIAL SUCH AS TEXTILE MATERIAL WITH A FLUID WHICH IS UNDER PRESSURE COMPRISING THE STEPS OF CONTINUOUSLY MOVING THE MATERIAL BETWEEN A FIRST PAIR OF ROLLERS ROTATING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS AT A PREDETERMINED SPEED; MOVING THE MATERIAL THROUGH A FIRST COMPACTING ZONE ADJACENT SAID ROLLERS AND COMPACTING THE MATERIAL TO A PREDETEMINED DEGREE BETWEEN THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID ZONE; MOVING THE MATERIAL THROUGH A TREATING ZONE ADJACENT SAID COMPACTING ZONE; INTRODUCING A TREATING FLUID UNDER PRESSURE INTO SAID TREATING ZONE TO TREAT SAID MATERIAL; MOVING THE MATERIAL BETWEEN A SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS ROTATING AT A PREDETERMINED SPEED; MOVING THE MATERIAL THROUGH A SECOND COMPACTING ZONE AND COMPACTING THE MATERIAL TO A PREDETERMINED DEGREE BETWEEN THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID SECOND COMPACTING ZONE, THE COMPACTED MATERIAL IN THE FIRST COMPACTING ZONE JOINTLY WITH THE FIRST PAIR OF ROLLERS AND THE COMPACTED MATERIAL IN THE SECOND COMPACTING ZONE JOINTLY WITH THE SECOND PAIR OF ROLLERS SEALING OFF THE TREATING FLUID IN THE TREATING ZONE.