Heat Fulling and Water Washing Apparatus

1. A heated fulling and water washing apparatus comprising a washing tank containing a cleaning fluid and having a liquid level therein, means for conveying cloth to said washing tank including squeezing rolls, a guide roll located between said squeezing rolls and said washing tank, a feeder roll located above said washing tank and positioned between said guide roll and said washing tank, a piler located between said guide roll and said feeder roll and spaced below said guide roll and feed roll and arranged to accumulate cloth for passage into said washing tank in an untensioned state, a first conveyor means and a second conveyor means located in said washing tank, said first conveyor means comprising a pair of first rollers having their axes arranged horizontally and being spaced apart in a horizontal direction; and an endless first net conveyer trained over said first rollers and said first net conveyer having a horizontally extending upper run and a horizontally extending lower run spaced below the upper run, said second conveyer means comprising a pair of second rollers having their axes arranged horizontally and being spaced apart in the horizontal direction, said second rollers being located below said first rollers, and a second net conveyer trained over said second rollers and said second net conveyer having a horizontally extending upper run and a horizontally extending lower run spaced below the upper run thereof, the lower run of said first net conveyer being spaced above the upper run of said second net conveyer and forming therebetween a horizontally extending space arranged for the passage therethrough of a cloth to be treated moving generally in a horizontal direction between the rollers of said first and second net conveyers, the lower surface of the lower run of said first net conveyer and the upper surface of the upper run of said second conveyer each being located below the liquid level in said washing tank and each forming a contact surface for the cloth being treated so that as the cloth moves in contact with the surface of one said conveyer it is spaced from the other said conveyer with the vertical space between the two contact surfaces being sufficient for the cloth to adapt a wave form shape as it moves between and in contact with the surfaces, a plurality of horizontally extending first fluid injection pipes disposed in horizontally spaced relation and located between the upper and lower runs of said first net conveyer with the axes of said pipes disposed in parallel relation with the axes of the rollers of said first conveyer means, said first fluid injection pipes having downwardly direct nozzles for directing hot fluid downwardly through the lower run of the first net conveyer into the space between the first and second net conveyers, a plurality of horizontally arranged second fluid injection pipes disposed in horizontally spaced relation and located between the upper and lower runs of said second net conveyer with the axes of said second pipes disposed in parallel relation with the axes of the rollers of said second conveyer means, said second fluid injection pipes having upwardly directed nozzles for directing hot fluid upwardly through the upper run of said second net conveyer into the space between the first and second net conveyers, said first and second fluid injection pipes being arranged in an alternating manner along the path of the cloth through the space between said first and second net conveyers so that the cloth being treated receives alternating sprays on its upper and lower surfaces as it moves in the horizontal direction through the space between said first and second net conveyers whereby the sprays impart a wave-like configuration to the cloth as it moves through the space without any tension being exerted on the cloth in its direction of movement through the space, and the axial length of each of said first and second fluid injection pipes being shorter than the transverse width of said first and second net conveyers and being spaced inwardly from the edges of said first and second net conveyers so that the cloth passing through the space between said first and second net conveyers receives a spray directed from said first and second fluid injection pipes for affording an expanding effect to the cloth being treated.

2. A heat and fulling water washing apparatus, as set forth in claim 1, comprising a preliminary cleaning device located in the path of the cloth as it moves toward the space between said first and second net conveyers for showering a portion of the cleaning fluid onto the cloth prior to its passage through the space, and means connected to said washing tank and to said preliminary cleaning device for receiving waste fluid from said washing tank and for purifying the fluid from said washing tank and for purifying the fluid for use in said preliminary cleaning device.