Method and apparatus for treating tubular knitted fabric

Claim 1

THE METHOD OF TREATING WET TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC, WHICH COMPRISES (A) LATERALLY DISTENDING THE WET FABRIC TO FLAT FORM AND PREDETERMINED UNIFORM WIDTH, (B) TRANSFERRING THE UNIFORMLY DISTENDED TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC SUBSTANTIALLY DIRECTLY INTO FULL-FABRICWIDTH DIMENSION CONTROL CONTACT WITH A SYNCHRONOUSLY MOVING DIMENSIONALLY STABLE SURFACE, (C) SUBJECTING THE WET AND DISTENDED FABRIC TO A FIRST RESILIENT ROLLING PRESSURE TO REDUCE THE LIQUID CONTENT TO A FIRST PREDETERMINED LEVEL, (D) SIMULTANEOUSLY RELEASING SAID FIRST ROLLING PRESSURE AND IMMERSING THE FABRIC IN A BODY OF TREATING SOLUTION, (E) CONVEYING THE FABRIC IN FLAT FORM AND SUBSTANTIALLY AT ITS DISTENDED WIDTH THROUGH THE BODY OF TREATING SOLUTION WHILE MAINTAINING SAID FABRIC COMPLETELY IMMERSED IN SAID TREATING SOLUTION AND WHILE MAINTAINING ONE LAYER OF SAID FABRIC IN FULL-FABRIC-WIDTH DIMENSION CONTROL CONTACT WITH A SYNCHRONOUSLY MOVING DIMENSIONALLY STABLE SURFACE, (F) SIMULTANEOUSLY REMOVING THE FABRIC FROM SAID BODY OF LIQUID TREATING SOLUTION AND SUBJECTING THE FABRIC TO A SECOND RESILIENT ROLLING PRESSURE TO REDUCE THE LIQUID CONTENT TO A SECOND PREDETERMINED LEVEL, (G) SAID SECOND PREDETERMINED LEVEL BEING GREATER THAN SAID FIRST PREDETERMINED LEVEL, AND (H) RELEASING THE FABRIC FROM SAID SECOND ROLLING PRESSURE, (I) SAID FABRIC BEING MAINTAINED WHOLLY IMMERSED IN SAID TREATING SOLUTION THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD FROM STEP (D) TO STEP (F), (J) SAID TUBULAR KNITTED FABRIC BEING MAINTAINED CONTINUOUSLY IN FULL-FABRIC-WIDTH DIMENSION CONTROL CONTACT WITH SYNCHRONOUSLY MOVING DIMENSIONALLY STABLE SURFACE MEANS DURING AT LEAST STEPS (B) THROUGH (H), INCLUSIVE.