Belt washing improvements

Claim 1

A continuous belt apparatus for drawing and flushing suspension liquor from a slurry comprising liquor and fiber, said apparatus comprising: A. an endless belt screen routed for travel in a longitudinal direction over a plurality of liquor receiving vessels distributed along a length portion of said belt, each vessel being defined by a pair of transversely extending compartment boundaries; B. means for depositing said slurry onto the topside of said belt screen at one end of said length portion; C. means for impressing a pressure differential across said belt screen length portion between said compartment boundaries relative to an atmosphere above said belt supported slurry and said liquor receiving vessels whereby a substantial portion of the fiber suspension liquor constituency of said slurry is induced to drain through said belt screen into said receiving vessels leaving said fiber supported on said belt screen as a loose, wet mat having a first porous matrix of interstitial flow channels formed therein which contain a residual portion of said suspension liquor; D. means for softly depositing onto the topside of said mat at a first point between compartment boundaries of a respective vessel, a displacement flow of wash liquor having a solids constitutency of lower concentration than that of residual suspension liquor remaining in the flow channels of said mat pore matrix; and, E. sonic frequency disturbance means positioned substantially transversely of the belt traveling direction at a second point between compartment boundaries passed by a point on said belt screen prior to said first point for opening previously closed pore and flow channels by rearranging said first pore matrix to form a second pore matrix along the bottom side of said mat adjacent said respective vessel whereby suspension liquor confined in small and obstructed flow channels in said first pore matrix is induced to drain more completely and uniformly.