Apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials under pressure

Abstract

An apparatus for continuously heat-treating various fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which is capable of continuously passing even knot parts or parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials through the apparatus, wherein sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at both the ends of a heat-treating pressure chamber, comprises 1. each of said sealing parts consisting of a pair of sealing boxes, 2. each of said sealing boxes being provided with a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid on the side of said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are running through the clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to the travelling direction of the fibrous materials and inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in the direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, 3. at least one of said pair of sealing boxes being slidable by means of a sliding means whereby the clearance between the surfaces of said sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials is quickly adjusted correspondingly to sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials, and 4. the slidable sealing box being housed in a casing part whose lateral width is larger or smaller than the lateral width of the heat-treating pressure chamber through a small clearance from the casing part.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an apparatus for continuously heat-treating various fibrous materials such as filaments, tows, strands, silvers, or cloths such as knitted or woven fabrics, by continuously heat-stretching or heat-treating the fibrous materials in a fluid under pressure, thereby endowing desired physical properties or characteristics to the fibrous materials or processing the fibrous materials, and more particularly to the apparatus capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials through the apparatus.

It is well known that a roller seal, labyrinth seal, lip seal, etc. are typical of the sealing device for the apparatus for continuously heat-treating the fibrous materials under pressure, but these sealing devices have both merits and demerits, and are particularly difficult to be used in stretching tow fibers at a high speed.

We have studied sealing systems which are applicable to every heat-treatment under pressure including such stretching at a high speed under high pressure, and have already found that a sealing system of fluid injection type is an excellent one, and invented an apparatus (Japanese Patent Application laid-open No. 42180/73; U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,649).

However, the fibrous materials to be treated have not always an unlimited length, but a limited length, and in the most cases have broken parts. A method for passing the fibrous materials without connecting the broken parts is not preferable, because much time and labor are required for restarting to heat-treat the successive fibrous materials following the broken parts, and the yield of the heat-treated product is greatly lowered. Therefore, it is necessary to connect the broken parts. Another method is also available for making the thickness of the fibrous materials constant, for example, by sewing-up, adhesion, melt-adhesion, etc. without bringing about any change in thickness such as knot parts, etc. at connecting parts of the fibrous materials, and then passing the fibrous materials through between the sealing parts of the apparatus. Said method has an advantage of keeping a clearance between the sealing parts constant, but requires considerable time in adhesion as well as special tools. Furthermore, said method has a disadvantage of peeling-off of the connected parts at an elevated temperature under high tension owing to incomplete adhesion, and it has been found as the result of the successive studies that the development of an apparatus capable of positively passing even knot parts and parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials through the apparatus is necessary.

We have made further study on an apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials under pressure, which can solve all of said disadvantages by positively passing the knot parts and parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials, especially an apparatus for stretching tows at a high speed under a high pressure, and have found an apparatus of the present invention.

The present invention provides an apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, wherein sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at both the ends of a heat-treating pressure chamber, which comprises:

1. each of said sealing parts consisting of a pair of sealing boxes,

2. each of said sealing boxes being provided with (a) a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid on the side of said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are running through the clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to the travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in the transversal direction and inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in the direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and (b) a sealing fluid inlet on the side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid injected through said nozzle being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

3. at least one of said pair of sealing boxes being slidable by means of a sliding means whereby the clearance between the surfaces of said sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials is quickly adjusted correspondingly to sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials, and

4. the slidable sealing box being housed in a casing part whose lateral width is larger or smaller than the lateral width of the heat-treating pressure chamber through a small clearance from the casing part.

In the present apparatus, sealing boxes having linear nozzles are symmetrically provided at both the inlet and outlet sealing parts of the heat-treating chamber for the fibrous materials so as to put the fibrous materials between a pair of the sealing boxes, and to form a clearance sufficient for passing the fibrous materials between the pair of the sealing boxes. The fibrous materials are made to pass through the clearance, while a sealing fluid supplied to the sealing boxes is injected from the linear nozzles of the sealing box. Leakage of the pressure fluid from the heat-treating chamber to the outside is prevented by an injecting and pinching force of the sealing fluid due to its static pressure. The sealing fluid is pushed out of the sealing parts into the outside sealing fluid overflow chambers by the inside pressure of the heat-treating chamber, and is discharged to the outside or recycled for reuse without any intrusion into the heat-treating chamber. Furthermore, in the present apparatus, the sealing boxes can be moved by sliding by means of a driving device when the knot parts or parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials are passed through between the sealing boxes, and at this time the clearance between the sealing boxes is widened thereby. Therefore, even the knot parts and the parts of varied thickness can be continuously passed through the present apparatus smoothly.

Furthermore, in the present apparatus, small clearances are required between the side surfaces of the slidable sealing boxes and the side surfaces of a casing for the sealing boxes to make the sealing boxes movable. In the present apparatus, these clearances are in a projected or recessed state, and thus a leakage of the pressure fluid from the heat-treating chamber through these small clearances can be prevented.

Therefore, even the knot parts and the parts of varied thickness of the fibrous materials can be continuously passed through the present apparatus with a good sealing effect.

Another advantage of the present apparatus is that the fibrous materials are passed through a clearance between a pair of nozzles at the sealing part, and consequently never undergo any friction or damage by a solid material, as will be described below, and thus the fibrous materials can be passed through the apparatus easily at a high speed. Continuous heat treatment under pressure can be efficiently carried out in the present apparatus.

Now, the present invention will be explained in detail by way of the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the entire apparatus of the present invention for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials under pressure.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of a part including an inlet sealing part of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view along the line III--III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view along the line IV--IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a sealing part showing another embodiment of sealing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view along the line VI--VI of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view of a sealing device provided with a packing for adjusting the lateral width of a clearance B at the sealing part of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view along the line VIII--VIII of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view along the line IX--IX of FIG. 8.

FIGS. 10 - 13 are cross-sectional views showing sealing structures to be used in place of the part of FIG. 4.

FIG. 14 is a partial cross-sectional view of a sealing device provided with penetrating pipes.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view along the line XV--XV of FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional schematic view of an outlet part provided with water draining rods.

FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional schematic view of the outlet part provided with water-draining plate, that is, a modification of FIG. 16.

FIG. 18 is a view showing one concrete example of the water-draining plate.

In FIG. 1, the present apparatus consists of a shell pipe 1, a heat-treating chamber 2, sealing parts 3, sealing boxes 4 and 4', air cylinders 5 and sealing fluid overflow chambers 6. The sealing parts 3, sealing boxes 4 and 4', air cylinders 5 and sealing fluid overflow chambers 6 are symmetrically provided at both the inlet and outlet parts of the present apparatus. Fibrous materials 7 to be treated are successively passed from feeding rollers 8 through a guide hole 9, and a clearance B between the sealing boxes 4 and 4', heat-treated in the heat-treating chamber 2, passed through the clearance and the guide hole of the similar structures at the outlet part, and sent to the successive step through withdrawing rollers 10.

Heat-treating pressure fluid is passed into the heat-treating chamber 2 from a pressure fluid inlet pipe 11. A sealing fluid, preferably sealing water, is led to the sealing boxes 4 and 4' from a liquid-feeding pump 12 through sealing fluid inlet pipes 13 and 13' (the sealing fluid inlet pipe fixed to the movable sealing box being partially composed of a flexible tube 14), and injected from nozzles A and A'. Sealing is established by a pinching force due to the static water head of the sealing fluids symmetrically injected at a high speed from both the upper and lower sides, and the effluent sealing fluid flows into the sealing fluid overflow chamber 6 under the atmospheric pressure owing to the inside pressure of the heat-treating chamber, and is recovered into a storage tank 16 therefrom through a drain pipe 15. The storage tank 16 is such a tank that can withstand the atmospheric pressure, and may be provided with a heater 17, a sealing fluid make-up pipe 18 and a vent pipe 19, if necessary.

Blind patches 20 are provided at both the ends of the apparatus to form the sealing fluid overflow chambers 6, and the sealing fluid is prevented from the leakage to the outside thereby. The blind patches 20 have guide holes 9, through which the fibrous materials can be passed, and which can control the width of the passing fibrous materials. If necessary, a swing guide plate 21 is fixed to the blind patch in a swingable state by means of a hinge, etc., and the fibrous materials, especially the knot parts, can pass through the guide hole by pushing the swing guide plate 21 open.

As shown in FIG. 2, the respective sealing fluid injection nozzles A and A' are preferably kept at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. to the direction of the fibrous materials 7, so that the sealing fluid can be injected toward the direction of the heat-treating chamber. This is preferable in view of the sealing effect. At an angle of less than 30.degree., the pinching force of the injected sealing fluid will be smaller, and thus the sealing effect will be poor. In carrying out operation of the present apparatus, it is preferable in the sealing effect to keep a clearance B between the sealing boxes 4 and 4' to take a distance of the thickness of the fibrous materials 7 plus 3 - 7 mm. That is to say, if the additional distance is less than 3 mm, a frictional damage of the fibrous materials 7 by the sealing boxes 4 and 4' will be serious, and if the additional distance is more than 7 mm, the sealing effect is lowered.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the movable sealing box 4 is inserted into a casing part 22 having a lateral width projected over or recessed from the lateral width of the inside walls of the shell pipe 1, with a small clearance C between the inside wall of the casing part and the side wall of the sealing box. The sealing box 4 is connected to an air cylinder 5 attached onto an air cylinder support frame 23 fixed to the casing part 22. Therefore, when the air cylinder 5 is actuated, the sealing box 4 smoothly slides along the inside walls of the casing part 22. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper end of the movable sealing box 4 is of flange type, and the flange surface is pressed down to the casing part by force of the air cylinder 5 through an elastic sealing material, for example, O-ring 24, placed between the flange surface and the air cylinder.

The lower end of the non-movable sealing box 4' may be fixed to the shell pipe 1 by fixing the flange part thereof to the casing part by bolts or by welding or the sealing box 4' may be integrally prepared together with the casing, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In the apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the clearance B between the sealing boxes 4 and 4' is normally kept to a desired distance during the operation by means of the air cylinder 5, while interposing the travelling fibrous materials 7 between the sealing boxes, and the pressure leakage through the clearance B at the sealing part is prevented by the sealing water injected from the nozzles A and A', and the pressure leakage from the upper end of the movable sealing box 4 is prevented by an O-ring 24 inserted between the flange surface of the sealing box 4 pressed down by the air cylinder 5, and the casing part 22. Furthermore, the pressure leakage from the side surfaces of the sealing box 4, which is most difficult to prevent in the movable sealing box, can be side-sealed owing to a kind of labyrinth effect due to the non-linear, that is, projected or recessed small clearances C on the sides of the sealing box.

When a knot part larger than the vertical distance of the clearance B between the sealing boxes reaches the sealing part, the movable sealing box 4 is elevated by actuation of the air cylinder 5 to enlarge the clearance B between the sealing boxes and pass the knot part through therebetween. When it is desirous to adjust the minimum vertical distance of the clearance B between the sealing boxes, other liner, washer, etc. than the O-ring may be placed between the flange surface of the sealing box and the casing together with the O-ring.

As another method for preventing the pressure leakage from the upper end of the movable sealing box 4, both casing part D for the movable sealing box 4 in contact with the heat-treating chamber and the casing part E in contact with the sealing fluid overflow chamber may be modified to be projected toward the running fibrous materials, and packings 25 consisting of piston rings or gland packings are inserted between the contact surfaces of the movable sealing box 4 with the projected casing parts to prevent the pressure leakage from the upper end of the movable sealing box, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. Of course, the packings 25 may be inserted around the whole of the surfaces of the movable sealing box 4, as shown in FIG. 6.

Furthermore, when the fibrous materials having a lateral width smaller than the lateral width of the clearance B between the sealing boxes 4 and 4' are heat-treated, packings 26 and 26' are provided at both the ends of the clearance B between the sealing boxes, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, and the lateral width of the fibrous materials 7 can be adjusted thereby, and the pressure leakage through the clearances at both the ends can be prevented. The minimum vertical distance of the clearance B between the sealing boxes 4 and 4' can be also made constant by means of said packings 26 and 26'.

The small clearance C between the inside wall of the casing part 22 and the side wall of the movable sealing box 4 may take any shape, except the straight linear shape. It may be in a concave or convex or curved shape, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 10-13. However, it is particularly preferable in view of the structure of the apparatus that the small clearance C takes such a structure as shown in FIGS. 4 or 10.

When the inside pressure of the heat-treating chamber is very high, penetrating pipes 27 are provided through the casing part 22, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, and an auxiliary sealing fluid under a definite pressure, for example, water or air, is introduced from the outside through the penetrating pipes. The sealing effect can be thereby much assured on the sides of the movable sealing box 4. With an increase in the travelling speed of the fibrous materials, an amount of the sealing fluid attached to and entrained by the fibrous materials is increased. To prevent the sealing fluid from the scattering toward the outside from the guide hole 9, the length of the sealing fluid overflow chamber 6 must be increased. However, as shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the length of the sealing fluid overflow chamber 6 can be shortened by providing water-draining rods 28 or water-draining plates 29 in contact with the fibrous materials 7 so that the running fibrous materials 7 may be interposed between these water-draining rods or plates. When the water-draining plates 29 are used, it is necessary to provide an opening 30 on its lower part to improve the flow of the sealing water, as shown in FIG. 18.

In the apparatus illustrated above, one of the sealing boxes is of movable type, but of course both the sealing boxes can be made movable. The actuating device may be of a spring type, a hydraulic cylinder type, an oil pressure cylinder type, etc. in place of the air cylinder. When hot water or cold water is used as the sealing fluid in the case the ordinarily used steam is used as the pressure fluid, it is not necessary to separate these two fluids in recycling the sealing fluid, even if they are mixed together, and also a good sealing effect can be obtained.

According to the present apparatus for continuously heat-treating the fibrous materials under pressure, the heating pressure medium within the heat-treating chamber can be prevented from leakage to the outside of the apparatus by a sealing system quite different from the conventional ones, and the fibrous materials can be continuously heat-treated under pressure at a high speed without any damage to the fibrous materials. Further, even if there is a change in the thickness of the fibrous materials, the vertical distance of the sealing clearance can be smoothly adjusted, and the continuous heat treatment can be assured without any interruption of the travelling of the fibrous materials. The operating efficiency and the yield of the product can be much more increased in the present apparatus than in the conventional apparatus, and further there are such advantages as very simple structure of the apparatus, and consequently less disorder and good maintenance.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which apparatus is capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of fibrous materials therethrough and in which sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at each end of a heat-treating pressure chamber, each of said sealing parts being positioned between the heat-treating chamber and a respective overflow chamber, comprising

1. a chamber for treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid,

2. each of said sealing parts comprising a pair of sealing boxes each of said sealing boxes being provided with

a. a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid into said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are passing through a clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to a travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in a transverse direction and being inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in a direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and

b. a sealing fluid inlet on a side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid being injected through said nozzle and being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

3. a means for sliding at least one of said sealing boxes in each pair to permit the clearance between the sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous material to be adjusted to correspond to a sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials, and

4. an individual casing for housing each slidable sealing box through a small clearance between the slidable sealing box and the casing, each casing having a lateral width differing from that of the heat-treating pressure chamber to provide a non-linear channel against the passage of the pressurized fluid.

2. An apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which apparatus is capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of fibrous materials therethrough and in which sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at each end of a heat-treating pressure chamber, each of said sealing parts being positioned between the heat-treating chamber and a respective overflow chamber, comprising

1. a chamber for treating fibrous materials with pressurized fluid,

2. each of said sealing parts comprising a pair of sealing boxes, each of said sealing boxes being provided with

a. a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid into said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are passing through a clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to a travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in a transverse direction and being inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in a direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and

b. a sealing fluid inlet in a side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid being injected through said nozzle and being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

3. a means for sliding at least one of said sealing boxes in each pair to permit the clearance between the sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials to be adjusted to correspond to a sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials,

4. an individual casing for housing each slidable sealing box through a small clearance between the slidable sealing box and the casing, each casing having a lateral width differing from that of the heat-treating pressure chamber to provide a non-linear channel against the passage of the pressurized fluid, and

5. packing materials being inserted between each slidable sealing box, and its casing to control the lateral width of the fibrous materials.

3. An apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which apparatus is capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of fibrous materials therethrough and in which sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at each end of a heat-treating pressure chamber, each of said sealing parts being positioned between the heat-treating chamber and a respective overflow chamber, comprising

1. a chamber for treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid,

2. each of said sealing parts comprising a pair of sealing boxes each of said sealing boxes being provided with

a. a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid into said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are passing through a clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to a travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in a transverse direction and being inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in a direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and

b. a sealing fluid inlet on a side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid being injected through said nozzle and being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

3. a means for sliding at least one of said sealing boxes in each pair to permit the clearance between the sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials to be adjusted to correspond to a sudden change in hte thickness of the travelling fibrous materials,

4.

4. an individual casing for housing each slidable sealing box through a small clearance between the slidable sealing box and the casing, each casing having a lateral width differing from that of the heat-treating pressure chamber to provide a non-linear channel against the passage of the pressurized fluid, and

5. each casing being provided with openings for injecting another auxiliary

sealing fluid from the outside. 4. An apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which apparatus is capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of fibrous materials therethrough and in which sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at each end of a heat-treating pressure, each of said sealing parts being positioned between the heat-treating chamber and a respective overflow chamber, comprising

1. a chamber for treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid,

2. each of said sealing parts comprising a pair of sealing boxes each of said sealing boxes being provided with

a. a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid into said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are passing through a clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to a travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in a transverse direction and being inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in a direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and

b. a sealing fluid inlet on a side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid being injected through said nozzle and being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

3. a means for sliding at least one of said sealing boxes in each pair to permit the clearance between the sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials to be adjusted to correspond to a sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials,

4. and individual casing for housing each slidable sealing box through a small clearance between the slidable sealing box and the casing, each casing having a lateral width differing from that of the heat-treating pressure chamber to provide a non-linear channel against the passage of the pressurized fluid,

5. packing materials being inserted between each slidable sealing box and its casing to control the lateral width of the fibrous materials, and

6. each casing being provided with openings for injecting another auxiliary sealing fluid from the outside.

5. An apparatus for continuously heat-treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid, which apparatus is capable of continuously passing knot parts or parts of varied thickness of fibrous materials therethrough and in which sealing parts and sealing fluid overflow chambers adjacent thereto are provided at each end of a heat-treating pressure chamber, each of said sealing parts being positioned between the heat-treating chamber and a respective overflow chamber, comprising

1-a. a chamber for treating fibrous materials with a pressurized fluid,

1-b. a pair of sealing boxes, each of said sealing boxes being provided with

a. a nozzle for injecting a sealing fluid into said sealing box in contact with the fibrous materials to be treated which are passing through a clearance between said pair of sealing boxes, said nozzle having a linear slit opened perpendicularly to a travelling direction of the fibrous materials so as to inject the sealing fluid uniformly in a transverse direction and being inclined to the fibrous materials at an angle of 30.degree. to 90.degree. in a direction from a position remote from the heat-treating pressure chamber toward a position close thereto, and

b. a sealing fluid inlet on a side opposite to said nozzle, sealing fluid being injected through said nozzle and being overflown into each of said overflow chambers while preventing the pressurized fluid from leaking out of the heat-treating chamber,

1-c. a means for sliding at least one of said sealing boxes in each pair to permit the clearance between the sealing boxes in contact with the fibrous materials to be adjusted to correspond to a sudden change in the thickness of the travelling fibrous materials,

1-d. an individual casing for housing each slidable sealing box through a small clearance between the slidable sealing box and the casing, each casing having a lateral width differing from that of the heat-treating pressure chamber to provide a non-linear channel against the passage of the pressurized fluid, and

2. water-draining rods or plates being provided in contact with the upper and lower sides of the travelling fibrous materials in the sealing fluid overflow chambers.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sliding means is actuated by an air cylinder.

7. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said sliding means is actuated by an air cylinder.

8. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said sliding means is actuated by an air cylinder.

9. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said sliding means is actuated by an air cylinder.

10. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said sliding means is actuated by an air cylinder.