In particular, the invention covers the technical sector of machines for drying, steaming and cooling fabrics so as to give them special effects and softness.

To this end, basket machines are known, also called "tumbling"machines. These machines are provided with a perforated basket having transversal staves inside, which basket is made to rotate horizontally about its axis. The fabric to be treated, and which is inside the basket, is crossed by a stream of hot air for the drying thereof, and is subjected at the same time to a mechanical action which is due to said rotation as well to the contact with the staves.

From the combination of the mechanical and thermal actions there is obtained a shrinkage of the fabric structure so that the latter becomes softer to the touch.

This type of machine, however, exhibits some limits in relation to their low production capacity and possibility of generating false knots and surface abrasions on the fabric structure.

To achieve a higher productivity in the drying of piece goods, several attempts have been made by proposing baskets which operate continuously. Examples of such machines are disclosed in EP-495761B1, US-2661520, US 3509639, US 3815257 and US-4010550. In such machines, the fabric is fed inside a horizontal basket, possibly within a plurality of cascade- disposed baskets. With such machines it is possible to carry

out drying operations and, besides, the intensity of the treatment is affected by the reduced time during which the fabric remains inside the baskets, just because the material is supplied with continuity.

The Italian patents IT-1187084 and IT-1221611 describe machines which operate in a discontinuous manner to dry fabric in form of string, that is, machines which allow the treatment of individual amounts of fabric. Said machines comprise a pneumatic conveyer which supplies the fabric previously sewn head-to-tail so as to form a ring, a grid upon which the fabric is made to impinge, thereby undergoing a kind of string's loosening and, owing to the impact speed, becomes softer. Afterwards, the fabric moves on by gravity along a chute without undergoing any action.

The drawbacks of this type of machines relate to the stress of the fabric as a consequence of the significant loads arising from the violence of the operation.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks and, above all, to allow the drying, steaming and cooling of bolts of fabric under any possible sequence of operations and combination thereof.

This result has been achieved, according to the invention, by providing a machine and an operating process having the characteristics indicated in the claims 1 and 11 for the discontinuous treatment of fabric in the form of string.

Further characteristics being set forth in the dependent claims.

Further advantages of the present invention are the possibility of carrying out a complete treatment such as, for example, the drying, steaming and cooling; the possibility of obtaining a high production, with an output of optimum quality for the absence of knots, creases or abrasions; the

possibility of determining the fabric's work intensity according to the number of passages inside the machine and to various parameters related to the treatment; the possibility of maintaining the characteristics of the machine unchanged also after prolonged periods of use.

These and other advantages and characteristics of the invention will be best understood by anyone skilled in the art from a reading of the following description in conjunction with the attached drawings given as a practical exemplification of the invention, but not to be considered in a limitative sense, wherein: - Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of machine according to the invention, with some parts omitted for a better representation of the others; - Fig. 2 is a partial and front perspective view of a basket that can be used to equip the machine of Fig. 1; - Figs. 3 and 4 are two perspective views relating to a possible embodiment of an apparatus with a collar for holding the fabric in the machine of Fig. 1, represented in two different configurations characterized by a larger section (Fig. 3) and, respectively, a smaller section (Fig. 4).

With reference to the drawings of the accompanying figures, a machine 10 according to the invention is advantageously utilizable for the discontinuous treatment of a fabric in the form of string.

The machine 10, in its more general form, comprises a racer 2 with a motor for driving back the fabric 1 come out from the basket 5, a pneumatic conveyer conduit 3 with relevant fan 33, a grid 40 for the impact of the fabric and the relief of air from the conduit 3, a chute 4 for feeding the fabric to a basket 5 for the accumulation of the same fabric. The said basket is of tubular shape with a middle cylindrical portion

of significant diameter, and two conical frustum portions.

The cylindrical surface 50 is provided with a plurality of holes, while the conical portions are open to the free ends which form, respectively, the inlet 51 and outlet 52 of the basket 5.

The inner surface of the basket 5 is provided with staves 54 having longitudinal development, that is, substantially parallel to the basket's axis, as can be best seen from Fig.

2 of the attached drawings. The said staves have mainly the function of displacing the fabric during the alternate rotation of the basket 5 about its longitudinal axis.

The basket 5 is also provided with two guides 53 which develop thereon, along the whole circumference, with an outwardly open C-shape section and where two pairs of wheels 55, having axes parallel to that of basket 5, are inserted.

The said wheels 55 are connected to a motor 56 via a kinematic chain and are supported by a frame 58 extending at the bottom of the basket 5 to rest on the ground by means of two fixed feet 59 provided in correspondence of the inlet region 51 of basket 5 and an element 61 with variable extension provided in correspondence of the outlet region of the basket. The fixed feet 59 result also hinged to the frame on the axis (x) of Fig. 1 and the extendable element 61 is associated with an electric motor 60, for example by a coupling of screw-lead screw type, whose activation is cause, respectively, for the lifting or the lowering of the frame 58 with respect to the ground, on the corresponding side.

In correspondence of the outlet 52 of basket 5, provision is made for a collar-shaped device 8 to adjust the content of fabric 1 within the basket 5, and is made up of two semi- collars 82, 82'provided with threaded bushes 84 engaged on corresponding threaded shafts 85, 85' : an electric motor 83

driving the shafts 85 and 85'via the kinematic chain 86,87, 86'. The two semi-collars 82, 82'define inwardly an opening 81 of an extension that varies in relation to their position with respect to the relevant shafts 85,85'. The said opening 81, by determining the outlet section for the fabric 1 exiting from the basket 5, cooperates to regulate the time of permanence of the fabric 1 within the same basket 5.

Moreover, provided at the outlet of basket 5 is a pivoting spoon-like element 6, articulated to the frame on the axis (y) as shown in Fig. 1 and apt to synchronize the action of the pneumatic conveyer.

Also provided above the basket 5 is a ventilation unit consisting of a hollow body 36 extending along the cylindrical portion of the basket 5 and provided with a plurality of holes 37 allowing a forced ventilation onto the basket 5 in the direction schematically represented by the arrow F1 in Fig. 1. Below the basket 5 is a suction unit consisting of a hollow body 7 extending along the cylindrical portion of the basket 5 and provided with a plurality of suction holes 70, whose aspirating action is schematically represented by the arrow F2 in Fig. 1.

Associated with the machine 10 is an air-conditioning and distributing section which comprises one or more steam or diathermic oil batteries, or gas burners, or electrical resistances (not shown for sake of simplicity in the drawing) able to heat the air from the ambient through a conduit 76, one or more filters 75 for eliminating the dust, a conduit 74 for the delivery of conditioned air to the fans 33 and 34, a fan/aspirator 77 for aspirating air passed through the basket 5 and connected to the suction unit 7 via a conduit 71.

The operation of the machine is as follows.

Under use conditions, a fabric in the form of string is

introduced into the machine 10 and sewn head-to-tail so as to form a ring and kept therein for a time required to perform a predetermined number of cycles, until one or more different treatments are completed.

Inside the machine 10, the product 1, by passing in successive stages through the basket 5, undergoes the combination of the mechanical and thermal actions. The mechanical action is caused by the rotation of the basket 5 with the intervention of the staves 54; the thermal action is determined by the flow of air which, as it is fed to the ventilation unit 36 through the perforated wall 50 of basket 5, reaches and impinges transversally upon the fabric present therein, to be aspirated afterwards from below the basket.

The particular type of conditioning of the air gives rise to the special type of treatment, that is, to the drying, or the steaming or the cooling, individually and separately.

It will be appreciated that the members of the machines 10 are properly connected to suitable drive and control means which are, advantageously, of electronic type, so as to automate the treatment to be carried out by setting series of parameters for each treatment, sequence and combination thereof, and for each relevant step, while always taking in consideration the type of fabric to be processed and the nature of its fibres.

Making part of the invention, therefore, is also the process for the discontinuous treatment of bolts of fabric, which can be implemented by an improved machine as above described.

In practice, the present process comprises, in general, the following steps: - loading the machine with a determined amount of fabric in string form and providing for the sewing the head and tail thereof;

- programming the drive and control means of the machine according to the desired treatment and relevant steps of drying, steaming and cooling in any possible sequence and combination thereof; - activating the section of air conditioning in relation to the cycle to be carried out with relevant selected steps; - performing the treatment with a blowing of the conditioned air, according to the established treatment and steps, from the outside of the fabric-holding basket, so as to cause the said air to pass in a direction substantially transverse to the fabric present therein and be aspirated from below the basket.

In a secondary aspect, the process according to the invention provides for: - altering the duration of each step of the treatment to be performed according to the type and nature of the fabric being processed; - adjusting the speed of advancement of the fabric within the basket in relation to the degree of accumulation required therein, by varying the inclination of the same basket; - adjusting the speed of advancement of the fabric within the basket by varying the opening 81 defined by the collar 8; - adjusting the synchronism of the fabric coming out of the basket with the action of the pneumatic conveyor by means of a pivoting element linked to the basket-carrying frame in correspondence of the outlet mouth of the same basket.

Practically, the construction details may vary in any equivalent way as far as the shape, dimensions, elements disposition, nature of the used materials are concerned, without nevertheless departing from the scope of the adopted solution idea and, thereby, remaining within the limits of the protection granted to the present patent.