摘要 |
An apparatus and method for pre-shrinking a wet fabric prior to drying. The apparatus includes, among other components, a balloon extractor station and a hydro-sizer compression station. The balloon extractor station removes some water from the wet fabric. The hydro-sizer compression station is operatively connected to, and disposed downstream of, the balloon extractor station, and compresses the wet fabric in a lengthwise direction, and in so doing, pre-shrinks the wet fabric prior to drying. The method includes, among other steps, extracting some water from the wet fabric so as to form a hydro-extracted and wet fabric, compressing lengthwise the hydro-extracted and wet fabric so as to form a compacted and wet fabric that is now pre-shrunk prior to drying, and drying the compacted and wet fabric so as to form a compacted and dry fabric. |