VORRICHTUNG ZUM BEHANDELN VON FLAECHENMATERIAL

Apparatus for expelling and/or withdrawing moisture from, or for admitting moisture to, a running web of paper or textile material has rolls which define one or more nips for the running web and at least one of which has a stack of washer-like funnel-shaped absorbent discs compressed between two end walls one of which has an outwardly bulging frustoconical surface and the other of which has an inwardly bulging frustoconical surface. The discs surround a core of stainless steel and their density in the region of the core is highest due to the provision of funnel-shaped elastomeric inserts which surround the core and whose thickness decreases in a direction from the core toward the external surface of the roll. Such roll renders it possible to operate with a stack of discs whose hardness at the periphery of the roll is relatively low in spite of a substantial nip pressure, or to operate with a very pronounced nip pressure at a given hardness in the region of the peripheral surface. In either event, the discs exhibit a satisfactory deformability at the nip as well as the ability to reestablish the cylindrical shape of the periphery of the roll immediately downstream of the nip.