Patent ID: 8210004

Claim:
A tunnel finisher for fabric garments comprising: a housing, a preconditioning chamber in said housing for receiving atmospheric steam therein to moisten the fabric of the garments, a finishing chamber in said housing connected to said preconditioning chamber to provide in said finishing chamber contact between garments and an injected mixture comprising highly heated atmospheric steam and highly heated air, a heater for heating air to a temperature of between 240° F. to 320° F. (116° (3 to 160° (3) to provide a source of highly heated air, an isolated heating/mixing chamber formed in said housing by walls to isolate said heating/mixing chamber from said finishing chamber and from the garments, said heating/mixing chamber having said highly heated air delivered thereto and atmospheric pressure steam delivered thereto for mixing the atmospheric steam with said highly heated air within said isolated heating/mixing chamber to produce highly heated atmospheric steam having a temperature above 212° F. (100° (3) prior to introduction of said highly heated atmospheric steam into said finishing chamber, a blower connected to said heating/mixing chamber to mix within said heating/mixing chamber said atmospheric steam with said highly heated air said blower injecting said mixture comprising highly heated atmospheric steam and highly heated air into a finishing chamber, a generally atmospheric pressure steam generator to provide steam at a generally atmospheric pressure, a dispersion tube connecting said steam generator to said preconditioning chamber and to said heating/mixing chamber said tube having a plurality of voids therein for distributing steam from said steam generator in said preconditioning chamber and in said heating/mixing chamber, and a track traveling through said housing to carry the garments first through said preconditioning chamber and then through said finishing chamber.