Patent ID: 7591898

Claim:
Apparatus for coating a paper web on both of its sides, comprising a film coater having a pair of rolls for coating the paper web, said rolls forming a nip, at least one applicator for each of said rolls, said applicators being located on its respective roll to provide coating to the nip formed by said rolls, a guide roll for said web below and upstream of said nip and below said rolls, the paper web adapted to run about said guide roll up toward said rolls and said nip and through said nip, each of said applicators apply a metered amount of coating onto the each roll surface of each of the rolls, said roll surfaces transfer the metered coating from said roll surfaces onto the sides of the paper web at said nip, two leveling and smoothing devices, one thereof located on each side of the paper web and after and above said rolls, roll surfaces and nip to level the coating on each side of the paper web and smooth the coating thereon, the paper web adapted to run upwardly from said nip through and above said leveling and smoothing devices, film split droplets or mist forming above said nip by said rolls moving apart generally fall down onto said roll surfaces and being returned to said applicators, said smoothing and leveling devices being offset from one another, including an enclosure for enclosing the smoothing devices and means for providing a humid atmosphere within said enclosure so that said paper web and the leveling and smoothing devices are in said humid atmosphere, wherein said humid atmosphere is water vapory, whereby the upwardly moving paper web can be coated and the film split droplets and mist generally fall back onto the roll surfaces.