felt which is smoother absent the effect of suction which may act in the press nip or an unclean felt an important consideration in the present invention is to assure that a situation does not occur wherein the web w will not follow the upper fabric felt 20 and therefore not pass into the second nip n 2 but become attached onto the lower felt fabric 30 of the first nip n 1 such as due to the possibility that the lower felt fabric 30 is dirty in order to eliminate this possibility all felts and fabrics and particularly the lower fabric 30 must be provided with effective cleaning and felt conditioning devices known per se furthermore in order to assure a safe conduction of the web w from the first nip n 1 to the second press nip n 2 it is necessary to closely consider the quality and type of the felts and fabrics 20 and 30 which are utilized in this connection primary consideration must be paid to the manner in which the felts and fabrics are manufactured i e to the particular textile technology in order to obtain the object of the invention the pick up felt 20 belonging to the press section and operating in the first press nip n 1 as an upper felt fabric must have two basic characteristics firstly the surface of this upper felt fabric 20 must be considerably smoother than the surface of the second or lower fabric 30 present in the first nip.