The present invention relates to an improved machine for liquid treatment (water, solvents etc . . . ) or gaseous treatment (foam, for example) of textile materials and particularly for washing, dyeing and bleaching textile materials, not only textile materials before spinning--in the form of fluff--but also textile materials during spinning--combed tops, for example--and materials after spinning, in the form of yarn or after weaving or knitting, as well as the processing of fibrous or porous materials for the paper-making industry, particularly.
Machines are known for washing, dyeing and bleaching textile materials at a high temperature going up to 140.degree. C., in which the treatments are effected by causing the bath to flow through the static textile material. These machines are designed either to treat the immersed textile material, with flow of the bath in both directions, or for treating the non immersed textile material, with a bath level under the material carrier and a very short bath ratio. In these machines, the free inner space which is above the textile material immersed or not is filled with a gas cushion, such as nitrogen or compressed air, which is maintained at a constant adjustable pressure whose value is greater than the vapor tension at the treatment temperature at every point of the autoclave.
Although the technical performances of these machines are very good, it proves necessary to further improve them by reducing as much as possible the volume of the treatment bath in circulation and consequently the consumption of energy.