Abstract: A load of garments or other textile material to be washed is presoaked in organic solvent, e.g. in a rotating drum, and is then immersed within the same vessel in a water bath while still permeated by a substantial quantity of solvent. During this immersion, the vessel is gradually heated to the boiling point of the solvent, or of the azeotropic water/solvent mixture, which is below the boiling point of water so that only a part of the wash liquor is vaporized. The evaporation can be accelerated by placing the vessel under a partial vacuum. The evaporation rate of the solvent is measured and the washing cycle is halted as soon as that rate drops to zero or below a predetermined limit, with subsequent drying of the load by, for example, centrifugation.

Abstract: The drum of a dry-cleaning apparatus is provided with a circulating heater loop including a heat-exchanger which draws gas out of the drum at one location and reintroduces it at a higher temperature at another location in the drum. A pump is operated to maintain the pressure in the drum substantially uniformly at a subatmospheric pressure so as to compensate for the vapor generated by the heating of the atmosphere in the chamber. Temperature and pressure sensors are provided in the drum to shut off the heater if the pressure and/or temperature rises above a predetermined level. In the method aspects of the invention, the articles in contact with an organic solvent are maintained in a substantially airless atmosphere of the solvent vapor, a portion of which is drawn off at a rate corresponding to the rate of vaporization while the remaining solvent vapor is recirculated after warming.