Abstract: A cleaning arrangement for a pleated filter includes opposite blower and suction heads parallel to the pleats that move in tandem to effect cleaning. In the preferred embodiment, the heads have air slots that are effectively as wide as a single pleat, the blower slot extends substantially across the entire filter, and the suction slot has two sections that each extend halfway across the filter with the sections being respectively operative as the heads move back and forth.

Abstract: Lead battery components such as metallic grids and paste are fed into a tumbling drum which has inlet and outlet ends and an intermediate region in which there are screens for the fine particles of paste to discharge to the exterior of the drum. Water is sprayed onto the plates in the drum. A shroud or housing surrounds the region of the drum containing the screens. Means are provided to create subatmospheric air pressure in the shroud and, consequently, in the drum. The slurry of paste particles is collected in a tank which is integral with the bottom of the shroud. The slurry is passed through a cyclone separator and the water extracted by the separator is recirculated through the lines which supply the spray nozzles. All openings in the drum are subjected to subatmospheric pressure.