Plant for the continuous manufacture of isoprene

Claim 1

IN AN APPARATUS FOR THE CONVERSION OF PINENE INTO ISOPRENE, THE COMBINATION OF A RESERVIOR FOR LIQUID PINENE, MEANS TO ISOMERIZE PINENE INTO DIPENTENE CONNECTED TO SAID RESERVIOR AND HAVING A DISCHARGE OUTLET, A COLUMN INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SUPERIMPOSED PLATES, MEANS TO SUPPLY DIPENTENE FROM SAID OUTLET TO THE UPPERMOST PLATE, EACH PLATE COMPRISING AN ANNULAR CHAMBER, LATERAL SEPARATE RECEPTACLES CONNECTED TO THIS ANNULAR CHAMBER, VALVES INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID CHAMBER AND SAID SEPARATE RECEPTACLES, ELECTRICAL RESISTANCES IN SAID LATERAL RECEPTACLES FOR DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE LIQUID THEREIN TO CONVERT SAID DIPENTENE INTO ISOPRENE, OVERFLOW PIPES CONNECTING EACH ANNULAR CHAMBER TO THE CHAMBER BELOW IT TO MAINTAIN THE LIQUID IN THE CHAMBER AT SUBSTANTIALLY A PREDETERMINED LEVEL, AND A CENTRAL CHIMNEY EXTENDING THROUGH EACH ANNULAR CHAMBER AT ABOUT THE AXIS THEREOF TO A POINT ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE OVERFLOW PIPE TO PERMIT SUBSTANTIALLY FREE FLOW OF THE VAPORS UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID COLUMN, A VAPOR OUTLET AT THE UPPER END OF SAID COLUMN, MEANS TO COLLECT LIQUID AT THE BOTTOM OF SAID COLUMN, CONDENSING MEANS CONNECTED TO THE VAPOR OUTLET TO THE COLUMN FOR CONDENSING THE VAPORS, RECTIFYING AND CONDENSING MEANS CONNECTED TO THE OUTLET OF THE FIRST-MENTIONED CONDENSING MEANS, AND MEANS TO COLLECT THE CONDENSED LIQUID AT THE OUTLET OF THE SECOND-MENTIONED MEANS