savage etal

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR CONTACTING GASEOUS MATERIAL WITH GRANULAR CONTACT MATERIAL COMPRISING ; AN UPRIGHT ELONGATED VESSEL ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A COMPACT MOVING MASS OF SAID CONTACT MATERIAL FLOWING CONCURRENTLY DOWNWARD WITH SAID GASEOUS MATERIAL; A PLURALITY OF INVERTED DEEP CHANNEL MEMMBERS HAVING AT LEAST A 3 TO 1 RATIO FO DEPTH TO AVERAGE WIDTH HORIZONTALLY POSITIONED AND UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT A COMMON INTERMEDIATE LEVEL WITHIN SAID VESSEL AND SUPPORTED FROM THE WALLS THEREOF, THE LEVEL OF THE LOWERMOST EDGES OF SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS DIVIDING SAID VESSEL INTO AN UPPER CONTACT ZONE AND A LOWER DISENGAGING ZONE; MEANS ARRANGED TO PROVIDE A PLENUM CHAMBER AT SAID INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF SAID VESSEL, MEANS FOR PROVIDING LATERAL GASEOUS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN SAID PLENUM AND SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS; A PLURALITY OF GAS DISENGAGING MEMBERS UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT EACH OF ONE OR MORE SEPARATE LEVELS SPACED ABOVE SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS; A PLURALITY OF CONDUCTS EXTENDING UPEARDLY FROM SAID CHANNEL MEMBERS AND SUPPORTING SAID DISENGAGING MEMBERS, SAID CONDUITS HAVING THEIR LOWER ENDS IN OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBRS AND THEIR UPPER PORTIONS IN RESTRICTED OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH SAID DISENGAGING MEMBERS, SAID RESTRICTED OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH SAID DISENGAGING MEMBERS BEING SUCH THAT FRACTIONAL PORTIONS OF THE TOTAL GASEOUS MATERIAL PASSING DOWNWARDLY THROUGH SAID CONTACT ZONE ARE DISENGAGED FRON THE COMPACT MOVING MASS AT EACH OF THE SUCCESSIVE LEVELS OF DISENGAGING MEMBERS AND A SUBSTANTIAL REMAINING PORTION OF GASEOUS MATERIALS IS DISENGAGED FROM SAID MASS AT THE BOTTOM OF SAID CONTACT ZONE AND COLLECTED WITHIN SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS, SAID CONDUITS BEING ARRANGED AND ADAPTED TO RECEIVE SAID PORTIONS OF GASEOUS MATERIAL COLLECTED BY THE DISENGAGING MEMBERS AT THE UPPER DISENGAGING LEVELS AND TO CONVEY THE SAME DOWNWARDLY INTO SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS, THE CROSS-SECTIONAL FLOW AREA OF SAID DEEP CHANNEL MEMBERS BEING SUCH AS NORMALLY TO CONVEY THE TOTAL DISENGAGED GASEOUS MATERIAL LATERALLY INTO SAID PLENUM CHAMBER AT A VELOCITY INSUFFICEINT TO EFFECT ANY SUBSTANTIAL ENTRAINMENT OF SAID GRANULAR CONTACT MATERIAL; AND MEANS FOR DISCHARGING GASEOUS MATERIAL FROM SAID PLENUM CHAMBER.