Fluidized solids apparatus

Claim 1

IN COMBINATION, A REACTION VESSEL AND A REGENERATING VESSEL, EACH ADAPTED TO CONTAIN A DENSE PHASE BED OF FLUIDIZED SOLID PARTICLES, MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED SOLID PARTICLES AT VARYING RATES FROM THE REACTION VESSEL TO THE REGENERATING VESSEL AND BACK, STRIPPING MEANS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE FLUIDIZED SOLID PARTICLES FROM AT LEAST ONE OF SAID VESSELS PRIOR TO CIRCULATION THEREOF TO THE OTHER OF SAID VESSEL, SAID STRIPPING MEANS COMPRISING A CHAMBER DIVIDED INTO A PLURALITY OF CONNECTED VERTICALLY ARRANGED, SUPERPOSED STRIPPING COMPARTMENTS BY HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED FORAMINOUS MEMBERS MOUNTED TRANSVERSELY ACROSS THE ENTIRE CROSS-SECTION OF THE CHAMBER, SAID FORAMINOUS MEMBERS HAVING A PLURALITY OF APERTURES THERETHROUGH THAT ARE DISPOSED UNIFORMLY OVER THE ENTIRE AREA OF THE MEMBERS AND THAT ARE ADAPTED TO PERMIT CONCURRENT DOWNWARD FLOW OF FLUIDIZED SOLID PARTICLES AND UPWARD FLOW OF STRIPPING MEDIUM DIRECTLY BETWEEN VERTICALLY ADJACENT, SUPERPOSED COMPARTMENTS, THE SUM OF THE CROSSSECTIONAL AREAS OF THE APERTURE IN EACH MEMBER BEING A MAJOR PORTION OF THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF THE MEMBER, EACH COMPARTMENT BEING ADAPTED TO CONTAIN DENSE AND DILUTE PHASE SUSPENSIONS OF PARTICLES, MEANS FOR PASSING A STRIPPING MEDIUM UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID STRIPPING COMPARTMENTS, MEANS FOR CONCURRENTLY VARYING THE EFFECTIVE SIZE OF THE APERTURES THROUGH SAID FORAMINOUS MEMBERS AND THE RATE OF INTRODUCTION OF SAID STRIPPING MEDIUM IN APPROXIMATELY DIRECT PROPORTION TO VARIATIONS IN THE RATE OF PARTICLE CIRCULATION BETWEEN THE VESSEL.