Oil shale retort and method

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE CONTINUOUS RETORTING OF OIL SHALE FOR THE PYROLYSIS OF ORGANIC MATERIAL CONTAINED THEREIN WHICH COMPRISES MAINTAINING A SPENT SHALE BED OF SUBSTANTIAL THICKNESS IN THE LOWER PORTION OF A COMBUSTION ZONE, MAINTAINING A BIASED RELATIVELY SHALLOW UNIFORM DEPTH RAW SHALE BED IN THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID COMBUSTION ZONE, THE ANGLE OF THE SURFACE OF SAID RAW SHALE BED BEING MAINTAINED AT THE ANGLE OF REPOSE OF THE SHALE UNDER TREATMENT, CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING RAW SHALE INTO THE UNDER SURFACE OF SAID RAW SHALE BED UNIFORMLY THROUGHOUT THE EXTENT THEREOF TO THEREBY MAINTAIN A RELATIVELY UNIFORM DEPTH RAW SHALE BED AND TO PROGRESSIVELY MOVE UPPER LAYERS OF SAID RAW SHALE BED BEYOND THE ANGLE OF REPOSE WHEREBY SURFACE SHALE OF SAID RAW SHALE BED FALLS BY GRAVITY ONTO SAID SPENT SHALE BED, DIRECTING A STREAM OF AIR THROUGH SAID SPENT SHALE BED TO SIMULTANEOUSLY COOL THE SPENT SHALE AND TO HEAT AIR FOR THE COMBUSTION OF RESIDUAL CARBON IN THE SPENT SHALE BED, DRAWING HOT GASES OF COMBUSTION FROM SAID COMBUSTION ZONE SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORMLY THROUGH SAID RAW SHALE BED GENERALLY COUNTERCURRENTLY TO THE RAW SHALE FEED TO SAID RAW SHALE BED TO PYROLYZE THE ORGANIC MATERIAL CONTAINED THEREIN FOR OIL