Chromatographic method and apparatus

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE QUANTITATIVE COLLECTION OF A CHROMATOGRAPHICALLY SEPARATED FRACTION OF A SAMPLE MIXTURE CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF PARTITIONABLE SUBSTANCES, SAID PROCESS COMPRISING THE STEPS OF INTRODUCING SAID SAMPLE MIXTURE AT A POINT INTO ONE END OF AN ANNULAR CHROMATOGRAPHIC COLUMN HAVING A CHROMATOGRAPHIC BED, INTRODUCING A MOVABLE PHASE INTO SAID END OF SAID COLUMN, PLACING AN END CLOSURE HAVING A CIRCUMFERENTIAL ROW OF SPACED APERTURES THEREIN, SAID ROW REGISTERING WITH THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID COLUMN, PASSING SAID MOVABLE PHASE THROUGH SAID COLUMN SO AS TO SEPARATE SAID PARTITIONABLE SUBSTANCES INTO FRACTIONS WHICH ARE SEQUENTIALLY ELUTED FROM SAID OPPOSITE END OF SAID COLUMN, ROTATING SAID COLUMN RELATIVE TO SAID CLOSURE SO AS TO LOCATE A FRACTION EMERGING FROM SAID BED ADJACENT AN APERTURE IN SAID CLOSURE, CONTINUING TO PASS SAID MOVABLE PHASE THROUGH SAID COLUMN TO ELUTE SAID FRACTION FROM SAID