Apparatus and process for continuously testing and controlling stock freeness

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR CONTINUOUSLY TESTING AND CONTROLLING THE FREENESS OF PAPER STOCK MATERIAL COMPRISING THE STEPS OF DIVERTING A SUBSTANTIALLY CONTINUOUS FLOW OF PAPER STOCK FROM A STOCK REFINNING APPARARATUS TO A CONTAINER AT A RATE TO MAINTAIN A RELATIVELY HIGH CONSTANT LEVEL OF STOCK THEREIN, ROTATINNG A PERIPHERALLY PERFORATED FILERING DRUM ABOUT A HORIZONTALLY DISPOSED AXIS WITHIN THE PAPER STOCK IN SAID CONTAINER THEREBY FORMING A MAT OF FIBERS ON THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID FILTERING DRUM AS FLUID FROM SAID STOCK FILTERS THROUGH SAID MAT INTO SAID FILTERING DRUM, MAINTAINING A RELATIVELY LOW CONSTANT LEVEL OF FLUID IN SAID FILTERING DRUM BY GRAVITY OVERFLOW THEREFROM UNDER CONSTANT PRESSURE CONDITIONS, MEASURING THE RATE OF FLOW OF SAID FLUID THROUGH SAID MAT TO DETERMINE THE FREENESS OF SAID STOCK, AND REGULATING SAID STOCK REFINING APPARATUS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE DETERMINED FREENESS OF SAID STOCK, SAID RELATIVELY HIGH AND LOW LEVELS BEING RESPECTIVELY CONSIDERABLY ABOVE AND BELOW SAID AXIS.