Air cleaning apparatus

Claim 1

IN AIR-CLEANING APPARATUS FOR REMOVING EXTREMELY FINELY DIVIDED DUST PARTICLES FROM AIR, COMPRISING A DUST COLLECTOR VESSEL AND A MOISTURE ELIMINATOR VESSEL THROUGH WHICH AIR TO BE CLEANED MAY BE SERIALLY PASSED, WATER SPRAY HEADS FOR DELIVERING A SPRAY OF WATER DROPLETS INTO AIR ENTERING SAID COLLECTOR VESSEL, AND MEANS IN SAID MOISTURE ELIMINATOR VESSEL FOR REMOVING DUST-LADEN WATER DROPLETS FROM THE AIR, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING A STACK OF SPACED ORIFICE PLATES EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS THE PATH OF AIR FLOW THROUGH SAID COLLECTOR VESSEL, EACH SUCH PLATE BEING PERFORATED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF LONG NARROW ORIFICES ARRANGED IN SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATIONSHIP, EACH ORIFICE IN EACH PLATE HAVING A LENGTH-TO-WIDTH RATIO NOT EXCEEDING ABOUT 40 AND NOT LESS THAN ABOUT 10 AND BEING SPACED FROM ADJACENT ORIFICES IN THE SAME PLATE BY A DISTANCE NOT LESS THAN TWICE ITS WIDTH, THE ORIFICES IN EACH PLATE BEING STAGGERED LATERALLY WITH RESPECT TO THE ORIFICES IN THE ADJACENT PLACE ON THE DOWNSTREAM SIDE OF THE STACK, WHEREBY DUST PARTICLES CARRIED BY THE AIR ARE EFFECTIVELY WETTED AS THE AIR FLOWS THROUGH SAID STACK OF PLATES.