Flow distributor for a papermaking machine

Claim 1

IN A PAPER MACHINE STOCK INLET OF SUBSTANTIAL TRANSVERSE DIMENSION FOR FLOWING STOCK IN A LONGITUDINAL DIRECTION ONTO A FORMING SURFACE TRAVELING LONGITUDINALLY AT A PREDETERMINED SPEED, MEANS DEFINING A MULTIPLICITY OF APERTURES POSITIONED IN GENERALLY TRANSVERSELY UNIFORM PATTERN FOR GENERATING A MULTIPLICITY OF HIGH SPEED STOCK JETS LYING GENERALLY IN TRANSVERSE ALIGNMENT, MEANS AT THE ON-COMING SIDE OF SAID APERTURED MEANS FOR DELIVERING STOCK AT A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM PRESSURE TO THE ON-COMING SIDES OF SAID APERTURES FOR GENERATION OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM STOCK JET SPEEDS THERETHROUGH, TRANSVERSE BAFFLE MEANS POSITIONED AT THE IMMEDIATE OFF-RUNNING SIDE OF SAID APERTURES RECEIVING AND TURNING THE STOCK JETS IMPINGING THEREAGAINST TO IMPART TRANSVERSE STOCK FLOW COMPONENTS THERETO IN A CHAMBER HAVING A TRANSVERSE CROSSSECTIONAL AREA SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER THAN THE TOTAL APERTURE TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA TO EFFECT SUBSTANTIAL DIMINUTION OF PRIMARY LONGITUDINAL STOCK FLOW VELOCITY, A THIN STOCK FLOW CHANNEL OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE TRANSVERSE DIMENSION OF SAID CHAMBER AND HAVING CLOSELY SPACED WALLS MERGING SMOOTHLY WITH SAID CHAMBER GRADUALLY CONVERGING LONGITUDINALOY THEREFROM TOWARD A SLICE OUTLET TO EFFECT A PRIMARY STOCK FLOW VELOCITY INCREASE TOWARD THE SLICE AND STATIONARY MEANS IN SAID CHANNEL DEFINING A PLULARITY OF SEQUENCES OF ALTERNATING MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM TRANSVERSE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREAS FOR SEQUENTIALLY SUPER-IMPOSING DISTINCT SECONDARY STOCK FLOW VELOCITY CHANGES UPON THE PRIMARY STOCK FLOW TO IMPART TO THE STOCK FLOWING IN THE CHANNEL SMALL SCALE TURBULENCE IN A CONDITION OF PARTIAL DECAY AT THE SLICE, EACH SUCH SEQUENCE HAVING A LONGITUDINAL DIMENSION EXTENDING FROM A MAXIMUM TO AND THROUGH THE ADJACENT MINIMUM AND TO THE NEXT MAXIMUM OF SUCH CROSS SECTIONAL AREAS, THE UPSTREAM-MOST PLURALITY OF SAID SEQUENCES EACH BEING DEFINED BY A TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING BANK OF TRANSVERSELY SPACED ABUTMENTS WITH ABRUPTLY TERMINATING DOWNSTREAM SIDES FOR VORTEX TURBULENCE GENERATION SUBSTANTIALLY UPSTREAM OF THE SLICE, THERE BEING A TURBULENCE DECAY SECTION OF SAID CHANNEL OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE CROSS-SECTIONAL AREA OF AND IMMEDIATELY UPSTREAM FROM THE SLICE, SUCH SECTION BEING DEFINED BY SMOOTH WALL PORTIONS EXTENDING LONGITUDIANALLY BEYOND THE DOWNSTREAM SEQUENCE A SUBSTANTIALLY GREATER DISTANCE THAN THE LONGITUDINAL DIMENSION OF SUCH SEQUENCE.