Gas analysis apparatus comprising plural ionization chambers with different ionizing electron beam energy levels in the chambers

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR DETECTING COMPONENTS OF A GAS MIXTURE BY IONIZATION AND MEASUREMENT OF THE ION CURRENT COMPRISING, MEANS FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRON BEAM OF FIRST ENERGY LEVEL AND AN ELECTRON BEAM OF SECOND ENERGY LEVEL DIFFERENT FROM SAID FIRST ENERGY LEVEL, MEANS FOR PASSING SAID GAS MIXTURE THROUGH SAID FIRST ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM TO IONIZE SAID MIXTURE AND PRODUCE A FIRST IONIZATION SIGNAL AND THROUGH SAID SECOND ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM TO IONIZE SAID MIXTURE AND PRODUCE A SECOND IONIZATION SIGNAL. FIRST COLLECTOR MEANS RESPONSIVE TO IONIZATION OF SAID MIXTURE BY SAID FIRST ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM FOR COLLECTING IONS TO PROVIDE SAID FIRST IONIZATION SIGNAL, SECOND COLLECTOR MEANS RESPONSIVE TO IONIZATION OF SAID MIXTURE BY SAID SECOND ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM FOR COLLECTING IONS TO PROVIDE SAID SECOND IONIZATION SIGNAL, FIRST IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS INCLUDING SAID FIRST ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM, SECOND IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS INCLUDING SAID SECOND ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM, MEANS FOR ESTABLISHING A FIRST ION-TRANSPORTING FIELD FOR ATTRACTING IONS FROM SAID FIRST IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS TO SAID FIRST COLLECTOR MEANS, MEANS FOR ESTABLISHING A SECOND ION-TRANSPORTING FIELD FOR ATTRACTING IONS FROM SAID SECOND IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS TO SAID SECOND COLLECTOR MEANS, EACH OF SAID IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS BEING FORMED WITH APERTURES FOR ALLOWING AT LEAST ENTRY OF THE ASSOCIATED ENERGY LEVEL ELECTRON BEAM, AND MEANS DEFINING A COMMON CONTAINER ENCLOSING SAID MEANS FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRON BEAM OF FIRST ENERGY LEVEL AND AN ELECTRON BEAM OF SECOND ENERGY LEVEL DIFFERENT FROM SAID FIRST ENERGY LEVEL, SAID FIRST COLLECTOR MEANS, SAID SECOND COLLECTOR MEANS, SAID FIRST IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS, SAID SECOND IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS, SAID MEANS FOR ESTABLISHING A FIRST IONTRANSPORTING FIELD AND SAID MEANS FOR ESTABLISHING A SECOND ION-TRANSPORTING FIELD, SAID FIRST IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS AND SAID SECOND IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS BEING FORMED WITH SAID APERTURES ALONG A COMMON AXIS, SAID MEANS FOR PROVIDING AN ELECTRON BEAM COMPRISING A SINGLE ELECTRON SOURCE EMITTING A BEAM ALONG SAID AXIS THROUGH BOTH SAID IONIZATION CHAMBER MEANS, SAID APPARATUS INCLUDING MEANS TO ACCELERATE THE ELECTRONS TO THE SECOND ENERGY LEVEL AS THE BEAM PASSES BETWEEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND IONIZATION CHAMBERS.