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Claim 1

THE PROCESS OF CLASSIFYING A MIXTURE OF RELATIVELY HEAVY AND RELATIVELY LIGHT PARTICLES OF MATTER COMPRISING THE STEPS OF FLOWING A STREAM OF AIR DOWNWARDLY AT A SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM VELOCITY THROUGHOUT THE HORIZONTAL CROSSSECTION OF SAID STREAM, PROJECTING SAID MIXTURE HORIZONTALLY IN A GIVEN DIRECTION ACROSS SAID DOWNWARDLY FLOWING STREAM SO AS TO BE ACTED ON IN UNISON BY GRAVITY AND SAID AIRSTREAM WHILE FLOWING DOWNWARDLY TO PRODUCE A TRANSVERSE SEPARATION OF THE HEAVIER PARTICLES AT MAXIMUM RADII FROM THE LIGHTER PARTICLES AT MINIMUM RADII ARISING FROM THEIR DIFFERENT TRAJECTORIES, SHARPLY DIVERTING SAID DOWNWARDLY FLOWING AIRSTREAM IN A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL DIRECTION COUNTER TO SAID GIVEN DIRECTION TO PRODUCE A GRADUATED VELOCITY CURVING AIRSTREAM ACROSS A RADIAL CROSS SECTION THEREOF, SAID CURVING AIRSTREAM RANGING FROM MAXIMUM VELOCITY AT ITS MINIMUM RADII TO MINIMUM VELOCITY AT ITS MAXIMUM RADII CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO SAID MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM RADII OF THE TRAJECTORIES OF SAID PARTICLES, WHEREBY SAID VELOCITIES FURTHER ACT ON SAID PARTICLES TO ENHANCE SAID TRANSVERSE SEPARATION BY ACCELERATING SAID LIGHTER PARTICLES AND DECELERATING SAID HEAVIER PARTICLES TO ACHIEVE A FINAL SEPARATION BY CENTRIFUGAL FORCE, AND COLLECTING THE CLASSIFIED PARTICLES AT SAID MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM RADII.