Anti-air pollution device

Claim 1

Apparatus for washing, cleaning and purifying polluted air including an elongated cylindrical housing, said housing having successive flights defining an auger positioned therein with the flights fixed relatively to the interior wall of said housing, said flights defining at least three inter-flight spaces between successive adjacent pairs of flights along the length of said housing, said flights and housing having a relatively close fit with one another while providing small clearance spaces therebetween, said housing being disposed substantially horizontally, a liquid header supported within said housing and extending coaxially with the longitudinal axis thereof, means for supplying liquid to said header, said header having spray nozzles disposed in the space between adjacent pairs of flights of said auger to direct substantially a solid wall of liquid to the interior wall of said housing and around said header between each adjacent pair of flights, a discharge assembly positioned adjacent one end of said housing, said discharge assembly including air outlet means and filter means disposed across said outlet means, said discharge assembly additionally including liquid outlet means therein for liquid flowing from said housing, the cross-sectional flow area through said air outlet means being greater than the cross-sectional flow area through said housing to thereby produce a pressure drop in said discharge assembly, and a blower housing and blower therein for inducing a relatively high velocity of contaminated air to and through said housing to said discharge assembly, said blower housing and blower connected to the end of said housing opposite to said discharge assembly, said blower causing flow of water through said clearance spaces and to said discharge assembly in the same axial direction as the axial direction of the flow of air through said housing, said blower providing a flow rate and flow capacity of an extent sufficient to force impurities to the exterior wall of said housing for subsequent passage through said clearance spaces, whereby polluted air so admitted is constrained to a high velocity, turbulent, spiral path through the spaces between flights and through the washing wall provided by said nozzles.