Process of polymerizing olefinically unsaturated compounds

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING POLYMER OF AN OLEFINICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUND WHICH COMPRISES INTRODUCING DROPS OF MONOMER OF THE OLEFINICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUND WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY NOT OR ONLY PARTIALLY MISCIBLE WITH WATER, INTO SUBMERGED CONTACT WITH A LIQUID AQUEOUS MEDIUM MAINTAINED AT POLYMER-PRODUCING TEMPERATURE AND CONTAINING A WATER-SOLUBLE RADICAL-YIELDING POLYMERIZATION CATALYST AND DISPERSED POLYMER OF SAID OLEFINICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUND SUSPENDED THEREIN BY THE PRESENCE OF SUFFICIENT EMULSIFYING AGENT THAT THE POLYMER EMULSION IS SUBSTANTIALLY STABLE, CONDUCTING THE DROPS THROUGH SAID AQUEOUS MEDIUM WHILE IN CONTACT THEREWITH WHILE MAINTAINING THE RATE OF INTRODUCTION OF SAID MONOMER DROPS SUCH THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE INTRODUCED MONOMER PASSES CLEAR THROUGH THE AQUEOUS MEDIUM IN MONOMERIC FORM, THE MOVEMENT OF SAID DROPS THERETHROUGH BEING EFFECTED PRIMARILY BY THE DIFFERENCE IN DENSITY OF SAID MONOMER DROPS AND THE MEDIUM, AND COLLECTING THE DROPS OF MONOMERIC OLEFINICALLY UNSATURATED COMPOUND WHICH HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE AQUEOUS MEDIUM INTO AN INTEGRAL MONOMER LIQUID LAYER WHICH IS MAINTAINED IN CONTACT WITH THE AQUEOUS MEDIUM.