Particle classifier

Claim 1

A CENTRIFUGAL PARTICLE CLASSIFIER FOR SEPARATING SOLID PARTICLES OF DIFFERENT DIAMETERS AND THE SAME SPECIFIC GRAVITY INTO AT LEAST TWO DISCRETE SIZE FRACTIONS, SAID PARTICLES BEING SUSPENDED IN A LIQUID, SAID CLASSIFIER COMPRISING A ROTATING PORTION HAVING A LOWER PLATE, AN UPPER PLATE, AND A BAFFLE POSITIONED THEREBETWEEN, SAID UPPER PLATE, SAID LOWER PLATE, AND SAID BAFFLE BEING CIRCULAR, AND CONNECTED TOGETHER FOR ROTATION ABOUT A COMMON AXIS PASSING THROUGH THE CENTRE THEREOF, A WALL CONNECTING THE RIM OF THE UPPER PLATE TO THE RIM OF THE LOWER PLATE, SAID BAFFLE BEING SPACED FROM SAID UPPER PLATE, SAID LOWER PLATE AND SAID WALL ADJACENT THE OUTER END OF SAID BAFFLE TO FORM A FLOW CHANNEL ABOUT THE END OF SAID BAFFLE AND MEANS TO CAUSE SAID LIQUID WITH SAID PARTICLES SUSPENDED THEREIN TO FLOW LAMINARLY BETWEEN SAID LOWER PLATE AND SAID BAFFLE IN A DIRECTION RADIALLY AWAY FROM SAID AXIS OF ROTATION, AROUND THE END OF SAID BAFFLE AND RADIALLY TOWARDS SAID AXIS OF ROTATION BETWEEN SAID UPPER PLATE AND SAID BAFFLE, PARTICLES LARGER THAN A PREDETERMINED DIAMETER BEING TAKEN OUT OF OF SUSPENSION AND DEPOSITED ON SAID WALL, AND PARTICLES SMALLER THAN SAID PREDETERMINED DIAMETER REMAINING SUSPENDED IN SAID LIQUID, SAID PREDETERMINED DIAMETER BEING DEPENDENT ON THE FLOW, THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF THE PARTICLES, THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF THE LIQUID, THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SAID BAFFLE AND SAID UPPER PLATE, THE RADIUS OF SAID BAFFLE, THE VISCOSITY OF THE LIQUID, AND THE RATE OF ROTATION OF SAID ROTATING PROTION.