Patent Number: 056378785
Section: claims

1. A method for the electron-beam irradiation of gemstones for color enhancement comprising the steps of: placing the gemstones in an oscillating means provided with coolant means;  circulating a coolant through said coolant means;  initiating an oscillating motion along a horizontal y-axis in said oscillating means;  directing an oscillating electron-beam produced by an electron-beam source having the power of about 10 kW to about 500 kW onto the gemstones and wherein the oscillating electron beam is along a z-axis;  maintaining the circulation of coolant through said coolant means until the gemstones are cooled to ambient temperature; and  removing uniformly colored gemstones.  placing the topaz stones in an oscillating means provided with coolant means;  circulating a coolant through said coolant means;  initiating an oscillating motion along a horizontal y-axis in said oscillating means;  directing an oscillating electron-beam produced by an electron-beam source have the power of 50 kW at between about 3 MeV to 5 MeV to provide a dosage of between 4 to 25 girarads for a period of about 24 hours onto the topaz stones and wherein the oscillating electron beam is along a z-axis;  maintaining the circulation of coolant through said coolant means until the topaz stones are cooled to ambient temperatures; and  removing uniformly colored topaz stones. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said gemstones are selected from diamonds, beryl, quartz, tourmaline, sapphire, and dark pearls. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein said gemstone is topaz. 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said electron-beam radiation is produced from an electron-beam source having the power of between 3 MeV to 5 MeV to provide a dosage of between about 4 to 25 gigarads for a period of about 15 to 500 hours. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the rate of oscillation for said oscillating means is from about 5 to about 20 feet per minutes. 6. The method of claim 1 wherein said cooling means is a fluid. 7. The method claim 6 wherein said fluid is water. 8. A method for E-beam irradiation of topaz stones for color enhancement comprising the steps of: