Patent ID: 6887710

Claim:
A system for detecting hazardous particles associated with a parcel, comprising: (a) a housing into which a parcel to be analyzed can be placed, so that a parcel can be isolated from an environment outside the housing; (b) a triggering sampler in fluid communication with a volume of air within said housing, said triggering sampler capable of detecting particles associated with a parcel that are entrained within the volume of air in said housing, said triggering sampler generating a detection signal in response to the detection of such particles; and (c) a detecting sampler in fluid communication with said volume of air and electrically coupled to respond to the detection signal from said triggering sampler, said detecting sampler, in response to said detection signal, removing particles entrained within said volume of air, thereby obtaining a sample of particles, to enable an analysis to determine if particles associated with a parcel that are collected by the detecting sampler are hazardous.