Patent ID: 6889843

Claim:
A separator construction for use in separating particulate material into relatively coarse and relatively fine particles, said construction comprising: a separator housing having an upper end and a lower end; means in said housing adjacent the upper end thereof forming a separating zone for reducing particulate material to relatively fine and relatively coarse particles; particulate material inlet means for introducing particulate material to said separating zone; gas inlet means independent of said particulate material inlet means in communication with the upper end of said housing for introducing a stream of gas into said separating zone for movement along a path at such velocity as to entrain fine particles; a coarse particles outlet adjacent the lower end of said housing; a gas and fine particles outlet in communication with the upper end of said housing; means adjacent the upper end of said housing upstream of said separating zone forming a passageway between said gas inlet and said gas and fine particles outlet; adjustable diverting means for diverting a selected portion of said gas stream from said path into said passageway for movement from said gas inlet to said gas and fine particles outlet, thereby bypassing said separating zone and varying the fineness of fine particles entrained in said stream of gas; collector means in communication with said housing for collecting fine particles discharged from said housing; and sensor means for sensing chances in the quantity of fine particles accommodated in said collector means.