Improvements in or relating to means for retaining solids in tubes

摘要

To retain contact bodies in a vertical reactor tube 11, Fig. 1, but permit the free flow of liquids, a spring 13 is inserted in the lower end of the tube, the spring retaining itself in the tube by its resilience. Preferably the lower end 16 of the spring is bent inwardly and extends across the centre of the tube, this end being gripped to twist the spring in order to reduce its diameter for easy insertion into and removal from the tube. In Figs. 4 and 5 (not shown) the spring is in the form of a cylindrical helix, each end being bent inwardly so that the spring may be inserted either end up. Alternatively, the spring may be a conical helix, or a flat spiral with the inner end bent axially and then radially, (Fig. 3, not shown).