Pump apparatus and method of operation thereof

Claim 1

A PERISTALTIC PUMP APPARATUS, COMPRISING: AT LEAST TWO RESILIENTLY COMPRESSIBLE PUMP TUBES; A PLURALITY OF COMPRESSING MEANS, OPERABLE CYCLICALLY AND SEQUENTIALLY, EACH FOR SEQUENTIALLY, PROGRESSIVELY COMPRESSING SAID TWO TUBES IN THE DIRECTION OF THEIR LENGTHS IN A PUMPING ACTION TO DISPLACE FLUIDS RESPECTIVELY THERETHROUGH AS RESPECTIVE STREAMS AND THEN SEQUENTIALLY DISENGAGING FROM SAID TUBES, THE DISENGAGEMENT OF EACH OF SAID COMPRESSING MEANS FROM SAID TUBES OCCURRING AT A CONSTANT INTERVAL OF TIME AFTER THE DISENGAGEMENT OF THE NEXT PRECEDING COMPRESSING MEANS AND PRIOR TO THE DISENGAGEMENT OF THE NEXT SUCCEEDING COMPRESSING MEANS; EACH OF SAID TWO TUBES HAVING AN INLET FOR FLUID FLOW COUPLING TO A RESPECTIVE SOURCE OF FLUID, AND AN OUTLET FOR THE DISCHARGE OF THE RESPECTIVE STREAM OF FLUID; AND MEANS FOR CONTINUOUSLY ADDING TOGETHER THE STREAMS OF LIQUIDS OF SAID TWO TUBES INTO A RESULTANT STREAM AND FOR REGULARLY PERIODICALLY ADDING A VOLUME OF AN INERT DIFFERENT FLUID TO AT LEAST ONE OF THE STREAMS TO PROVIDE A SEGMENTIZED RESULTANT STREAM, SAID ADDITION OF EACH VOLUME OF THE DIFFERENT FLUID OCCURRING AT A CONSTANT INTERVAL OF TIME AFTER THE ADDITION OF THE NEXT PRECEDING VOLUME OF THE DIFFERENT FLUID AND PRIOR TO THE ADDITION OF THE NEXT SUCCEEDING VOLUME OF THE DIFFERENT FLUID; SAID CONSTANT INTERVAL OF TIME BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE ADDITIONS OF THE DIFFERENT FLUID BEING AN INTEGRAL MULTIPLE OF SAID CONSTANT INTERVAL OF TIME BETWEEN SUCCESSIVE DISENGAGEMENTS OF SAID COMPRESSING MEANS FROM SAID TUBES.