Ticklers are relatively small impellers operating near the bottom of slurry-containing stirred-tank reactors and storage vessels. They maintain solids suspension after the level of a draining slurry recedes below the main impeller(s). Typical pitched-blade or flat-blade ticklers suspend solids, but often simultaneously starve the pump and protract drainage times by throwing material out toward the wall instead of in toward the centerline discharge nozzle. After the slurry liquid eventually drains, solids deposited on the vessel bottom and wall are often removable only by extraneous liquid sprays. By contrast, the recently designed KT-3 tickler minimizes solids heels while simultaneously avoiding pump starvation and prolonged drainage times. It does so by swirling the slurry so that it washes the unbaffled vessel bottom and sweeps solids toward the centerline exit. KT-3 ticklers have been successfully installed in vessels used in many processing industries including those for basic and fine chemicals, minerals, pharmaceuticals, and food products.