A fibre optic probe system was used to measure the profiles of vertical particle velocities in the spout and the fountain of a half-column and a full-column spouted bed. In addition, a fibre optic image probe was employed to measure vertical particle velocity profiles in the annulus of the full-column. In the spout, radial profiles of vertical particle velocities were of near Gaussian distribution. Particle velocities along the spout axis in the half-column were 30% lower than in the full-column under identical operating conditions. In the half column, particle velocities adjacent to the front plate were approximately 24% lower than a few millimeters away. The fountain core expanded suddenly near the bed surface and then gradually contracted with height. The model of Grace and Mathur (1978) gave good predictions of fountain heights for the full-column. In the annulus region, there was a 28% difference between particle velocities adjacent to the column wall and those only 2 mm away. The integrated upward solids mass flow in the spout and the downward solids flow in the annulus matched well at different bed levels.