The gas‐filled recoil separatorrituhas been used to study neutron‐deficient nuclei above theN=82 neutron shell closure and beyond the proton drip line. New information about the proton emitting nuclei in Ir, Au and Tl isotopes was obtained including the identification of two new proton emitters. The systematics of low‐lying states in odd‐mass At isotopes beyond the proton drip line were studied down to191At using alpha‐decay. A new low‐lying state associated with an oblate &pgr;(2p− 1h) configuration was also observed in the corresponding Bi daughter nuclei. In order to realise these studies at the extreme limit of experimental devices, several technical developments at therituseparator were required. © 2003 American Institute of Physics