US887539A - Movable plating apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

No. 887,539. PATENTED MAY 12, 1908. A

G. P. STEVENS.

MOVABLE PLATING APPARATUS. APPLIOATIOK FILED AUG. 27. 1907.

. fiiyenfir:

GEORGE PQSTEVENS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MOVABLE PLATING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Application filed August 2'7, 1907. Serial No. 890,328.

T all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEoReE P. STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful mprovements in Movable Plating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

In the art of electro-plating, especially nickel-plating, it is generally understood that the rapidity of the deposit of nickel will depend upon the strength of the electric current and the richness of the plating solution, but it has also been found that, under ordinary conditions, the work can be successfully performed only by means of a current of moderate strength and a solution of predetermined richness, since any increase in the strength of current or in the richness of the solution will tend to burn or blacken the work and thereby destroy its value.

The object of the present invention is to enable the plating operation to be performed by a current of much greater intensity and in a stronger solution, which proportionately increases the rapidity with which the plating can be .done and correspondingly increases the capacity of the plating tank.

By employing the method of the present invention it has been found, from actual test, that the work can be accomplished in substantially one-third the time ordinarily employed. It has, furthermore, been shown that the work plated by the apparatus of the present invention is brighter and more satisfactory in character than that produced by the ordinary methods.

The invention consists in the, features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top or plan view of a plating tank provided with the reciprocating supporting rods of the present invention; Fig. 2 a side elcvat ion of the same; F lg. 3 an end elevation of the same; and Fig. 4 a slightly modified form of actuating mechanism.

The device of the present invention is employed in connection with a tank 5 of the usual construction, comprising side Walls 6 and end walls 7 and 8. The tank has ex tending from end to end thereof one or more supporting rods 9, two being shown in the present embodiment of theinvention. The supporting rods usually employed in con neclion with plating tanks are stationary, but the gist of the present invention resides l in providing means for reci rocating said rods, which serve to support t e work to be moving the work withinthe solution it is possible to employ a much stronger current and thereby plating operation without burning or blackening the work which would invariably result if a current of like strength were utilized in plating stationary objects within the tank.

A reciprocating motion can be lmparted to the supporting rods in any one of several ways, but the mechanism shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is of highlv satisfactory character by reason of its simplicity, although other equivalent mechanical means might be. employed without de )arting from the spirit of the invention. The mechanism thus illustrated consists essentially of a shaft 10, which is journaled within a pair of sleeves 11, supported upon brackets 12, which are secured to the front end of the tank and extend upwardly therefrom. The shaft 10 has mounted thereon, near its center, a pair of inwardly facing bevel pinions 13, which mesh with a central bevel pinion 14 carried by a vertical shaft 15, which carries a pulley 16, adapted to be actuated by a belt 17, connected with any suitable source of power. The shaft has, on its opposite ends, a pair of crank wheels 18, each provided with a plurality of holes 19, radially arranged, which holes permit of the adjustment of a driving arm of insulating material, which arm is pivoted, at its inner end, to a collar 21, rigid y secured to the reciprocating supporting rod near the forward end thereof. Each rod is supported up on a )air of rollers 22, which are journaled within bracket plates 23 at the ends of the tank. The supporting rod has connected therewith a flexible wire connection 24, which leads to a dynamo or other source of electrical power. The supporting rod is adapted to have the work suspended therefrom by hangers or wires in the usual manner, and such rod forms a cathode, which .is intended to co- 0 erate' with nickel plates 25, which compnsc t 1e anodes, and which are arranged and'connected in the usual manner.

It will be understood that the manner of applying the current and arranging the work within thetank diil'er not at all from that ordinarily employed in the art of metal platin the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4, in place of the gear mechanism proportionately facilitate theplated within the solution in the tank. By

driving arms 20 are pivotedto the cranks and actuate the supporting rods in precisely the same manner as that hitherto described. It is further apparent that other mechanical means for movlng the support for the Work -might be provided without changing the plating operation herein described in any manner. g r

In use, the work is suspended from the rods into a suitable solution within the tank and the electric current turned on in suitable volume, and thereafter the mechanism started, which smoothly and evenly reciprocates the supporting rods and carries the work back and forth within the solution without agitating or disturbing it to any pronounced degree. The rods are preferably reciprocated at a slow enough mete permit the work to hang substantially vertical without being swung or violently agitated within the tank; This case of movement is desirable, since agitation of the liquid will tend to stir up a sediment, which ordinarily falls to the bottom of the tank and which, if brought in contact with the work, would tend to impair its brightness. The current can be turned on to substantially three times or.more the volume ordinarily applied, which enables the work to receive its coating of nickel or similar metal in substantially one-third of the time ordinarily employed, which of course trebles the capacity of the tank without increasing its size or otherwise altering its construction.

What I regard as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A plating apparatus comprising a tank, a support for the work elevated abovethe intended level for the solution in the tank, and means for moving the support in opposite directions, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. A plating apparatus com rising a tank, a support for the work elevate above the intended level for the solution in the tank, and means for reciprocating the support, as and for the purpose set forth.

- 3. In a plating apparatus, the combination of a tank, a longitudinally extending supporting rod slidably mounted with respect to the tank, and mechanism for reciprocating therod, substantially as described.

4. In a plating apparatus, the combination of a tank, a longitudinally extending supporting rod slidably mounted with respect to the tank, a driving arm of insulating material connected with the rod, and mechanism for actuating the driving arm, substantially as described.

5. In a plating apparatus, the combination of a tank, a longitudinally extending supporting rod slidably mounted with respect to the tank, a driving arm of insulating material connected With the rod, a shaft provided with i means for rotating the power transmission shaft, substantially as described.

GEORGE P. STEVENS.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL W. BANNING,

WALKER BANNING.

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