US241741A - Coating wire - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) L. Coating Wire.

Patented May 17, 1881'.

m'inemwi N. FUERS Phuloliihngaphef, lumen, DJ-

UNITED S ES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER L. SMITH, OF. ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT COATING WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 241,741, dated May 17, 1881.

Application filedMarch 9,1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER L. SMITH, of Ansonia, Connecticut, have invented a Process for Efiecting the Uniform Electro-Deposition of Metal upon Wire, of which the followingis the variable energy with which different parts of the electrolytic solution act, in order that I may be able to cover all parts of a coil or coils of wire of indefinitelength with an electro-deposit of uniform thickness; and my invention consists in so manipulating a coil of wire of indefinite length-such, for instance, as a coil of telegraph-wire as it comes from the manufacturer, or a series of coils joined end toendthat they are conducted progressively through the plating-solution in a helical path at a uniform rate of speed, which is regulated with reference to such prolongation of the exposure of the wire to electrolytic action as may be necessary to produce a deposit of the desired thickness. Apparatus for economically accomplishing this result should have the capacity to slightly separate the successive con volutions of the coil from each other, and to cause the coil to rotate upon its axis in ahorizontal plane, while the convolutions of the coil are either wholly or partially submerged in the electrolytic solution. By this mode of manipulating the wire all parts of the coil 'or coils are conducted progressively through the same parts of the electrolytic solution, and are subjected to like conditions of exposure to variations which may exist in the relative energy with which the different parts of the solution act. It hence follows that the obtaining of a uniform coating upon all parts of any number of coils of wire requires only the exercise of ordinary care in regulating the strength of the electric current employed and the area of the immersed anode surface.

As I have made the apparatus which I prefer to use in practicing my process the subject of a separate application for apatent, I do not base any claim upon it herein. The said apparatus is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which--- Figure 1 is a top view. Fig. 2 is aside ele vation, partly in section; and Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section.

The apparatus consists of a tank,A, of suitable dimensions, on the top of which there is mounted a rotating shaft, B, for supporting the several convolutions of the coils of wire 0. The several convolutions of wire are kept separate from each othcr'by-theavooden racks D, which float upon the surface of the scluLlQlr in the use of that apparatus wire hung upon a horizontal rotating metallic impelling-roller is made a part of an electric circuit, which includes the electrolytic solution and the anodes therein immersed, and is introduced into and carried through and out of the solution in a helical path at a rate of speed graduatedlat quirements of the case.

When a coil of wire in mass isimmersed in a plating-solution it occasionally happens that portions of the wire lying in a part of the solution where the electrolytic action is feeble are attacked by the acid in the solution before there is time for a sufficient electro-deposit upon them to protect them from the acid, and the portions thus attacked maybe thereby prevented from taking an electro-deposit. By my process the wire moves progressively, and is made to enter at the surface of the solution at a point where the electrolytic action is so energetic that there is formed upon the surface of the wire, soon after it enters, an electro-deposit of sufiicient thickness to protect the wire from the action of the acid in the solution. It is by this feature of my process, together with the subjection of all parts of the wire progressively to like conditions or to a like series of variable conditions of electrolytic action that I am enabled to insure the production of a coil or coils of wire of indefinite length all parts of which are covered with an electro-deposit of uniform thickness.

As willbe seen, therefore, my process has two distinct characteristics first, the progressive introduction of the wire into and its pasthe will of the operator, according to the re which" are inserted the usual anodes, E. "By

sage through and out of the electrolytic solu- .a deposit of metal a coil of wire by causing it tion at a prescribed rate of speed, irrespectto revolve so that the wire will enter continuively of the form of the path of the wire in the ously at one place an electrolytic solution solution; and, secondly,the conductof the wire forming part of an electric circuit of which the r 5 5 progressively through the electrolytic solution Wire is an electrode, travel through it in a spiin a helical path, whereby a large quantity of ral course, and pass out at another place, re-

Wire may be acted upon at the same time by ceiviug the deposit of metal in its course.

an electrolytic solution contained in a tank of LUTHER L. SMITH. moderate dimensions. Witnesses: 10 I claim as my invention THOS. WALLACE,

The method herein describedof coverin g with W. G. BENHAM.

Images