Means to monitor operation of a coating and drying apparatus

Claim 1

A SPECTROPHOTOMETER ACCESSORY ADAPTED FOR CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF THE DRYING OF A COATED FILM, THE ACCESSORY COMPRISING A HOLLOW HOUSING HAVING A FIRST SIDE WALL, A SECOND SIDE WALL, A FIRST END WALL AND A SECOND END WALL, A BOTTOM AND A TOP, THE BOTTOM DEFINING A SLOT LYING BETWEEN THE SIDE WALLS, THE TOP DEFINING A GAS INLET OPENING, A PAIR OF GENERALLY PARALLEL WALLS DISPOSED WITHIN THE HOUSING AND DEFINING A SUBSTRATE SLOT THEREBETWEEN, THE SUBSTRATE SLOT BEING IN FULL COMMUNICATION WITH THE SLOT IN THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING, THE SIDE WALLS AND THE GENERALLY PARALLEL WALLS DELNING A BIFURCATED GAS PASSAGEWAY FROM THE GAS INLET OPENING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING, EACH OF THE END WALLS IN OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION WITH EXHAUST MEANS TO PERMIT THE ESCAPE OF GAS FROM THE BIFURCATED PASSAGEWAY AT A LOCATION GENERALLY ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING, THE SIDE WALLS AND GENERALLY PARALLEL WALLS EACH DEFINING A WINDOW SO CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED SO AS TO PERMIT THE BEAM OF THE SPECTROPHOTMETER TO PASS THROUGH THE WINDOWS IN A DIRECTION GENERALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF THE SUBSTRAT SLOT BETWEEN THE GENERALLY PARALLEL WALLS, THE WINDOWS BEING DISPOSED BETWEEN THE MEANS TO EXHAUST THE GAS FROM THE BIFURCATED PASSAGEWAY ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING AND THE TOP OF THE HOUSING, IN COOPERATIVE COMBINATION WITH THE HOUSING A FILM COATING ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A FILM TAKEUP MEANS, A FILM SUPPLY MEANS AND A FILM COATING MEANS, THE FILM TAKEUP MEANS BEING DISPOSED GENERALLY ADJACENT THE TOP OF THE HOUSING, THE FILM COATING MEANS AND SUPPLY MEANS BEING DISPOSED ADJACENT THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING AND ADAPTED TO PASS A COATED FILM INTO THE SLOT IN THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING TO THE SUBSTRATE SLOT BETWEEN THE GENERALLY PARALLEL WALLS PAST THE WINDOWS OF THE PARALLL WALLS, AND MEANS TO FORWARD THE FILM FROM THE SUPPLY MEANS TO THE COATING MEANS AND TO THE TAKEUP MEANS.