Methods of treating portions of articles

Claim 1

A METHOD OF TREATING A PORTION OF AN ARTICLE, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: FLOWING A TREATING MEDIUM OUT OF AN ORIFICE OF A TREATING MEMBER, MOVING CONTINUOUSLY THE ARTICLE PAST A SENSING DEVICE TO PRODUCE A CONTROL SIGNAL AND THEN PAST AND SPACED FROM THE ORIFICE AND INTO CONTACT WITH THE TREATING MEDIUM BEING FLOWED OUT OF THE ORIFICE, THE MOVEMENT OF THE ARTICLE PAST THE ORIFICE RESULTING IN RELATIVE MOTION BETWEEN THE ARTICLE, THE ORIFICE AND THE TREATING MEDIUM, SUCH TREATING MEDIUM CONTACTING THE PORTION OF THE ARTICLE TO BE TREATED AND OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ARTICLE NOT TO BE TRETED, AND SEQUENTIALLY RENDERING EFFECTIVE THE TREATING MEDIUM IN RESPONSE TO THE CONTROL SIGNAL TO TREAT WITH THE MEDIUM THE PORTION OF THE CONTINUOUSLY MOVING ARTICLE IN CONTACT WITH THE MEDIUM WHILE THE MEDIUM IS RENDERED EFFECTIVE WHEREBY THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE IS NOT TREATED.

Claim 2

A METHOD OF TREATING A PORTION OF AN ARTICLE, COMPRISING THE STEPS OF: FLOWING A TREATING MEDIUM OUT OF AN ORIFICE OF A TREATING MEMBER, MOVING CONTINUOUSLY THE ARTICLE PAST A SENSING DEVICE TO PRODUCE A CONTROL SIGNAL AND THEN PAST AND SPACED FROM THE ORIFICE AND INTO CONTACT WITH THE TREATING MEDIUM BEING FLOWED OUT OF THE ORIFICE, THE MOVEMENT OF THE ARTICLE PAST THE ORIFICE RESULTING IN RELATIVE MOTION BETWEEN THE ARTICLE, THE ORIFICE AND THE TREATING MEDIUM, SUCH TREATING MEDIUM CONTACTING THE PORTION OF THE ARTICLE TO BE TREATED AND OTHER PORTIONS OF THE ARTICLE NOT TO BE TRETED, AND SEQUENTIALLY RENDERING EFFECTIVE THE TREATING MEDIUM IN RESPONSE TO THE CONTROL SIGNAL TO TREAT WITH THE MEDIUM THE PORTION OF THE CONTINUOUSLY MOVING ARTICLE IN CONTACT WITH THE MEDIUM WHILE THE MEDIUM IS RENDERED EFFECTIVE WHEREBY THE REMAINDER OF THE ARTICLE IS NOT TREATED.

Claim 6

A method of electrolytically treating a portion of an electrically cOnductive workpiece, which comprises: flowing a stream of an electrolyte from an orifice of a treating tube; continuously moving the workpiece past the stream to contact the portion of the workpiece to be electrolytically treated and other portions of the workpiece not to be so treated with the flowed stream, the movement of the workpiece past the orifice resulting in relative motion between the article, the orifice and the electrolyte; and sequentially passing an electrical current through the workpiece and the electrolyte in response to the position of the workpiece to the orifice to thereby produce electrolytic action on a certain portion of the continuously moving workpiece in contact with the stream when passing the current, whereby the remainder of the workpiece is not subjected to such action when the current is not passing.

Claim 7

A method of electrolytically treating a portion of an electrically cOnductive workpiece, which comprises: flowing a stream of an electrolyte from an orifice of a treating tube; continuously moving the workpiece past the stream to contact the portion of the workpiece to be electrolytically treated and other portions of the workpiece not to be so treated with the flowed stream, the movement of the workpiece past the orifice resulting in relative motion between the article, the orifice and the electrolyte; and sequentially passing an electrical current through the workpiece and the electrolyte in response to the position of the workpiece to the orifice to thereby produce electrolytic action on a certain portion of the continuously moving workpiece in contact with the stream when passing the current, whereby the remainder of the workpiece is not subjected to such action when the current is not passing.

Claim 10

A method of electroplating spots on a plurality of electrically conductive, serially interconnected lead frames, each frame having an aperture on a portion thereof, comprising the steps of: continuously flowing a plating fluid from an open tank through a plurality of parallel plating tubes and ejecting the fluid out of orifices at the free ends of the tubes and back into the tank, the tubes being laterally aligned along an axis passing centrally through the orifices, the orifices having substantially the same configuration as the spots to be electroplated, and the tubes being spaced from each other a distance equal to the spacing of the spots to be electroplated; connecting electrically the anode of a plating source having positive and negative current pulses through a pair of normally open contacts of an electrically operable controlling device to the plating tubes and the cathode of the source to the lead frames; continuously moving the apertures of the lead frames past a sensing unit to produce a control signal and then continuously moving the lead frames past and spaced from the plating tubes and spaced from the tank so that the central longitudinal axis of the lead frames is laterally aligned with the axis of the orifices of the plating tubes, such movement of the lead frames resulting in relative motion between the frames, the orifices and the plating fluid and resulting in the contacting of the plating fluid with those portions of the lead frames beneath the orifices of the tubes including portions which are not to be electroplated; and operating the electrically operable controlling device in response to the control signal to close the contacts to pass the current from the source through the plating tubes, the plating fluid and the lead frames to electroplate those spots of the lead frames that are in contact with the fluid during the passing of the current to build up sequentially the spots, whereby the remainder of the lead frames are not electroplated.

Claim 11

A method of electroplating spots on a plurality of electrically conductive, serially interconnected lead frames, each frame having an aperture on a portion thereof, comprising the steps of: continuously flowing a plating fluid from an open tank through a plurality of parallel plating tubes and ejecting the fluid out of orifices at the free ends of the tubes and back into the tank, the tubes being laterally aligned along an axis passing centrally through the orifices, the orifices having substantially the same configuration as the spots to be electroplated, and the tubes being spaced from each other a distance equal to the spacing of the spots to be electroplated; connecting electrically the anode of a plating source having positive and negative current pulses through a pair of normally open contacts of an electrically operable controlling device to the plating tubes and the cathode of the source to the lead frames; continuously moving the apertures of the lead frames past a sensing unit to produce a control signal and then continuously moving the lead frames past and spaced from the plating tubes and spaced from the tank so that the central longitudinal axis of the lead frames is laterally aligned with the axis of the orifices of the plating tubes, such movement of the lead frames resulting in relative motion between the frames, the orifices and the plating fluid and resulting in the contacting of the plating fluid with those portions of the lead frames beneath the orifices of the tubes including portions which are not to be electroplated; and operating the electrically operable controlling device in response to the control signal to close the contacts to pass the current from the source through the plating tubes, the plating fluid and the lead frames to electroplate those spots of the lead frames that are in contact with the fluid during the passing of the current to build up sequentially the spots, whereby the remainder of the lead frames are not electroplated.