Vacuum chamber for treating workpieces with beams

Claim 2

Apparatus for directing a beam at a workpiece, said apparatus including a support member for carrying said workpiece and an evacuated region surrounding said support member and the path of said beam, the source of said beam and the support member for said workpiece being relatively movable in a direction transverse to said beam, there being a sealing means accomodating said relative motion while maintaining the evacuated condition, said sealing means comprising a slide member defining a planar sliding surface extending in said direction of relative motion, a seal support member generally parallel to and spaced from said surface by a gap, aligned apertures in said members, one of which is larger in the direction of relative motion than the other enabling said relative motion while maintaining said alignment, a plurality of resilient seals bearing with sliding sealing contact against said planar surfaces, said seals each spanning said gap and extending throughout with said contact in successive loops fully around said first and second apertures in all relative positions of said apertures, said loops being such that outer loops wholly surround inner loops, and between-seal pumping means for pumping the region radially intermediate two of said seals.

Claim 3

In apparatus for directing a beam at a workpiece, said apparatus including a support member for carrying said workpiece and an evacuated region surrounding said support member and the path of said beam, the improvement comprising a first vacuum chamber containing said support member, a second vacuum chamber communicating with said first chamber, said beam travelling through said second chamber and into said first to reach said support member, means for moving said first chamber relative to said second chamber in a direction generally transverse to said beam, sealing means for sealing said first chamber to said second chamber, said sealing means comprising a planar sliding surface extending in said direction of relative motion, a seal support member generally parallel to and spaced from said first surface by a gap, said planar surface and support members each including apertures for passing said beam, said apertures being sized to overlap at the location of said beam for any relative position of said first and second vacuum chambers, to thereby provide an uninterrupted path for said beam between said chambers, and a plurality of resilient seals bearing with sliding sealing contact against said planar surface, said seals each spanning said gap and extending throughout with said contact in successive loops fully around said first and second apertures in all relative positions of said first and second chambers, said loops being such that outer loops wholly surround inner loops, and between-seal pumping means for pumping the region radially intermediate two of said seals.

Claim 4

In apparatus for directing a beam at a workpiece, said apparatus including a support member for carrying said workpiece and an evacuated region surrounding said support member and the path of said beam, the improvement comprising a first vacuum chamber containing said support member, a second vacuum chamber communicating with said first chamber, said beam travelling through said second chamber and into said first to reach said support member, means for moving said first chamber relative to said second chamber in a direction generally transverse to said beam, sealing means for sealing said first chamber to said second chamber, said sealing means comprising a planar sliding surface extending in said direction of relative motion, a seal support member generally parallel to and spaced from said first surface by a gap, said planar surface and support members each including apertures for passing said beam, said apertures being sized to overlap at the location of said beam for any relative position of said first and second vacuum chambers, to thereby provide an uninterrupted path for said beam between said chambers, and a plurality of resilient seals bearing with sliding sealing contact against said planar surface, said seals each spanning said gap and extending throughout with said contact in successive loops fully around said first and second apertures in all relative positions of said first and second chambers, said loops being such that outer loops wholly surround inner loops, and between-seal pumping means for pumping the region radially intermediate two of said seals.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein said support member includes a disk means for supporting a plurality of workpieces.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein said support is mounted to move in a straight path to traverse the work across said beam, said beam being stationary.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 4 including means to move said support in a second direction effectively orthogonal to said first mentioned direction and transverse to said beam to enable treatment of an extended area by said beam.

Claim 8

The apparatus of claim 5 including means for repeatedly moving said support in said two directions in a manner to treat a uniformly extended area of a workpiece.

Claim 9

The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said support is a disk having its general plane of extent set at a substantial angle to said beam, and means for rotating said disk to produce, at the point where said beam strikes said disk, effective movement in said second direction.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein a shaft rotatably mounting said disk and adapted to translate with respect to said beam includes water cooling passages for said support member.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein said resilient sealing means is of oval race track configuration.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 including a support means for said resilient sealing rings in the form of a second planar surface, parallel to said planar sliding surface and having recesses holding said sealing rings.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein a said resilient seal comprises at least one ring-form gasket member.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said resilient seal is a composite formed of two ring form members, a first ring form member bearing directly against said planar surface with low friction and a second more resilient member bearing against said first ring member and resiliently urging it against said planar surface.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said ring is carried in a recess in a second planar surface extending parallel to said planar sliding surface.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein there are a series of said composite seals generally concentrically arranged, each bearing with sliding sealing contact against said planar surface, the thickness of each of said composite sealing rings spanning said gap and each extending throughout with said contact in a loop fully around said first and second apertures in all relative positions.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 14 including staged evacuation means for establishing a series of different pressure levels across said series of seals from ambient to within said chamber.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said first ring form member comprises high density polyethylene.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said sliding surface comprises anodized aluminum impregnated with polytetrafluoroethylene.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said second more resilient member has a durometer of about 40.

Claim 21

The apparatus of claim 18 wherein during operation said resilient member is compressed no more than about 10%.

Claim 22

The apparatus of claim 19 wherein said resilient member is compressed no more than about 0.010 inch.

Claim 23

The apparatus of claim 12 wherein said first ring has a thickness of about 1/8 inch and a width of about 1/4 inch.

Claim 24

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein the range of relative motion is of the order of 6 inches or greater.

Claim 25

The apparatus of claim 1 or 2 wherein a rotatable shaft is associated with the movable member.

Claim 26

The apparatus of claim 23 wherein water cooling passages are within said shaft and are connected to cool said support member.