Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
185 words
An improved process of making a printed circuit board, of the type wherein a conductive material is sprayed through a stencil to form a printed circuit pattern on a surface of an insulating substrate, wherein the improvement comprises: forming at least one frustoconical hole through the substrate; blocking the narrow end of the hole with a removable stop member; then spraying a first circuit pattern on a first surface of the substrate, the first surface being that containing the wide end of the hole, so that a portion of the pattern coats the walls of the hole and forms a strip of the material across the narrow end of the hole against the stop member; next, removing the stop member; and then spraying a second circuit pattern on the opposite side of the substrate so that a portion of the second pattern overlaps and makes electrical contact with the strip of material formed across the narrow end of the hole in the prior spraying step, whereby a conductive through-hole connection is made between the first circuit pattern and the second pattern via the tapered hole.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
185 words
An improved process of making a printed circuit board, of the type wherein a conductive material is sprayed through a stencil to form a printed circuit pattern on a surface of an insulating substrate, wherein the improvement comprises: forming at least one frustoconical hole through the substrate; blocking the narrow end of the hole with a removable stop member; then spraying a first circuit pattern on a first surface of the substrate, the first surface being that containing the wide end of the hole, so that a portion of the pattern coats the walls of the hole and forms a strip of the material across the narrow end of the hole against the stop member; next, removing the stop member; and then spraying a second circuit pattern on the opposite side of the substrate so that a portion of the second pattern overlaps and makes electrical contact with the strip of material formed across the narrow end of the hole in the prior spraying step, whereby a conductive through-hole connection is made between the first circuit pattern and the second pattern via the tapered hole.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
35 words
A process as recited in claim 1, wherein the conductive patterns comprise first a primer coating of zinc, followed by a conductive layer of a higher-melting conductive metal or metals deposited on the zinc coating.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
22 words
A process as recited in claim 2, wherein the substrate is a thermoplastic material and the higher-melting metal is copper or nickel.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
35 words
A process as recited in claim 1, wherein the coatings are flame sprayed onto the substrate through a stencil having a chromium surface and mechanically fastened to the surface of the substrate to be sprayed.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
15 words
A process as recited in claim 4, wherein the stencil comprises a chromium-plated metal stencil.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
A process as recited in claim 5, wherein the stencil has a thickness of five to twenty mils.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
19 words
A process as recited in claim 6, wherein the stencil is made of chrome-plated brass, phosphor bronze, or steel.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
212 words
An improved process of making a printed circuit board, of the type wherein conductive metal is sprayed through a stencil to form a printed-circuit pattern on a surface of a planar insulating substrate, wherein the improvement comprises: (a) forming a plurality of frustoconical holes through a molded thermoplastic substrate at locations where through connects are desired between circuits to be formed on opposite surfaces of the substrate; (b) blocking the narrow end of each hole with a removable stop member, (c) flame spraying a first metal circuit pattern on a first surface of the substrate, the first surface being that containing the wide end of each hole, so that a portion of the metal pattern coats the walls of each hole and forms a strip of the metal across the narrow end of each hole against the stop member; (d) removing the stop member after step (c); and (e) flame spraying a second metal circuit pattern on the opposite surface of the substrate so that a portion of the second pattern overlaps and makes electrical contact with the strip of metal formed across the narrow end of each hole in step (c), whereby a conductive through-hole connection is made between the first circuit pattern and the second pattern via each through hole.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
212 words
An improved process of making a printed circuit board, of the type wherein conductive metal is sprayed through a stencil to form a printed-circuit pattern on a surface of a planar insulating substrate, wherein the improvement comprises: (a) forming a plurality of frustoconical holes through a molded thermoplastic substrate at locations where through connects are desired between circuits to be formed on opposite surfaces of the substrate; (b) blocking the narrow end of each hole with a removable stop member, (c) flame spraying a first metal circuit pattern on a first surface of the substrate, the first surface being that containing the wide end of each hole, so that a portion of the metal pattern coats the walls of each hole and forms a strip of the metal across the narrow end of each hole against the stop member; (d) removing the stop member after step (c); and (e) flame spraying a second metal circuit pattern on the opposite surface of the substrate so that a portion of the second pattern overlaps and makes electrical contact with the strip of metal formed across the narrow end of each hole in step (c), whereby a conductive through-hole connection is made between the first circuit pattern and the second pattern via each through hole.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
34 words
A process as recited in claim 8, wherein the conductive coating comprises first a primer coating of zinc, followed by an outer conductive layer of copper or nickel flame sprayed onto the zinc coating.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
25 words
A process as recited in claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the stop member has a polytetrafluoroethylene surface at the region blocking each through hole.