Spray strip pickling of upright material

Claim 1

A process of spray pickling strip material to produce an even surface finish comprising steps of: orienting a strip of material to have the two widthwise faces thereof in an essentially upright position; moving said strip of material in a straight line at an essentially constant rate which rate falls in a range of between 0-30 feet per minute along the length dimension of such strip; wiping said material strip; spraying water at an angle of about 10 degrees from normal with respect to the material upright faces to pre-rinse both said wiped faces with water; ultrasonically gauging the thickness of the pre-rinsed strip material; spraying pickling acid onto both said pre-rinsed upright faces at an angle of about 20 degrees with respect to the material upright faces, said acid spraying step including three successive treatments with acid comprising spraying acid a first time onto said upright faces, removing at least some of said pickling acid from said faces by simultaneously wiping both said faces immediately after said acid spraying step, spraying acid a second time onto both said wiped faces, removing at least some of said pickling acid from both said faces by simultaneously wiping both said faces immediately after said second acid spraying step, spraying acid a third time onto both said wiped faces, and removing at least some of said pickling acid from both said faces by simultaneously wiping both said faces immediately after said third acid spraying step; performing a post-rinse to remove acid from both said faces by spraying both said upright faces with water after wiping said acid therefrom in the last-mentioned wiping step, said spraying occurring as soon as possible after the last wiping step so that post-rinse of said strip occurs with essentially no exposure thereof to air between acid application and water rinse; ultrasonically gauging the thickness of the strip material after said post-rinse spraying step; drying said post-rinsed upright faces with air, said drying occurring quickly and uniformly to essentially prevent water spotting of the strip; tensioning said strip material so that straight line passage through said rinsing, pickling and drying steps is maintained; and storing the material after said drying step.