Apparatus for carrying encapsulated electronic components through electroplating tanks and surface treatment stations

Claim 1

In a system for electroplating and applying surface treatments to electronic parts and their like--wherein the individual stations for plating and treatment are arrayed in a linear, sequential manner and wherein all stations requiring the immersion of such parts into a liquid medium incorporate tanks with overflow weirs in the ends of the tanks, to allow parts, moving in a horizontal path above the metering edge of the weirs, to enter such liquid baths in the appropriate stations--an improved apparatus for carrying said parts through the aligned array of treatment and plating stations, comprising: a pair of pulleys rotatable around horizontal axes and aligned with the centerline of the array of plating and treatment stations, with one pulley spaced from one end of said array, and the other pulley spaced from the other end of said array; means for impelling at least one of said pulleys into controlled rotational motion; a continuous, flexible, conveyor belt stretched over said pair of pulleys for entrainment thereby, with a forwardly moving, lower web of said belt passing through the linearly aligned overflow weirs of said array of plating and treatment stations, and a return portion of said web moving above said array, said conveyor belt being constructed of an electrically conductive material; a plurality of equispaced, laterally opposed, elastic, electrically conductive grip fingers projecting outwardly from either edge of the web of said conveyor belt, each pair of said grip fingers forming a co-acting frictional vise symmetrical about the longitudinal centerline of the web, shaped and adapted to securely suspend parts to be affected by said array of plating and treatment stations; a loading station, adapted to insert parts between groups of pairs of said grip fingers, positioned between said one pulley and the first of said array of stations; an unloading station, adapted to secure the release of plated and treated parts from said conveyor belt, positioned between said other pulley and the terminal one of said array of stations; a pair of linear rails of conductive material, in parallel alignment with respect to one-another and spaced on either side of the longitudinal centerline of said conveyor belt, positioned between said loading station and said unloading station at an elevation above the upper face of the conveyor belt; a plurality of engagement cams, affixed at uniform intervals to said upper surface of the conveyor belt along its longitudinal centerline, said cams being constructed from an electrically conductive material and adapted to slidingly engage the upper surfaces of said rails during their transit through the system; and direct current supply means, including contact elements adapted to transfer cathode current to the moving conveyor belt, for energizing the electroplating stations in said array of plating and treatment stations.