GB1030589A - Improvements in or relating to electroplating barrels - Google Patents

Abstract

<PICT:1030589/C6-C7/1> <PICT:1030589/C6-C7/2> A plating barrel is formed of a number of perforated plates mounted at their ends on polygonal end members, one plate forming a charging door which is slidable in the direction of the axis of the barrel, and is held by a pair of resilient metal strips acting as guides secured to the edges of adjacent fixed states. The perforated plates may be of polypropylene, and the metal strips are of titanium, or alloys resistant to the electrolyte. The barrel is constructed of 6 plates of metal or plating 40...45 Fig. 5, mounted on end plates to form a hexagonal container, and is rotatable through gearing and electric motor. The panel 45 acts as a sliding lid held by spring slide guides 56A, 56B, the lid having a handle 62, and engaging a claw catch, in the closed position. At the other end of the sliding lid a pair of spring pressed detents enter notches made in the frame member. A pair of perforated slant panels 59 are mounted inside the barrel and act as a shoot when discharging the load downwards. The slant panels also act as agitators during rotation of the barrel. This may also be cylindrical instead of polygonal, and rotated in a vertical or an inclined axis. A series of these plating barrels may be mounted on a overhead trackway of oval lay-out, with stations for chemical cleaning, plating, rinsing, and drying. The barrel is suspended from a trolley 13, Fig. 1, mounted on a cantilever beam extruding outwardly from a trackway 12 and carried on wheels mounted each side of the trackway. This is segmented whereby when the barrel moves over a station, it is lowered together with the segment of the track, which is followed up by a replacement segment from above, leaving a continuous track allowing other barrels to move forward while the first is rotated in the station. The barrel carriages are moved from station to station by pusher fingers 19 operated by hydraulic device 21.