GB790454A - Etching machine - Google Patents

Abstract

790.454. Etching. POWERS CHEMCO, Inc. March 19, 1956 [March 30, 1955], No. 8568/56. Class 100(2) An etching machine of the kind in which the etching acid is continuously sprayed against the plate to be etched, includes a carriage, a shaft rotatably mounted on the carriage and adapted to carry therewith a support for the plate to be etched, means operative to reciprocate the carriage through a predetermined amplitude and means operative to effect positive rotation of the shaft in response to reciprocation of the carriage including an intermittently acting clutch. The machine comprises a housing or tank 10 for etching fluid upon which is mounted a mechanism 12. The mechanism 12 includes a base plate 16 upon which is mounted a pair of guide rods 22 for the reciprocable carriage 24. Reciprocating motion..is imparted to the carriage 24 by a motor 96 through a speed reducer 100 and links 98 and 102. A sleeve 30 is rotatably mounted on the carriage 24 and is fast to a pinion 42 driven as the carriage reciprocates, by a rack by 44 mounted parallel to the rods 22. Integral with the sleeve 30 is a flange 76 on which a pawl 74 is pivoted at 78. The pawl 74 is provided with a roller 84 on one end and a stud 80 on the other. The pawl is biased by a spring 94 so that the stud 80 normally engages with one of the recesses 92 of an indexing plate 86. The plate 86 is secured to a shaft 48 rotatably mounted in the sleeve 30 and on the lower end of which is secured a plate 14 to be etched. In operation the shaft 48, and consequently the plate 14 are positively rotated on reciprocation of the carriage 24 by engagement of the sleeve 30 and shaft 48 by means of the clutch pawl 74. Towards the end of the movement of the carriage to the left, as shown in Fig. 1, however, the roller 84 is adapted to engage a cam 104 so that the pawl 74 is rotated to disengage the stud 80 from a recess 92 thus allowing the shaft 48 and plate 14 to rotate under their own momentum until the pawl stud 80 re-engages a recess 92 upon the next reciprocation of the carriage towards the right as shown in Fig. 1.