US893814A - Device for producing electrolytic metal-plating. - Google Patents

Description

No. 893,814. PATENTBD JULY 21, 1908i A. SCHMITZ. DEVICE FOR PRODUCING ELECTROLYTIC METAL PLATING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 12, 1906.

Zlfitnesses: Inventor:

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ALBERT SGHMIT Z, OF BRUSSELS BELGIUM.

DEVICE FOR PRODUCING ELE CTROLYTIC ME TAL-PLATIN G.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed March 12, 1906. Serial No. 305,543.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT SoHMrrz, engineer, a subject of the King of Prussia, residing at Brussels, No. 45 Rue Henri Maus, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Producing Electrolytic Metal-Plating; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention relatesto a device for producing electrolytic metal-plating and the object in view is to make it possible by means of this device to employ for the precipitation of the metal electric currents, whose intensity is comparatively high in comparison with the small sectional area of the cathodes usually employed as returnwires.

One prominent feature of my new device is the use of current collectors conductively connected with the cathodes within the electrolyte and employed for conducting the current back to the current generator.

The method to employ the suspending means simultaneously as current collectors for the cathodes, as hitherto practised by electrolytically plating plates with metals, shows this drawback that after the plates have been plated, those places covered by the suspending means are left unplated and thus make it necessary to take theplates out of the bath, re-adjust the suspending means and then expose the plates anew to the influence of the current.

My new device permits of the current collectors being used independent of the suspending means while the objects to be plated remain in the bath, so that the suspending means need not be disturbed during the whole plating-process, and the current collectors can be adjusted on said objects independent of the suspending means, without interrupting the progress of the plating-process.

The present invention further permits the use of current collectors of any suitable. construction to suit the shape of the cathodes employed, which current collectors are connected on the one hand with the cathodes within the electrolyte, and on the other hand with the negative pole of the current generator.

the bath and then'connect these rollers with the negative pole of the current generator. I i

To use strong currents would in this case be accompanied by the disadvantage, that the wire, whose cross sectional area is generally very small in comparison with the intensity of the current, would be heated to such a degree on leaving the electrolyte, or even when still in the bath if especially strong currents were employed, that its physical properties would be very considerably affected and the quality as well as the appearance of the zincplating disadvantageously influenced.

In the accompanying drawing :-Figure l is a diagrammatic representation of a wire zincing-bath. Fig. 21s a diagrammatic arrangement of a current collecting disk and a guide-roller guiding a wire. Fig. 3 is a crosssectional view of a current collecting disk and a wire guided thereby. Fig. 4 is a plan view of two current collecting disks arranged on opposite sides of the same wire. Fig. 5 is a similar arrangement of a plurality of current collecting disks and anodes in the same bath. Fig. 6 is a side view of current collectors having the shape of contact-bows. Fig. 7, is a transverse-sectional view of,.a bath showing the arrangement of shields interposed between the current collector and the anodes. Fig. 8 is an elevation of a part of an anode incased in a covering of pervious material.

Within the bath 1 and outside thereof guide-rollers 2 of non-conductive material are arranged, by means of which the wire 3 is guided through the electrolyte. A rod 4 is arranged by way'of example over the bath 1 and connected with the negative pole of a current generator (not shown). To this rod the current collectors 5, 6 are attached, whose contact with the cathode may be either a sliding one, as that of the collector 5, or a rolling one, as that of the collector 6 in. Fi 1. instead of using a rod 4 the current collectors for a plurality of wires, plates or the like arranged side by side in the same bath may be adjustably arranged upon a common frame.

It is evident that the guide-rollers 2 arranged within the electrolyte and outside thereof may be employed as current collectors by makin them of conducting material and connect t e ends of their shafts lying outside of the electrolyte with the negative pole of a current generator.

The use of currents of a high intensity for electrolytically plating wire with metal precipitates ofi ers the advanta e, that the wire can be drawn through the ath at a higher s eed than otherwise and at the same time a t 'cker precipitate obtained. This advantage is only then fully warranted, when the current collectors, over which the wire passes, are brought into close contact with the wire without impeding the movement of the lat ter by an undue resistance without mechanically damaging the metal precipitate already .formed; and finally without allowing the wire to leave the current collectors from time to time, as at such moments of interruption, generally caused by the oscillating motions of the wire, sparking takes place which will at least partly damage the metallic plating. To satisfy these conditions a number of devices may be designed, the principle of which is explained below. The preferred devices for conducting the wire through the bath are of course rollers or disks, as these offer the least resistance.

As the contact between a roller or disk and the stretched wire theoreticallycan only take place on a generating-line, the possibility exists that the resistance ofiered to the passa e of the current will prove too great,

' possible that the contact between the disk 7 and the wire 3 is thus made more intimate and at the same time the wire is prevented from leaving the circumference of the disk 7 so long as it is drawn in one of the two longitudinal directions. The possibility of the wire being diverted from its straight path by the guide-rollers 8 need not be considered when baror plate-shaped anodes A are arranged on both sides of the wire 3, as the wire in spite of this remains under the same influence of the anodes.

The high intensity of the current causes the Wire uniformly plated even on those sides which are not opposed by anodes, that is on the up er and under sides. The plating on these ast named sides will'however be slightly thinner if the anodes are arranged to the right and'l'ef't of said wire and the danger exists, that just these thinner plated parts are worn by the current collectors and guiderollers acting on the wire in a Vertical plane, thus tending to increase the diflerence in the thickness of the plating. To avoid this drawback, the current collecting disks and. the guide-rollers might be arranged horizontally, which arrangement is however not advisable, as then the current collecting disks would have to be arranged beneath the surface of the electrolyte and hence become wholly plated and then draw on the ener y of the plant. To avoid this prejudicial e 'ect, the insertion of protecting shields 12 of wood, glass, porcelain, vulcanized caoutchouc, slate or the like between the disks and anodes, as shown in Fig. 7, or the interruption of the anodes in the vicinity of these disks is becoming necessary, as indicated in Fig. 5.

In order to let only a small portion of the current collecting disks remain below the 7 surface of the electrolyte, disks as shown in J 1 Fig. 3 in vertical sectional view, and in Fig. 4 in plan view may be employed. These disks 9 and 10 are mounted upon horizontal shafts 13 and. provided with lateral grooves by means of which the wire placed therein is only touched at one side, but not at the top. For the safe guidance of the wire two of these disks are placed one behind the other, but on different sides of the Wire, as shown in Fig. 4, where the disk 9 presses the wire 3 downward and to the right, whereas the disk 10 presses it downward and to the left and thus prevent the wire from leaving the disks. In this manner an intimate contact between the current collectors and the wire is obtained, the detrimental sparking prevented, and the wire protected where its plating is thinnest. As these disks do not dip too deep into the electrolyte they do not absorb much,energy, even when no shields 12 are laced between them and the anodes. The orizontal shafts 13 offer this advantage, that in devices for galvanically plating several wires simultaneously, the current collecting disks and the guide-rollers arranged side by side may be laced on their respective shafts, whereby the general arrangement is considerably sim lified. The anodes A can for this reason lieinterrupted at these shafts, as shown in Fig. 5', whereby not only room for journaling them is gained, but also the detrimental electrolytic plating of the rollers is avoided, as already pointed out above..

To protect the weaker parts of the plating,

current collectors of the kind shown in Fig. 6 may be employed. The current collectors shown there have the shape ofcontact bows 1 1 which touch the sides of the wire where the plating is thickest. To obtain a better guidance of the wire these current collectors are likewise arranged in pairs and on different sides of the wire. a

The good guidance of the wire provided by. the devices described above permits of a decrease in the distance between the electrodes being made, as through the instrumentality of the uiding devices short circuits are practically out of question. But to be on the safe side, the anodes may be covered with jute or another pervious material, as shown in Fig. 8. v

To shortly recapitulate,-the described devices per;nitthe use of a suitable bath taken for granted-the employment of a far higher intensity of current than hitherto has been customary in wire plating, as through the sub-division, of the wire by means of a row of current collectors the ohmic resistance of the wire seems to be diminished; the resistance to the motion of the wire is re duced, so that the speed with which the wire passed through the bath can be increased, as it need not be feared that through the lateral motions of the wire short circuits willbe caused. The ohmic resistance to the current while assing 'from the wire to the collectors is ikewise reduced without doing damage to the formed metal-precipitate, and finally losses of energy, caused by the galvanic plating of the current collectors, are avoided.

I claim:

1. A device adapted for plating continuous objects comprisin a bath, current collecting means conductive y related to the continuous objects to be plated within the electrolyte of said bath, guide rollers within said bath to keep said continuous objects in intimate contact with said current collecting means, means connecting said current collecting means adjustably with the negative pole of a current generator, and anodes arranged in said bath sidewise of said continuous 0b-' jects to be plated.

2. In a device adapted for plating contin- "uous objects the combination of a diskof one of said diskshaped current collector arran ed in a vertical plane and rovided with a laterally concave-grooved an e contacting with one side of one of said continuous objects to be plated,

and double flanged guide-r0 lers keeping said disk-shaped current collector in contact with one of said continuous ob'ects to be plated. I 3. In a device ada te for plating continuous objects the com ination of disk-sha ed current collectors each provided with a aterally concave-grooved flange and arranged on opposite'sides of one of the continuous obj ects to be plated to press the latter by means s aped current collectors downward and to theright, and by means of the other downward and to the left, and double-flanged guide-rollers keeping said disk-shaped current .collectors in contact uous objects the combination of dis -shaped' collectors arranged in pairs to let in every one of said pairs independent of the other pairs onecurrent collector contact with the one side of one of said objects to be plated and the other current collector of thesame pair with the o posite side of the same object to be plated, orizontally arranged shafts conductively connected with the negative pole of a current generator of which shafts one is carrying all the current collectors pressing a ainst the left sides of said objects to be ated and the other shaft all the current colliectors pressing against the right sides of said objects to be plated, and anodes arranged sidewise of said objects to be plated where the latter are not in contact withsaid current collectors.

5. In a device ada ted for platin continuous objects the com ination of dis -shaped current collectors conductively related to the objects to be plated and arranged in pairs to let in every one of said pairs independent of the other pairs one current collector contact with the one side of one of said objects to be plated and the other current collector of the same pair with the op osite side of the same object to be plated, orizontally arranged shafts conductlvely connected with the ne ative pole of a current generator of whlch shafts one is carrying all the current collectors pressing against the left sides of said objects to be lated and the other shaft all the current co ectors pressing against the right sides of the objects to be lated, anodes arrangedsidewise of said ob ects to be plated, and shields of non-conductive and impervious material placed between said anodes and said rotary current collectors to prevent the latter from becoming metal plated.

I 6. In a device ada ted for plating continuous objects the com ination of rotary diskshaped current collectors conductivel related to thecontinuous objects to be p ated, horizontally arranged shafts conductively connected with the negative ole of a current generator and carrying sai current collectors, anodes arranged sidewise of said objects to be plated, and a non-conductive but pervious covering on said anodes to prevent the formation of short circuits.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT SCHMITZ.

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