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US 2013/0075252 A1Published application
Electroplating process, system and components thereof
OwnerBradley A. Wright, Rudy M. Koehlerinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electroplating system and components thereof facilitate an efficient electroplating process which in part reduces or eliminates the number of clips used on electroplating racks. Some electroplating racks may use skewers on which multiple plastic pieces are typically mounted. The plastic pieces may also be configured to be joined to form an assembly which is mounted on an electroplating rack. The configurations help reduce the time spent loading and unloading pieces on the racks.
Claims20
An electroplating system comprising:
- an electroplating rack comprising an electrically conductive frame member;
- and
- a longitudinal skewer which is cantilevered from and in electrical communication with the frame member and adapted to carry a plurality of molded plastic pieces during electroplating of the pieces.
A method comprising the steps of:
- providing a plurality of plastic pieces comprising first, second and third plastic pieces;
- joining a joining part of the first piece with a joining part of the second piece to form a two-piece assembly;
- joining a joining part of the second piece of the two-part assembly with a joining part of the third piece to form a three-piece assembly;
- mounting the three-piece assembly on an electroplating rack to form an electroplating assembly in which the first, second and third pieces of the three-piece assembly are prepared to be electroplated.
1 more element
An electroplating system comprising:
- an electroplating rack comprising a first electrically conductive member and a second electrically conductive member spaced from the first conductive member;
- a plurality of identical plastic pieces which are movable between an unjoined position in which the pieces are separate from one another and a joined position in which the pieces are joined to form a joined assembly;
- wherein the joined assembly comprises a first plastic piece in contact with the first conductive member at a first connection, a second piece in contact with the second conductive member at a second connection, and at least one intermediate plastic piece between the first and second pieces whereby the first and second connections are the only connections between the joined assembly and the rack.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.