Selective plating apparatus

Apparatus for continuous electroplating of selected portions of discrete electronic components of the type comprising an electrically conductive body having a die-receiving face, a lip portion formed above said face of greater diameter than said face, and a plurality of electrical contacts formed as insulated islands at said die-receiving face, with flexible wire leads being connected to at least some of said contacts and extending oppositely from said die-receiving face and beyond the body of said component, but at least some of said leads being electrically insulated from said body and from one another;

• said selected portions to be electroplated being said die-receiving face and at least some of said electrical contacts;
• and said apparatus comprising:
• an electroplating station;
• a moveable applicator means adapted for carrying electroplating solution on the surface thereof;
• means for continuously moving at least a portion of said applicator means surface through said electroplating station;
• means for applying electroplating solution to said applicator means at a point in the progression thereof, upstream of said electroplating station;
• conveyor belt means for receiving said component bodies and supporting same at said lip portions so that said die-receiving faces of said electrical components project beneath the plane of said belt;
• a stationary conveyor belt guide means mounted in fixed spaced relationship above said moving applicator means, and having a lengthwise channel therethrough through which said conveyor belt means passes, said channel including means for restraining the movement of said components other than in the direction of conveyance of said conveyor belt, the said components being thereby conveyed across the surface of said applicator means, with the downwardly projecting die-receiving face and electrical contacts of said components in contact with said electroplating solution on said applicator means;
• the direction of movement of said conveyed components through said guide being such in relationship to said movement of said applicator means that the trace of each said component on the surface of applicator means continuously overlies fresh electroplating solution;
• and
• means for applying a D.C. electrical potential between both said die-receiving face and the leads connected to the electrical contacts to be plated, and the side of said applicator means opposite said component, to enable said plating.