Method and apparatus for coating recorded discs with a lubricant
AssigneeRCA Corporation
InventorBrian E. Lock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The surfaces of a recorded disc are coated with a thin layer of lubricant by forming in an atomizer chamber droplets of the lubricant supported in air. The droplets are formed by passing a flow of air through a supply of the lubricant in the atomizer chamber at a rate and pressure such that the air causes the lubricant to be blown into the space above the supply as fine droplets. The air laden with the lubricant droplets flows out of the atomizer housing to a pair of nozzles in a coating chamber. The nozzles direct the air laden with the lubricant droplets onto the surface of the recorded disc which passes between the nozzles. Excess lubricant which does not coat the disc is collected in the coating chamber and carried back to the atomizer housing.
Claims38
A method of coating a surface of a disc with a film of lubricant comprising the steps of:
- providing in a chamber a supply of lubricant of a volume less than the volume of the chamber so that the surface of the lubricant supply is unrestrained,
- passing streams of air through the lubricant to form a point slightly below the surface of the lubricant supply so as to create droplets of the lubricant supported in the air above the supply,
- feeding additional lubricant to the chamber so as to maintain the level of the lubricant supply in the chamber at a substantially constant amount above the point that the air streams are formed,
- carrying the air laden with the lubricant droplets to a nozzle, and
- directing the air laden with the lubricant droplets against the surface of a disc so that the droplets impinge on and coat the surface of the disc.
Apparatus for coating the surface of a disc with a thin film of a lubricant comprising:
- a chamber having a region adapted to contain a supply of lubricant which is smaller in volume than the volume of the chamber so that the surface of the supply of lubricant is unrestrained,
- at least one aerator pipe extending through said region of the chamber slightly below the level of the supply lubricant, said pipe having a plurality of spaced holes therethrough,
- means for feeding air to said aerator pipe so as to provide streams of air through the lubricant above the aerator pipe to atomize the lubricant and form droplets of lubricant in said chamber,
- means for supplying lubricant to said region of the chamber and for maintaining the level of the lubricant above the aerator pipe,
- a nozzle for directing a stream of the lubricant droplets onto the surface of a disc, and
- means for carrying a flow of the lubricant droplets from said chamber to said nozzle.
An atomizer for forming droplets of a lubricant comprising:
- a chamber having a region adapted to contain a supply of lubricant which is smaller in volume than the volume of the chamber so that the surface of the supply of lubricant is unrestrained,
- at least one aerator pipe extending through said region of the chamber slightly below the level of the supply lubricant, said pipe having a plurality of spaced holes therethrough,
- means for feeding air to said aerator pipe so as to provide streams of air through the lubricant above the aerator pipe to atomize the lubricant and form droplets of lubricant in said chamber, and
- means for supplying lubricant to said region of the chamber and for maintaining the level of the lubricant above the aerator pipe.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.