Back to results
US 4,364,799 AGranted
Method and apparatus for contacting work surfaces with liquids
OwnerEmile Steigerinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for treating work surfaces, such as for degreasing, plating and the like, in which the work piece is located in a treating chamber or in sealing engagement with a chamber forming sheet, which chamber forming sheet may be flexible so that it may be fitted to the area to be treated. One or more containers holding the treating fluids are provided and are selectably connectable to dispense their respective contents to the treating chamber. An arrangement is also provided to clean or purge the various containers.
Claims2
A method for electrochemical liquid treatment of surface portions of workpieces comprising the steps of:
- providing a single sheet of a flexible elastic material having an elastic sealing means located along its edges, said sealing means including a plurality of spaced adjacent walls which extend generally parallel to one another to form a sealing space, spacer dimples being disposed within said sealing space to prevent its collapse;
- forming a treatment chamber on a portion of the surface of the workpiece to be treated by forming the edges of said elastic material into a conforming shape with the periphery of the surface portion to be treated and the shape of the workpiece along its periphery, the surface portion of the workpiece being treated and said sheet of elastic material forming the treatment chamber;
- applying a reduced pressure to the sealing space of said sealing means so as to firmly seal the sheet to the workpiece surface during treatment;
- providing at least one treatment liquid and a closable supply container therefor;
- providing (i) an electrode for said workpiece (ii) an electrode for said sheet positioned to contact said treatment liquid while within the chamber, and (iii) an electric current between said electrodes;
- providing an inlet conduit and an outlet conduit at spaced locations on said sheet to provide communication between the treatment chamber and the treatment liquid supply container through the inlet conduit;
- providing an inert gas under pressure;
- opening the supply container and feeding the treatment liquid via said inlet conduit to said treatment chamber and withdrawing it through the outlet conduit under the pressure of said inert gas so the treatment liquid flows across the surface portion of the workpiece to treat it electrochemically, and the liquid and the surface under treatment are protected from the atmosphere.
5 more elements
A system for the electrochemical liquid treatment of surface portions of workpieces comprising:
- a sheet of an elastic material which is flexible so that it can be made to correspond to the periphery of the surface portion of the workpiece to be treated and to the shape of the workpiece along its periphery;
- elastic sealing means extending around the periphery of said sheet for sealing the sheet to and around the periphery of the surface portion of the workpiece to be treated so as to define a treatment chamber between said surface portion and said sheet, said sealing means including (i) spaced apart generally parallel walls of flexible material which extend along the periphery of said sheet and define a sealing space therebetween, (ii) spacer dimple means disposed in the sealing space for preventing the collapse of said sealing space and (iii) means for applying a reduced pressure to the sealing space to firmly seal the chamber forming sheet to the workpiece;
- spaced apart inlet and outlet conduit means on said chamber forming sheet for respectively admitting treating liquid into and withdrawing the liquid from the treating chamber;
- electrode means for said workpiece and said chamber forming sheet for contacting the treating liquid;
- and
- means for flowing the treating liquid under the pressure of inert gas across the workpiece in the treatment chamber between the inlet and outlet conduit means so as to treat electrochemically said surface portion of the workpiece.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.