AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COATING OR COVERING WIRE WITH COPPER OR OTHER METAL
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings London, for an invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR COATING
OR COVERING WIRE WITH COPPER OR OTHER METAL." A communication
from abroad by Thomas Wallace of Ansonia, New Haven, Connecticut United
States of America.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th July 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings London AN IMPROVED METHOD OR PROCESS OF, AND
"
"
APPARATUS FOR, COATING OR COVERING WIRE WITH COPPER OR OTHER METAL
A communication from abroad by Thomas Wallace of Ansonia, New Haven,
Connecticut, United States of America.
This invention relates to an improved method or process of covering wire with
an electro-deposit of copper or other metal, and to apparatus adapted for employment
in carrying out the said method or process.
In the accompanying drawing.
Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of the apparatus, showing the tank
provided on each side with a row of anodes, and showing the guiding racks upon
one side, and the spirally coiled wire hung upon the impelling roller.
Figure 2 represents a side elevation of the apparatus with a portion of the side
of the tank broken out.
Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section through the line x Figure 1.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the device for joining the coils successively
to each other.
It is the object of the said invention to overcome that part of the difficulty in
evenly coating wire by electro-deposition, which arises from the variable energy
with which different parts of the electrolytic solution act, in order that I may be
able to cover all parts of a coil or coils of wire of indefinite length with an

page_text: electro-deposit of uniform thickness; and the said method or process consists
essentially in manipulating a coil of wire of indefinite length, (such, for instance,
as a coil of telegraph-wire as it comes from the manufacturer, or a series of coils
joined end to end) so that they are conducted progressively through the plating
solution in a helical path at a uniform rate of speed, which is regulated with
reference to such prolongation of the exposure of the wire to electrolytic action as
may be necessary to produce a deposit of the desired thickness. Apparatus for
economically accomplishing this result should have the capability of slightly
separating the successive convolutions of the coil from each other and causing the
coil to rotate upon its axis in a horizontal plane, while the convolutions of the coil
are either wholly or partially submerged in the electrolytic solution. By this mode
of manipulating the wire, all parts of the coil or coils are conducted progressively
through the same parts of the electrolytic solution and are subjected to like
conditions of exposure to variations which may exist in the relative energy with
which the different parts of the solution act. It hence follows that the obtaining
of a uniform coating upon all parts of any number of coils of wire requires only the
exercise of ordinary care in regulating the strength of the electric current employed
and the area of the immersed anode surface.
The improved apparatus adapted to be employed in carrying out the said process
comprises the combination, with an elongated tank of suitable width and depth, of
a horizontal metallic roller, which extends longitudinally across the tank, and upon
which the several convolutions of the coil of wire are hung, and which is connected
with a dynamo-electric machine or other source of electricity, with an insulated
guiding rack or racks preferably presenting glass teeth in position to cause the
teeth of the racks to enter the spaces between the convolutions of the coil on either
side of the roller, and thus separate them and cause them, by the rotation of the
roller on which they are hung, to progress across the tank longitudinally in a
helical path. The guiding racks are best made in the form of a long wooden
trough extending from end to end of the tank, with upwardly projecting pieces of
glass distant from each other so far as to allow a single run of wire to pass between
them. Any number of coils of wire may be joined end to end and thus successively
plated by a continuous operation.
In carrying the said invention into practice I provide a tank A. of any desired
length, near the sides of which two rows of anodes B are respectively suspended.
At one side the trough C is arranged (or a similar trough may be arranged at each
side) in which are set vertical pieces of glass c forming upwardly projecting teeth
with spaces between them into which the convolutions Ď of the wire are introduced,
the glass teeth form separations between the convolutions of the wire, which, as
will be seen, is hung upon the horizontal impelling roller E mounted in suitable
bearings at the ends of the tank, and provided with the pulley e for receiving the
belt by which rotation is imparted to it. The impelling roller E projects
considerably beyond each end of the tank, the projection at one end, a, of the tank
being for the purpose of holding the coil of wire preparatory to its introduction
into the tank, and the projection at the opposite end a¹ of the tank being for the
purpose of receiving the wire from the tank after it has been plated.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-The coil of wire D¹ to be plated
is hung upon the projecting end E¹ of the impelling roller, and, as the roller
rotates, one end of the coil is carried into the tank and guided downward through
the successive spaces between the upwardly projecting glass teeth c upon one side
of the roller, and (in case a like rack be used on the opposite side) upward through
the corresponding spaces upon the opposite side of the roller, and finally, at the
opposite end of the tank, is carried out of the solution, and is received upon the
projecting end E² of the roller. The impelling roller is provided with suitable
collars to prevent it from moving endwise in its bearings. In operation the coil of
wire is gradually fed through the solution by the continued rotation of the roller
at a rate of speed which is regulated with reference to such prolongation of the
exposure of the wire to electrolytic action as may be necessary to obtain a deposit

page_text: of the desired thickness. When the coil has been nearly all fed into the tank,
another coil may be hung upon the end E' of the impelling roller and the end of
the second coil joined to the end of the first coil, preferably by a thin metallic
sleeve G, in the opposite ends of which the ends of the wires are tightly fastened
by riveting or otherwise. A piece of black thread or silk G' is tied around the
sleeve to indicate the joint, and the earlier convolutions of the first coil in their
path through the solution. The operation of plating is thereafter continuous, the
coils being hung upon the end E' of the impelling-roller and joined to each other
successively, as described.
When a coil of wire in mass is immersed in a plating solution it occasionally
happens that portions of the wire lying in a part of the solution where the
electrolytic action is feeble are attacked by the acid in the solution before there is
time for a sufficient electro-deposit upon them to protect them from the acid, and
the portions thus attacked may be thereby prevented from taking an electro-
deposit. By my method or process the wire moves progressively, and is made to
enter at the surface of the solution at a point where the electrolytic action is so
energetic that there is formed upon the surface of the wire, soon after it enters, an
electro-deposit of sufficient thickness to protect the wire from the action of the acid
in the solution. It is by this feature of my process, together with the subjection
of all parts of the wire progressively to like conditions, or to a like series of variable
conditions of electrolytic action, that I am enabled to ensure the production of a
coil or coils of wire of indefinite length all parts of which are covered with an
electro-deposit of uniform thickness.
As will be understood, therefore, my process has two distinct characteristics;
first, the progressive introduction of the wire into and its passage through and out
of the electrolytic solution at a prescribed rate of speed, irrespectively of the form
of the path of the wire in the solution; and, secondly, the conduct of the wire
progressively through the electrolytic solution in a helical path, whereby a large
quantity of wire may be acted upon at the same time by an electrolytic solution
contained in a tank of moderate dimensions.
Instead of making the circuit through the bearings of the roller, I place in the
circuit a metallic bar L, from which metallic spring-like brushes extend up, and
so as to rub upon the surface of the roller as seen in Figure 2 which makes a more
perfect connection, as well as one of greater extent than can well be made through
the bearings.
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim
First. The method or process herein described, of covering, with a deposit of
metal, a coil of wire by causing it to revolve, so that the wire will enter
continuously at one place an electrolytic solution forming part of an electric circuit
of which the wire is an electrode, travel through it in a spiral course, and pass out
at another place, receiving the deposit of metal in its course, substantially as, and
for the purpose, set forth.
Second. In an apparatus for effecting the uniform electro-deposition of metal
upon coiled wire, a tank of any desired length for containing the electrolytic
solution in which the several convolutions of the coil of wire are partially or
wholly submerged, in combination with a horizontal roller upon which the several
convolutions of the coil are hung, guiding devices for separating the several
convolutions of the coil from each other, and mechanism for causing the rotation of
the roller, whereby the wire may be fed progressively through the solution in a
helical path, substantially as described.
Third. The tank adapted to contain an electrolytic solution, provided with the
anodes and the glass or equivalent separators, in combination with a horizontal
roller, all substantially as, and for the purposes, set forth.
Fourth. The tank adapted to contain an electrolytic solution, in combination
with the roller projecting outward from the tank at both ends, and mechanism for

page_text: effecting the rotation of the said roller, substantially as, and for the purpose, set
forth.
Fifth. The tank adapted to contain an electrolytic solution and provided with
the anodes and the glass or equivalent separators, in combination with a horizontal
roller, and the metal brushes in the circuit and bearing upon the said roller,
substantially as described and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twelfth day of July in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
PATT