David W Booz

US Patent:

39955885, Dec 7, 1976

Filed:

Mar 26, 1975

Appl. No.:

5/562323

Inventors:

David L. Booz - Allentown PA
Ford J. Brown - Kutztown PA
Richard J. Merwarth - Easton PA

Assignee:

Western Electric Company, Inc. - New York NY

International Classification:

B05C 305
B05C 310

US Classification:

118426

Abstract:

In fabricating sealed contacts, often their axially extending leads are solder coated to protect them from contamination and to enhance their solderability into circuits. An apparatus for solder coating the leads, which minimizes their bending, includes a conveying apparatus that moves the contacts through various stages of the solder coating apparatus to form layers of solder on the leads. These layers, which are carefully controlled, are no greater than a certain maximum thickness, and are thinner on the ends of the leads than on the side surfaces thereof. To coat the leads, the contacts are individually mounted in a plurality of holders, each of which is fixed to an individual bead of an endless bead chain of the conveying apparatus. As the chain is advanced through a passageway of a tube having various curvilinear and rectilinear slots formed in the outer surface thereof, the holders extending through these slots are oriented in various longitudinal positions along the tube and angular positions about the chain to appropriately orient the leads through the stages of the solder coating apparatus. In a first stage, the contacts are loaded into the holders from a bin and moved in a predetermined orientation to a second stage where a mixture of powdered solder and flux is applied to each lead by coating wheels having resilient peripheral surfaces.

US Patent:

39813924, Sep 21, 1976

Filed:

Mar 21, 1975

Appl. No.:

5/560450

Inventors:

David L. Booz - Allentown PA
Ford J. Brown - Kutztown PA
Richard J. Merwarth - Easton PA

Assignee:

Western Electric Company, Inc. - New York NY

International Classification:

B65G 4724

US Classification:

198377

Abstract:

In fabricating sealed contacts, often their axially extending leads are solder coated to protect them from contamination and to enhance their solderability into circuits. An apparatus for solder coating the leads, which minimizes their bending, includes a conveying apparatus that moves the contacts through various stages of the solder coating apparatus to form layers of solder on the leads. These layers, which are carefully controlled, are no greater than a certain maximum thickness, and are thinner on the ends of the leads than on the side surfaces thereof. To coat the leads, the contacts are individually mounted in a plurality of holders, each of which is fixed to an individual bead of an endless bead chain of the conveying apparatus. As the chain is advanced through a passageway of a tube having various curvilinear and rectilinear slots formed in the outer surface thereof, the holders extending through these slots are oriented in various longitudinal positions along the tube and angular positions about the chain to appropriately orient the leads through the stages of the solder coating apparatus. In a first stage, the contacts are loaded into the holders from a bin and moved in a predetermined orientation to a second stage where a mixture of powdered solder and flux is applied to each lead by coating wheels having resilient peripheral surfaces.