Western Electric Company, Inc.

James E Voytko

Charles McGonigal

Monty J Edwards

A capstan having surfaces which are faced with elements that are capable of interlocking with each other is used to advance a strip of interconnected, miniature articles which have a configuration susceptible to deformation, or a strip having a surface finish which is easily narred. In one embodiment, the capstan includes a first belt having a plurality of flexible, resilient hooking elements attached to a surface thereof. A second belt has a plurality of looping elements made of flexible, resilient material attached to a surface thereof and which are capable of interlocking with the hooking elements of the first belt when the belts are pressed together and of becoming disengaged from the hooking elements when the belts are peeled apart. The belts are sufficiently flexible so that when they are pressed together they are capable of gripping an elongated material therebetween. The first and second belts are moved along paths with portions of the paths juxtaposed to cause successive portions of the belts to be moved into engagement to grip a strip of material therebetween, to be moved fastened together along the juxtaposed portions of the paths, and then to be peeled apart. The successive portions of the belts which are pressed together and then moved together before being pulled apart are sufficient to advance the strip in the direction of motion of the fastened portions of the belts.

Methods of and apparatus for advancing elongated material

Selected, relatively inaccessible, areas of surfaces (28) which define openings (21) that extend through a strip, which is being advanced at a relatively high velocity along a path through a closed plating cell, are electroplated with a minimum required thickness of metal. The strip (11) is cathodically charged and is masked along a portion of a path to expose at least the surfaces which define the openings. A flow passage for an electroplating electrolyte (41) is established from a source (42) past a charged anode (101) in a direction through the openings (21) and includes a linear portion extending substantially normal to the strip on each side thereof. The anode extends along the portion of the path, parallel to and spaced from the strip (11), and focused on the areas to be plated. The charged anode (101) and the exposed areas of surfaces of the strip (11) are contacted with the electrolyte (41) to charge the electrolyte and pass an electric current therethrough to plate the exposed areas of the surfaces.

Methods of and apparatus for selective plating

A slotted beam contact element for an electrical connector is constructed by forming an opening in a metallic strip and applying forces to at least one portion of the strip adjacent the opening to reshape said portion. Then a bifurcated beam is formed in the strip with at least portions of the furcations of the beam encompassing the opening after which the furcations are moved toward each other to cause the portions encompassing the opening to define a slot of predetermined width characteristics suitable for receiving an insulated conductor and for establishing electrical contact between the conductor and the furcations. For some uses of these kinds of contact elements, selected portions of the furcations may be coated or plated and/or heat treated prior to moving the furcations to their final closed position.

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Atlanta, GA, United States of America

James E Voytko