Electron beam working apparatus for cylindrical members

Abstract

An electron beam working apparatus for cylindrical workpieces having a circular working line is improved so that a volume of a vacuum chamber to be maintained can be minimized and the vacuum chamber may not contain a contamination source such as a driving motor. In order to achieve the improvements, two disk-shaped partition plates having inflatable annular seal members disposed along their respective outer peripheral surfaces are placed inside the cylindrical workpieces respectively above and below the working line with said seal members pressed against the inner peripheral surfaces of said cylindrical workpieces to form a first vacuum chamber surrounded by said two partition plates and the inner peripheral surfaces of said cylindrical workpieces. Two annular fixed chamber wall members having inflatable annular seal members disposed along their respective inner peripheral surfaces are placed outside the cylindrical workpieces respectively above and below said working line with said seal members pressed against the outer peripheral surface of said cylindrical workpieces and an annular rotary chamber wall member provided with an electron beam gun is rotatably provided around the two annular fixed chamber wall members so that the inner peripheral surface of the former may make slide contact with the outer peripheral surfaces of the latter via seal members to thereby form a second vacuum chamber surrounded by the outer peripheral surfaces of said cylindrical workpieces, said two annular fixed chamber wall members and the inner peripheral surface of said rotary chamber wall member.