The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 20, 1984
Filed:
Oct. 28, 1981
John G Tucker, Lexington, NC (US);
Hugh A Wells, Winston-Salem, NC (US);
Western Electric Co., Inc., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The formation of dross in a molten solder bath (28) by surface agitation of the bath, and the adverse effects of dross on a solder pumping operation, are essentially eliminated by suspending a pump shaft (36) and an impeller (38) thereon for free rotation within a housing (96) in the molten solder bath so that solder in the solder bath is precluded from making any significant contact with the rotating shaft. To insure against binding between the impeller (38) and an opposed horizontal inner surface (132) of the housing (96), a small amount of solder is permitted to flow continuously between the impeller and the surface into contact with the rotating shaft (36) adjacent the impeller. The small solder flow then is exposed to the atmosphere to form a correspondingly small amount of light powdery solder dross (134). The thus formed solder dross (134) is confined within the housing (96) as the dross rises vertically in the housing relative to the shaft (36) to a level above the upper surface of the molten solder bath (28). The dross (134) then spills over a top surface of the housing (96) and falls to the upper surface of the molten solder bath (28) for subsequent removal.