| abstract |
An apparatus for applying a coating material to a substrate such as a razor blade, comprising a drum unit having a plurality of driven hub assemblies, each of which supports carrier means for carrying a large number of razor blades, and in which the hubs are driven, for example, by an epicyclic gear or chain mechanism, so as to expose the desired portions of the carriers, in a desired timed relation, to a coating material which is caused to emanate from a fixed source. The source comprises a so-called sputtering module including housing having, at the top part thereof, a pair of angled target plates from which the coating material is taken, and, at the bottom thereof, an opening past which the carriers are moved by the drum. By ''''sputtering'''' as used herein, is meant the slow disintegration of a target under the bombardment of ionized gas molecules, and, more particularly, the disintegration of a coating material which is placed on the target and transferred to a substrate after being ''''sputtered'''' from the target. The coating material is moved from the target plates to the substrate by a so-called ''''RF induced plasma sputtering,'''' process. In this process, with the apparatus and materials in a very high vacuum, a high radio frequency, (''''R.F.'''') is impressed across two electrode plates, each of which is disposed immediately behind the target plates, and each of which attains a high negative space charge. Thereafter, a normally inert gas, such as argon is introduced to the area between the plates, ionized, by bombardment with high velocity electrons, and theresulting plasma particles strike the target plates containing the coating material, freeing or ''''sputtering'''' it therefrom, in atomic or molecular sized particles, which are then attracted to the grounded potential substrate and are received and firmly bound thereon to form a coating of extreme smoothness and adhesion. In one embodiment, a metal coating is sputtered onto the edge portions of razor blades, and in other embodiments, organic polymers or other high-molecular weight coatings are transferred to a substrate, in some cases with simultaneous partial chemical breakdown, rearrangement, or other chemical or physical reaction during the sputtering process, and in still further embodiments, metal oxides, alloys, or other metal compounds are transferred, or simultaneously formed and transferred. |