PATENTS GRANTEDIn the Metal Finishing FieldPrinted copies of patents are furnished by the Patent and Trademark Office for $3.00 each.Address orders to: Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, Washington, D.C. 20231.

Rotary Atomizeru.s. Patent 5,775,598. July 7, 1998S. Takayama and T. Katsunuma, assignors to ABBIndustry KK, Tokyo

A rotary atomizing head coating ma•chine including a coating machine bodycircumferentially enshrouded under a syn•thetic resin cover; an air motor providedwithin the coating machine body andgrounded to earth potential; a rotary atom•izing head provided at a fore end of thecoating machine body and coupled with theair motor; a shaping air ring provided at thefore end of the coating machine body insuch a way as to circumvent an outer pe•riphery of the rotary atomizing head andhaving an air outlet to spurt shaping airfrom behind the paint-releasing edges ofthe rotary atomizing head; and externalelectrodes positioned radially on an outerside of the coating machine body and ap•plied with a high voltage to charge paintparticles sprayed from the paint-releasingedges of the rotary atomizing head.

Abrasive Blasting Apparatusu.s. Patent 5,775,979. July 7, 1998D.A. Coke and D.R. Coke, Grand Rapids, Mich.

An apparatus for grit blasting a workingsurface comprising a movable and adjust•able broom having a distal end; an enclo•sure for an operator; abrasive blastingmeans for directing a fluid-impelled abra•sive media stream onto the working surfacethrough the open front of the enclosure;and a waste collection system.

Abrasive Grainu.s. Patent 5,776,214. July 7, 1998w.p. Wood, assignor to 3M Co., St. Paul, Minn.

A method for making alpha alumina•based ceramic abrasive grain comprisingpreparing a homogeneous dispersion bycombining components comprising liquidmedium, acid, and greater than 60% byweight boehmite; converting the dispersionto ceramic precursor material; and sinteringto provide alpha alumina-based ceramicabrasive grain having a density greater than90% theoretical.

METAL FINISHING • DECEMBER 1998

Concentrate for ElectrolessDeposition of CopperU.S Patent 5,776,231. July 7, 1998K-D. Nittel and K·H. Nuss, assignors toMetallgesellschaft AG, Frankfurt am Main, Gennany

A solid concentrate for preparing and re•plenishing a solution for the electroless dep•osition of a copper coating on an iron or steelsubstrate comprising CuS04'5H20 and anhy•drous MgS04 , wherein the Cu and Mg are ina ratio of 35 to 5 parts Cu per I part Mg,wherein the total weight of CuS04'5H20 andanhydrous MgS04 is at least 85% by weightof the solid concentrate.

Powder Spray Coating DeviceU.S. Patent 5,776,249. July 7, 1998G. Rutz, assignor to Gema Volstatic AG,Switzerland

In a powder spray coating device havingat least one control unit, which includes afeed air outlet adapted to be connected forsupplying feed air to a powder injector feedpump in order to feed coating powder to aspray device, a first feed air path extendingfrom an air inlet to the feed air outlet, amanually set first feed air adjustment valvelocated in the flfst feed air path for manu•ally adjusting the flow of feed air in thefirst feed air path from the inlet to the feedair outlet, the improvement comprising asecond feed air path, which connects fromthe inlet to the feed air outlet with anautomatically adjustable second feed airadjustment valve.

Vacuum Coating ChamberU.S. Patent 5,776,256. July 7, 1998T.D. Born and D. O'Connell, assignors to TheUnited States of America as represented by theSecretary of the Air Force, Washington

A mirror rotating system mountedwithin a vacuum chamber having a sourceof coating material therein, said mirror ro•tating system moving a mirror in a complexpattern to provide for a more uniform coat•ing on the surface of the mirror.

Continuous Cleansing of SteelStripU.S. Patent 5,776,258. July 7, 1998

KR. Olashuk and L.R. Shields, assignors toWeirton Steel Corp., Weirton, W. Va.

A continuously operable system for usein cleansing iron fines and associated sur•face debris from flat-rolled steel strip.

Activating a Metal Surface forConversion CoatingU.S. Patent 5,776,265. July 7, 1998L.S. Kramer et al., assignors to Henkel Corp.,Plymouth Meeting, Pa.

An improved process for forming aphosphate conversion coating on a metalsubstrate, wherein the surface of the metalsubstrate is cleaned, activated by contactwith an aqueous activating compositioncomprising a reaction product of a titaniumcompound and a phosphorus compound,and coated by a conversion coating pro•cess, the improvement which comprisesapplying ultrasonic vibration energy to theaqueous activating composition.

Coated AbrasiveU.S. Patent 5,776,290. July 7, 1998G.J. Follett and C.A. George, assignors to 3M Co.,St. Paul, Minn.

A method of preparing a coated abrasivearticle by laminating an energy-curable pres•sure-sensitive adhesive film to a backing.

Electroplating ApparatusU.S. Patent 5,776,327. July 7, 1998R.R. Botts et al., assignors to MitsubishiSemiconductor America Inc., Durham, N.C.

A method of electroplating a workpiececomprising immersing the workpiece sup•ported by a cathode rack in an electroplat•ing bath; providing an anode basket con•taining anodes of a prescribed platingmaterial; covering a portion of the anodebasket with a nonconductive frame snuglyfitted around the anode basket and havingan opening facing the workpiece; connect•ing at least one nonconductive plate on theframe to mask a portion of the frame open•ing; adjusting the position of the noncon•ductive plate on the frame to achieve adesired electrical field distribution; im•mersing the masked anode basket in the

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