ELECTROFORMED CONDUCTOR FOR TELEPHONE DROP WIRE 1131 



isolated from the chemical storage, handling and mixing operations along 

 the north wall. This minimizes exposing the wires to the splash or vapors 

 from the chemicals which would damage the wire. Core wire is the bulk- 

 iest and one of the heaviest items handled. It is stored in an area near 

 both the core wire pay-off stands and the receiving dock, to shorten the 

 truck-hauls and enable the pay-off stand operator to obtain his core wire 

 supply direct from storage without leaving the operating area. The core 

 wire supply reels are narrow and of large diameter so they can readily be 

 handled upright, and rolled along on their head rims. From the upright 

 position, the reels are picked up with a rotatable grapple on a monorail 

 hoist, turned 90 degrees, and placed head down on a waiting transfer 

 car to be moved to the supply or pay-off stands. The transfer car operates 

 on steel rails flush with the floor so that the car can be spotted close 

 alongside the pay-off stands, without danger of being bumped into them 

 (Fig. 1) The bed of the transfer car as well as the beds of the pay-off 

 stands are built up of gravity roller conveyor sections and in loading 

 position both are at the same height. The reel is easily pushed off the 

 car and onto any pay-off stand. Emptied core wire reels are removed with 

 the same equipment and accumulated in the storage area for return to 

 the supplier. 



ANODES AND ANODE HANDLING 



Soluble anodes for the plating cells are supplied in the form of random- 

 cast shot or pellets and punchings varying in diameter from about 3^" 

 down to 3^2"? the percentage of fines being limited by raw material 

 specifications to control the rate of dissolution in the plating electrolytes 

 and to limit the formation of anode muds or sludge. The copper shot is 

 cast from commercial wire-bar copper. The lead shot is made from com- 

 mercially pure virgin lead, and the brass punchings are obtained from 

 lead-free brass scrap. The brass anode usually contains too much zinc, 

 so the brass bath composition is corrected by adding pure copper shot 

 in with the brass, the proportions being determined by plating bath and 

 plate composition analysis. The shot is laid evenly in a bed about 1" thick 

 over a relatively thin plate electrode covering the entire bottom of the 

 plating cell. Plating potential is supplied to the soluble anode bed through 

 the electrode. 



In the cyanide brass and cyanide copper plating cells the anode ma- 

 terial is spread directly on the steel bottoms of the cells, steel not being 

 soluble to any consequential extent in the cyanides. Lead electrodes are 

 used in the lead plating cells. The lead and brass anode materials are 



