CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLE FORKS
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
RODGERS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Cutler, JONATHAN CRIPPS.
HOBSON, of the same place, Merchant, and JONATHAN BROWNILL, of the same.
place, Cutler, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of December, in the ninth year of. His.
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Rodgers, Jonathan Cripps Hobson, and Jonathan Brownill, His
especial licence that we, the said George Rodgers, Jonathan Cripps Hobson,
and Jonathan Brownill, our exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as we.
the said George Rodgers, Jonathan Cripps Hobson, and Jonathan Brownill,
our exors, adiňors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others.
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His said.
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, our Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLE FORKS;". in which said Letters Patent. is contained
a proviso obliging us, or one of us, the said George Rodgers, Jonathan Cripps.
Hobson, and Jonathan Brownill, by an instrument in writing under our hands
and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, particularly to describe and.
ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to:

page_text: be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in His said Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
George Rodgers, Jonathan Cripps Hobson, and Jonathan Brownill, do hereby
declare the nature of our said Invention to consist in the introduction of flat
pieces of steel or other hard metal serving the double purpose of guards and
whetters, or of whetters only, within or through the shank of such forks as are
used at table, whether carvers or others, in such manner as will admit of such
knives as are used at table being sharpened or whetted thercon at pleasure,
such flat pieces of steel or other hard metal being curved at the sides, so as,
when separated for the purpose of use, to form a similar angle at every inter-
section between them, thereby being rendered better calculated to improve the
edge of the knife than if the sides of the said pieces of steel or other metal
were straight. But the faces of the sides of the said pieces of steel or other
metal are flat, and striped like a steel, or cut with a chisel in the same manner
as a file, and which said pieces of steel or other hard metal may be introduced
into or through the shank of such forks, either with or without a steel spring
of a circular or other convenient form, the object and effect of the said spring
being to confine the said flat pieces of steel or other metal, and to press them,
close together within the shank of the fork in which they are placed. "And
in further compliance with the said proviso, we, the said George Rodgers,
Jonathan Cripps Hobson, and Jonathan Brownill, do hereby describe the
manner in which our said Invention is to be performed by the following
description thereof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure One represents a side view of a fork with two of the said pieces of
steel, forming at once a guard and whetters. A, B, are two flat pieces of.
steel about one twelfth of an inch in thickness, turning, somewhat stiffly on.
the pin or pivot C. These pieces of steel are so shaped or curved at their
sides that on being fixed or secured together within the pin or pivot C,
however far apart or near their points may be, the angle formed by their
intersection shall be similar for their whole length from that part where the a
angle is first formed by intersection to the point, and thus it follows that as
the curve is varied by the manufacturer so will the angle of intersection be
altered to that which he may think best suited to his purpose. Tlie faces of

page_text: the sides of these pieces of steel or metal are flat, and may be made with a
plain surface, or cut with a chisel like a file, or striped like a steel; provided
always, however, that the two faces, which together form any one of the angles,
are, if they are cut as aforesaid, not to be cut in the same way, but in contrary
directions, one of them being, as is generally termed in the file trade, up-cut,
which is shewn upon the face of the side of the whetter in Figure 5, and the
other over-cut, as is shewn upon the face of the side of the whetter in Fig. 6.
We have only shewn in Figure One two flat pieces of steel or metal as
forming the guard and whetters; but more might be used to suit the fancy of
the manufacturer, and the shape of the pieces might be varied, as shewn in.
Figures three and seven, and may be made also in a variety of other forms.
These pieces of steel or metal are made to turn somewhat stiffly on the pin or
pivot C, by using one or more small springs made of steel or other hard metal,
with one or more washers or small pieces of copper or other soft metal, the
spring or springs being fixed on either or both fronts of the flat pieces of steel
in the inside of the shank of the fork, and the washers fixed between or on
either or both fronts of the flat pieces of steel or whetters, and secured or
fastened by the pin or pivot C, which springs and washers we are not ablo, to
shew in Figure One, as they are made to fit within the shank of the fork; but
they are shewn in Figures Eight, Nine, Ten, and Eleven, and may be made
in other forms or ways.
Figure Two shews the back view of the fork, with the opening in the shank
and the pin or pivot C to receive the flat pieces of steel or metal, and also the
spring or springs and washer or washers. We would here observe, that instead
of the pin or pivot C and the springs a screw may be used, for the purpose of.
attaching the flat pieces of steel or metal used as a guard and whetters to the
fork, and also the spring or springs, washer or washers, though perhaps with
not such good effect, the whetters, when attached by a screw alone, being
liable, by frequent opening, to turn too easily to be used with advantage.
It only now remains for us to state the manner of using the said improve-
ments for the purpose of whetting or sharpening knives, their application as
guards being self-evident. In order to sharpen a knife it is only necessary to
open or separate the flat pieces of steel or metal plates A, B, as shewn in
Figure One, draw the edge of the knife a few times towards you at the point
of insersection of the said plates A and B, at D or E, as if it was the intention
of the operator to cut through the flat pieces of steel or metal in that direction,
and this action will sharpen the knife sufficiently for the ordinary purposes:
Now whereas we claim as our Invention the introduction of such flat pieces
of steel or other hard metal as aforesaid within or through the shank of a fork,

page_text: in manner and for the purpose aforesaid, and such our Invention being, to the
best of our knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that
part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called
England, His said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
nor in any of His said Majesty's Colonies or Plantations, we do hereby
declare this to be our Specification of the same, and that we do verily believe
this our said Specification doth comply in all respects, fully and without reserve
or disguise, with the proviso in the said in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained. Wherefore we do hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to our said Invention.