AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE CLEANING OF KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Curwood, of George Street, Grosvenor Square,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR FACILITATING THE CLEANING OF KNIVES AND FORKS."
Sealed the 14th November 1856, and dated the 17th May 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Curwood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
May 1856.
I, DAVID CURWOOD, of George Street, Grosvenor Square, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE CLEANING OF KNIVES AND FORKS,
to be as follows:-
My improved apparatus for cleaning knives and forks consists of a flat
frame or case, in which the handles of the knives or forks are fixed in
such position that a number of knives or forks may be fixed in the same plane.
The handles are received in parallel recesses, placed about half an inch apart
and lined with buff leather or other suitable material to grip the handles
readily by pressure. A hinged cover having a leather gripping surface is
applied to this case, which comes down upon the handles and presses on them
by means of a thumb screw, so as to hold the whole number in the case firmly,
The whole of the handle of the knife or fork is received in the case, leaving
only the blade or prongs up to the shoulder or ferrule exposed, thus protecting

page_text: the handles from injury and preventing their being soiled; the case is provided
with a handle, which projects in the opposite direction to that of the blades
when fixed therein. The knives when placed in the frame have the flat of the
blades all in the same horizontal plane, in which position they are placed on a
board, leather, or other suitable surface, & brushed with a brush and emery
powder or other suitable scrubbing material. Having cleaned one side of the
whole number they are readily inverted by turning the case upside down, when
the other side may be similarly operated upon."
The brush I employ is similar to an ordinary grate brush, but formed partly
of hair or bristles & buff or other leather, either in small pieces projecting as
the bristles, or in strips placed across the brush. In cleaning knives I traverse
the brush to and fro across the blades, but for forks it may be necessary to
brush across the stems, and also in the direction of the length of the prongs.
The holding case may also be made for cleaning silver forks or knives by
adapting the recesses for the handles to hold the articles, and using a brush
and cleaning material adapted for the purpose..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said David Curwood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
CURWOOD, of George Street, Grosvenor Square, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Hér heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
David Curwood, Her special licence that I, the said David Curwood, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said David
Curwood, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR FACILITATING THE CLEANING OF KNIVES AND FORKS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said David Curwood, my executors or adminis

page_text: trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be. filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Curwood, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement,
reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
My improved apparatus for cleaning knives and forks consists of a flat
frame or case, in which the handles of the knives or forks are fixed in
such position that a number of knives or forks may be fixed in the saine
plane. The handles are received in parallel recesses, placed about half an inch
apart and lined with buff leather or other suitable material to grip the handles
readily by pressure. A hinged cover having a leather gripping surface is
applied to this case, which comes down upon the handles and presses on
them by means of a thumb screw, so as to hold the whole number in the case
firmly. The whole of the handle of the knife or fork is received in the case,
leaving only the blade or prongs up to the shoulder or ferrule exposed, thus
protecting the handles from injury and preventing their being soiled. The
case is provided with a handle, which projects in the opposite direction to that
of the blades when fixed therein. The knives when placed in the frame havo
the flat of the blades all in the same horizontal plane, in which position they
are placed on a board, on a surface of leather, or other suitable surface, and
there brushed with a brush and emery powder or other suitable scrubbing
material. Having cleaned one side of the whole number they are readily
inverted by turning the case upside down, when the other side may be
similarly operated upon.
The brush I employ is similar to an ordinary grate brush, but formed partly
of hair. or bristles and buff or other leather, either in small pieces projecting as
the bristles, or in strips placed across the brush. In cleaning knives I traverse
the brush to and fro across the blades; but for forks it may be necessary to
brush across the stems and also in the direction of the length of the prongs...
The holding case may also be made for cleaning silver forks or knives by
adapting the recesses for the handles to hold the articles, and using
and cleaning material adapted for the purpose.
a brush
:
Fig. 1 represents a front view of the knife cleaner; and Fig. 2, a plan of
the same, with the several knives a, a, a, a, in position for cleaning; Fig. 3

page_text: represents the same view with the cover open, shewing the knife handles
placed in the several recesses; while Figs. 4 and 5 represent transverse and
longitudinal sections, of the same. The frame of the cleaner is made. of a
length to contain a number of knives that are convenient so to clean;. in
this example ten knives are represented, but a greater number may be so
placed and operated on, if desired, as will be seen in other. Figures. of the
Drawing. a', a', is the body or principal part of the holder, which has a brass
or other metal facing b, b, to resist the wear of the brushes, with notches c, c, c,
opposite to the recesses d, d, in which the handles are placed. The recesses.d, d,
are formed in the body of the frame a', and adapted each to receive the handle
of a knife; they are lined with buff or other suitable leather or material e, e,
and have a double or extra thickness below them close to the ferrule, in order
to grip them tighter at that point. The recesses are formed by.the blocks or
raised parts ff, which form stops to secure the knives firmly in position side-
wise. The lid or cover h, h, is hinged at i, i, and lifts up, as at Fig. 3; it is
hold down by the thumb screw l, which passes freely through the lid, and
screws into a nut fixed in the body of the frame; by screwing or unscrewing
this thumb screw the lid or cover k secures or releases the handles. It is not,
however, necessary to raise the lid h, as at Fig. 3, to introduce or remove
knives, as that may be effected by simply slacking the screw half a turn, and
withdrawing or introducing the handles from the front.
The pressure exerted by the screw binds the handles near the ferrule, and if
fitted somewhat closely in the recesses d, d, the whole are held firmly while
cleaning. The knives having been fixed in the frame, as described and repre-
sented in Fig. 2, are placed on a board A, A, which may or may not be faced
with leather; stops a, a, are placed on the edge of the board, but no rest other
than what the knife blades have is afforded. These stops prevent the knives
being moved by the traverse of the brush to and fro across the blades. I make
the board A long enough that two spaces to rest the knife blades is provided,
the one for the. application of wet, the other dry emery.. The wet emery is first
applied by means of a brush, such as represented at. Figs. 6 and 7. This
brush consists of bristles and strips of buff leather, as seen in plan, Fig. 7. By
brushing to and fro across the blades with a proper amount of pressure a clear
surface is readily produced. The frame being held by the handle B, is now.
inverted, when the other sides of the blades are similarly operated on. The a
cleaning being so far effected by the wet. powder or emery, the frame is then
removed to the dry part of the board A, and the dry powder or emery similarly.
applied with a dry brush to produce a polish on the blades; when the.operation
is complete the thumb.screw is loosened, and the whole of the knives thrown

page_text: out; thus the handles are not liable to be soiled when cleaning, and a great
number of knives may be readily cleaned with facility.
When it is intended that the recesses d, d, are to receive silver handles,
they should be more carefully padded with leather, and made to fit the handle
required; in cleaning steel forks, they may be fixed and held in the same frame,
and the brush applied either across the stems and prongs, or with a motion
parallel to the position of the prongs, as may be found best for the purpose.
For cleaning ordinary silver forks, the recesses should be made somewhat of the
form of the handle, so that they may be properly gripped for the purposes
required.
Figs. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, represent a modification of the knife holder
or apparatus constructed according to my Invention, adapted to grip knife
handles of various sizes. Fig. 8 is a front view of the holder; Fig. 9, a
longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 10, a plan; Fig. 11, an end view; Fig. 12,
a transverse vertical section; and Fig. 13, a plan of the same with the lid
open. In this case it is made to receive a greater number of knives; it is
therefore furnished with two thumb screws 1, 1, one near either end. The
recesses d, d, lid or cover h, and other parts are as before described, &
marked by similar letters of reference. In order that the recesses may be
varied to receive various sized handles, and at the same time to sustain them
firmly sideways, a sliding bar m, m, is fitted in a recess in the frame a.
This sliding bar is of metal or other suitable material, and is furnished with
a number of raised projections p, p, p, corresponding with the number of
recesses d, d. This bar has also a projecting nib u below, which is acted on
by a springs, pushing the bar m, m, constantly towards the right, as seen in
Fig. 9; when at the limit of its motion in that direction the nibs p, p, coincide
in position with the blocks ff, and the recesses d, d, are of the full size.
A screw is formed on the end of bar m, and a thumb nutt fitted to it, by
which the bar m is drawn forcibly from right to left when the knife handles
are inserted and pinched by the lid or cover h; if they are not held sufficiently
tight in the recesses d, d, the thumb nut t is turned, which has the effect of
drawing each of the nibs p, p, p, against the handles, and of fixing them rigidly
at that point. If necessary, a second bar m may be placed towards the
back part of the frame, or the cover 7 may be made to grip the extreme
end of the bandle before the pressure comes on the ferrule end; for this
purpose a padding of india-rubber will be found beneficial; the cleaning
with this apparatus is performed as before described.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim is, a frame

page_text: or apparatus for. holding knives while being cleaned, substantially as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Curwood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
DAVID CURWOOD. (L.S.)"