IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING KNIVES AND OTHER EDGED ARTICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO GRINDING AND POLISHINGARIOUS SUR
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Canham, of Clerkenwell, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS
FOR SHARPENING KNIVES AND OTHER EDGED ARTICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS
Scaled the 10th March 1868, and dated the 14th September 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Canham at, the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th September 1867.
I, RICHARD CANHAM, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING KNIVES AND OTHER EDGED ARTICLES, WHICH
IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO GRINDING AND POLISHING VARIOUS SURFACES,"
to be as follows:-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus for
sharpening kuives and other edged articles, which improvements are also
applicable to grinding and polishing various surfaces, and consists, firstly, in
the employment of cylinders or rods of steel or other suitable material
fixed on end at any desired angle to each other and mounted in suitable
holders with or without capability of adjustment to different angles according
[Price 8d.]

page_text: to the particular angle desired to be given to the edge of the instrument to be
sharpened; the bases of such cylinders or rods are fixed alternately on each
side of a centre line so that the sides thereof shall cross such centre line.
The knife or other article being drawn in the direction of such centre line the
edge thereof will be acted upon on each side by the cylinders or rods.
The Invention also consists in the employment of suitable guides to main-
tain the knife or other article in the desired position whilst sharpening the
edge thereof.
Another arrangement consists in mounting such cylinders, rods, spheres,
portions of spheres, or corrugated surfaces or strips of steel, or other suitable
material upon the edge of a wheel either with or without capability of adjust-
ment, such wheel being mounted on a suitable axis, and guides being
employed to guide the article to be sharpened. Wheels as above described
may be arranged to act upon one or both sides of 'the edges, as desired.
Instead of employing cylinders or rods, as above described, portions of spheres
or spheres may be used arranged in a similar manner to the cylinders or rods.
I also employ corrugated surfaces or a number of strips, the edges of such
corrugations or strips being of a curved or other suitable form, and arranged
in a similar manner to that before referred to ; or in some instances instead
of employing spheres I employ forms having concave surfaces instead of
convex, as already described.
The Invention also consists in fixing the cylinders, spheres, portions of
spheres, strips, corrugated surfaces, or other sharpening means acting in a
suitable manner to the holder by means of flanges held between two plates,
the upper plate being provided with a screw or screws to secure it to the
holder.
Another mode of mounting them consists in forming necks or recesses
in such part, the plate to which they are to be affixed being provided
with suitable recesses and claws or projections which are turned into, around,
or over such necks, flanges, or recesses. In cases where the edge of an article
is sharpened upon both sides I prefer to employ a similar number of parts to
act on each side of such edge; or spheres or portions of spheres may be]
arranged in tubular or other suitable holders with openings through which the
article to be sharpened is passed and drawn to and fro between the points of
contact of the spheres or portions of spheres..
The cylinders, spheres, hemispheres, corrugated surfaces, or strips may be
formed of steel or iron suitably roughened and hardened on its surface, or
stone, or compounds of vegetable gums, or other suitable materials with
any suitable grit may be employed, in which case the articles may be cast or

page_text: moulded to the desired form, and either with or without a suitable base or
holder.
When employing these improvements for grinding or polishing various
surfaces I apply guides, as before described, to rotary grinding or polishing
surfaces, through which guides I pass the article to be ground or polished, such
guides being fixed or capable of adjustment to the particular angle to which
the article is desired to be ground or polished. I also sometimes mount such
guides in sliding holders which may be operated in a similar manner to the
slide rest of a lathe.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Richard Canham in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
CANHAM, of Clerkenwell, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Canham, Her special licence, that I, the said Richard Canham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Richard Canham, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OF APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING KNIVES AND OTHER
EDGED ARTICLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO GRINDING AND
POLISHING VARIOUS SURFACES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Richard Canham, my executors or administrators, 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 Richard Canham, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement the reof, reference being had to the Drawings annexed
hereto, and to the figures and letters marked thereon :-
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus for
sharpening knives and other edged articles, which improvements are also
applicable to grinding and polishing varioussurfaces,and consists, firstly, in the
employment of cylinders or rods of steel, stone, or other suitable material fixed
on end at any desired angle to each other, and mounted in suitable holders
with or without capability of adjustment to different angles according to the
particular angle desired to be given to the edge of the instrument to be
sharpened. .
The Invention also consists in the employment of suitable guides to main-
tain the knife or other article in the desired position whilst sharpening the
edge thereof. Figure 1 is a section, and Figure 2 is a plan of a sharpener
constructed as above described.
. a, a, are the cylinders, which are fixed in the holder b, with their bases
alternately on each side of a centre line, so that the sides of such cylinders
or rods a shall cross such centre line; c, c, are guides or guards employed to
secure the knife or other articlebeingheld in a correct position whilst drawing
it between the cylinders in the act of sharpening; Figure 3 is a section of a
sharpener, the rods a of which are of a conv ex sectional form as shewn.
Instead of employing cylinders orrodsas above described portions of spheres
or spheres may be employed arranged in a somewhat similar manner to the
cylinders or rods, as will be readily understood. I also employ corrugated
surfaces or a number of strips, the edges of such corrugations or strips being
of a curved or other suitable form, and arranged in a similar manner to that
of the cylinders or rods before referred to. Or in some cases instead of
employing spheres I employ sharpeners, the different parts or rods of which
have a concave sectional form, as shewn at the sectional view, Figure 4.
Figure 5 is a side view, Figure 6 an end view, and Figure 7 a section of a
sharpener formed of a number of cylinders, rods, or strips a, a, mounted in
a suitable holder b, to which a handle d is fixed. The cylinders, rods, or
strips are held in suitable recesses, as shown, and there are openings. c, c,
through which the article to be sharpened is drawn, and the sides of which
openings serve as guides to such article in the act of sharpening. Or if desired
any of the forms herein referred to may be mounted in suitable handles for
the table or otherwise as desired. Figure 8 is a sectional view of a sharpener
in which the cylinders a, a, are mounted in holders 6 pin-jointed to each
other, and capable of adjustment to different angles by means of a screw e, as

page_text: shewn; or if desired corrugated surfaces may be provided with a handle, as
shewn at Figures 9, the different parts of which are capable of adjustment, to
different angles by means of the screw e, as will be readily understood.
Another arrangement consists in mounting such cylinders, rods, spheres,
portions of spheres, or corrugated surfaces or strips of steel, stone, or other
suitable material
upon the periphery of a wheel either with or without capa-
bility of adjustment, such wheel being mounted upon a suitable axis, and
guides being employed to guide the article to be sharpened. Wheels as above
described may be arranged to act upon one or both sides of the edge as
desired.
Another part of the Invention consists in fixing the cylinders, spheres,
portions of spheres, strips, corrugated surfaces, or other sharpening means
acting in a similar manner, to the holder, by means of flanges held between
two plates, as shewn at Figure 10, the upper plate being provided with a
screw or screws to secure it to the holder.
Another mode of mounting them consists in forming necks or recesses in
such parts, the plate to which they are affixed being provided with suitable
recesses and claws or projections which are turned into, around, or over such
necks, flanges, or recesses. In cases where the edge of an article is sharpened
upon both sides I prefer to employ a similar number of parts to act upon each
side of such edge. The cylinders, spheres, portions of spheres, corrugated
surfaces, or strips may be formed of steel or iron suitably roughened and
hardened on its surface, or stone, or compounds of vegetable gums or other
suitable materials mixed with any suitable grit may be employed, in which
case the articles may be cast or moulded to the desired form, and either with
or without a suitable base or holder, as will be readily understood.
When employing these improvements for grinding or polishing various
surfaces I apply guides as before described to rotary grinding or polishing
surfaces, through which guides I pass the article to be ground or polished,
such guides being fixed or capable of adjustment to the particular angle to
which the article is desired to be ground or polished.
Figure 11 is a plan, and Figure 12 is a side view of grinding and polishing
apparatus constructed as above described. a, a, is a grinding or polishing
wheel mounted upon an axis b, and c is a holder mounted on an axis c¹. The
article to be ground or polished is fixed in the holder c by a screw c³, as shewn,
and such article is pressed upon the wheel by means of a handle d. The angle
to which the edge of the article to be ground or polished is presented to the
wheel is regulated by the extent to which it projects from the holder, and
consequently by the angle at which the handle d is held,

page_text: :
I also sometimes mount such guides in sliding holders, which may be
operated in a similar manner to the slide rest of a lathe.
Figure 13 is a plan, and Figure 14 is a side view of apparatus thus con-
structed. Similar parts are marked with similar letters of reference to those
employed in Figures 11 and 12. In this case the holder c is provided with
guides c³ capable of travelling upon a slide c' which is mounted on the axis c¹,
and a to-and-fro motion is given to the holder c across the wheel a by means
of a screw e, as will be well understood, whilst the angle to which the holder c
stands in relation to the wheel is regulated by the eccentric f. The form of the
holder c will be varied according to the form of the article to be ground or
polished.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the mode in which
I carry the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein shewn and described; but what
I do claim is,-
First. The various improvements in means or apparatus for sharpening
knives and other edged articles, substantially as herein shewn and described.
And, secondly. I claim the improvements in means or apparatus for grinding
or polishing, substantially as herein shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Canham, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
RICHARD CANHAM. (L.S.)