AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING RAZORS AND KNIVES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Payne, of East Moulsey, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, for an invention of AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
SHARPENING RAZORS AND KNIVES
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Payne at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 10th May 1882.
ALEXANDER PAYNE, of East Moulsey, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman,
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING RAZORS AND KNIVES "
The object of my Invention is to construct an apparatus for the purpose of
setting and sharpening razors and knives, which shall not only be more efficient in
its action, but also so simple in its construction and application that it can be used
by any one without previous experience.
According to the method hitherto in use for the above purposes it has been the
practice when sharpening or setting razors for one side only to be operated upon at
a time, a process moreover depending for its efficacy entirely upon the skill of the
operator, whereas by this invention the two sides of the blade are simultaneously
operated upon by means of a pair of rollers, which, following in the curve or hollow
form of the blade thereby produce a much finer edge than can be obtained by
ordinary stropping.
In constructing the apparatus it is proposed to arrange two rollers, of suitable
diameter and length corresponding to the length of the blade, so as to revolve in
contact with each other by means of toothed wheels or other equivalent device.
Immediately in front of these rollers, or it may be on the top if desired, is placed
a spring clip bar for the purpose of holding the blade of the razor or knife to be
operated upon.
This bar is furnished with suitable screws for the purpose of
adjusting its position relatively to the rollers..
The rollers may be of wood covered with India-rubber and leather or other
suitable material. These rollers may be interchangeable with others prepared
with emery or any material which will slightly grind or set the razor or knife.
The back edge of the blade having been inserted longitudinally within the
spring bar and its front edge placed between the rollers, motion is then imparted
to one of the rollers by means of a crank handle and the two rollers revolving
together by the action of the toothed wheels, or other device, so operate upon both
sides of the blade. This apparatus may be arranged within a suitable case alone,
or it may be fitted together with a set of razors and the usual toilet requisites and
so form a complete dressing case.

page_text: "
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alexander Payne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th November
1882.
ALEXANDER PAYNE of East Mousley in the County of Surrey Gentleman
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR SHARPENING RAZORS AND KNIVES."
My Invention relates to a method of constructing apparatus for grinding,
sharpening and buffing the blades of razors, knives, and similar instruments, the
employment of such apparatus effecting a more perfect result than has been
hitherto been attained; whilst its use is so simple in character that no special
skill is required on the part of the Operator.
According to the methods hitherto usually employed for the purpose herein-
before referred to, it has been the practice to employ a flat surface as a sharpening
or bufling surface and to apply the same successively to the two sides of the blade.
Such a process is not only slow and tedious in producing the required effect; but,
owing to the flat character of the surface and in some instances to the hollow form
of the blade, the extreme edge thereof is caused to assume an undesirably obtuso
wedge form.
By the use of apparatus constructed according to my Invention, the two sides of
the blade are acted upon simultaneously, whereby time is economized. Further,
the grinding, sharpening, or buffing surface, being arranged in a convex forin,
coincides more or less with the concave lateral surfaces of the blade when a hollow
sided blade is under treatment.
The apparatus is represented in Figure 1 in plan, and in Figure 2 partly in end
elevation and partly in transverse section. It consists of a pair of rollers A A¹
composed by preference of wood covered with india rubber and finally with leather
or other suitable buffing material. These rollers are suitably mounted in bearings
in the sides of two casings or frames B B' hinged together at the point C. The
rollers A A¹ are respectively provided with toothed or friction wheels D D'. The
spindles E E' carrying the rollers A A' and toothed wheels D D' are respectively
so arranged in the casings B B that when the case B' is turned about the contro
or hinge C, so as to bring the open parts of the two casings together, the exposed
surface of the roller A arrives in contact with that of the roller A, and the toothed
or friction wheel D' gears with its corresponding wheel D. To one of the
spindles Eor E', by preference the latter, a crank handle F is applied, by means
of which the roller A and through the intervention of the gearing the roller A are
actuated. G G are india rubber bands for drawing the two casings together and
insuring the wheels D D' remaining in gear, and further for producing a certain
pressure between the rollers A A' and the sides of the blade under treatment. It
is obvious, however, that springs or other equivalent mechanical devices might be
substituted for the elastic bands G G. His a blade holder (shown to an enlarged
scale in Figure 3) open along one of its edges namely that towards the roller A.
The blade under treatment is pressed forward by the spring h, and projects through
the longitudinal slit . The edges of the blade holder are however so formed that
the thickest portion or back of the blade is prevented from escaping through the
said slit . The blade holder is provided at each end with a trunnion 2 carried
in a bearing h³. Behind each trunnion a light spiral spring is applied for
maintaining the blade holder in an advanced position, such position being, however,
capable of adjustment by means of the screw nuts h, applied to the spindles or
studs, carrying the bearings ³ h³. A notch is formed in the. upper side of
each of the studs h h to permit of the trunnions h² h² being released from their
bearings after having been drawn back a certain distance in the said bearings and
notches. The object of this arrangement is to permit of the substitution of a

page_text: somewhat differently formed blade holder when the form of the blade to be operated
upon renders such a course desirable.
The rollers A A¹ may also be removed with facility and others with buffing
surfaces of a different character substituted in their places when the grinding or
other effect is required to be modified or varied.
The action of the apparatus is as follows: the razor or other blade is inserted in
the blade holder H, through the longitudinal opening in which it partly protrudes
and lies with a portion of its under surface in contact with the upper surface of
the roller A. The casing B' is then turned about its pivot C and the roller A¹
brought down upon the upper surface of the blade; the wheel D' gearing with the
wheel D whilst the spring bands G G press the rollers A A¹ against the blade
laterally. Upon the crank handle F being now operated, a grinding, sharpening,
or buffing effect is produced simultaneously upon both sides of the blade; and
when a hollow sided blade is under treatment the direction of such action coincides
more or less with that of the concave sides thereof.
Having now described my said Invention and the manner in which the same is
or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the precise details herein before described and illustrated on the
accompanying drawings; as many of these may be modified or varied without
departing from the principal of my Invention, but what I consider to possess
novelty and utility and therefore claim as the invention secured to me by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent, is-
First The use for the purposes hereinbefore described of a pair of rollers
arranged in such a manner that when the casings or frames respectively carrying
the said rollers are opened out, the blade under treatment becomes readily accessible,
and when the said casings or frames are closed together the rollers gear with one
another and operate upon the opposite sides of the blade substantially as
herein before described
Secondly The use of an adjustable and removeable blade holder H constructed
substantially as and for the purposes herein before described and illustrated.
Thirdly The use in apparatus of the character referred to in the first claim of
an elastic band or bands or equivalent device attached to such points on the sides
of the respective casings or frames that in certain positions of the latter, the
tendency is to hold the apparatus open and in other positions the tendency is to
hold the apparatus closed, to ensure the driving wheels of the rollers being in gear
and to press the said rollers laterally against the blade under treatment substantially
as hereinbefore described.
Fourthly-In apparatus for the purposes referred to in the first claim the
combination with a blade holder of a pair of rollers such as A. A¹ with their driving
wheels D D¹ and respectively arranged in casings or frames B B¹ operating
substantially as herein before described.
In witness whereof I the said Alexander Payne have hereunto set my hand
and seal this eighth day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty two
ALEXANDER PAYNE, (LS.)