IMPROVEMENTS IN , for the Invention of SALGSADE SHEARS. AND OTHER LIKE CUTTING INSTRUMENTS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Carter, of Birmingham, in the County of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN
Warwick, Boat Builder, for the Invention of
SALGSADE SHEARS. AND OTHER LIKE CUTTING INSTRUMENTS."
Sealed the 9th May 1871, and dated the 16th November 1870.

page_text: which the two blades turn as a common centre, I connect the two blades
together in the following manner :-In one of the blades, and at the part
where the joint is to be formed, I make a longitudinal slot, that is, a
slot the greatest length of which is in the line of the middle of the
blade. On the inner side of this blade, which I will call No. 1 blade, is
a short stud, the said stud being fixed or rivetted near the base of the
slot described. The other blade, which I will call No. 2 blade, is con-
nected with the former or No. 1 blade by means of a pin or screw
screwed or rivetted therein, the said pin or screw passing through the
slot of No. 1 blade, the head of the said pin or screw holding down
No. 1 blade upon No. 2 blade. On the inner face of No. 2 blade, and
near the pin or screw is a depression or groove, the said depression or
groove being oblique, making an angle of about thirty degrees with a
line passing along the middle of the blade. In this depression or groove
the stud on the inner face of No. 1 blade engages when the two blades
are connected together.
The action of the parts is as follows:-On opening the scissors the
blade No. 1 turns upon the pin or screw of blade No. 2, which said pin
engages with the longitudinal slot in blade No. 1; but as the said blade
No. 1 separates from blade No. 2 it not merely turns upon the said pin,
but also slightly advances by a sliding motion, the said advancing motion
being occasioned by the travelling of the stud on the inner face of No. 1
blade in the oblique depression or groove on the inner face of No. 2
blade. On closing the scissors the reverse motion takes place, that is,
the blade No. 1 in approaching and covering the blade No. 2 performs a
sliding motion, and the matter being cut by the scissors is not merely
compressed between the two cutting edges, but is also subjected to a
cutting action similar to that of the drawing of a cutting edge over it,
that is to say, the cutting is effected by an action similar to the com-
bined action of a pair of scissors and the edge of a knife. The depression:
in No. 2 blade may pass through the blade thus constituting a slot, in
which case the stud on No. 1 blade is made longer and passes through
the said slot.
My Invention is applicable to all kinds of cutting instruments
consisting essentially of two blades turning upon one another after the
manner of a pair of scissors.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Carter in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 10th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
CARTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Boat Builder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Carter, Her special
licence that I, the said John Carter, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Carter, 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 Ircland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
IN SCISSORS, SHEARS, AND OTHER LIKE CUTTING INSTRUMENTS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said John Carter, 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.
"IMPROVEMENTS
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Carter, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
1
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
scissors, shears, and other cutting instruments in which the cutting is
effected by the opening and closing of two blades.
I will describe my Invention as applied to a pair of scissors. Instead
of connecting the two blades together by means of a pin or axis on
which the two blades turn as a common centre, I connect the two blades

page_text: together in the following manner :-In one of the blades, and at that
part where the joint is to be formed, I make a longitudinal slot, that is,
a slot the greatest length of which is in the line of the middle of the
blade. On the inner side of this blade, which I will call No. 1 blade, is
a short stud, the said stud being fixed or rivetted near the base of the
slot described. The other blade, which I will call No. 2 blade, is
connected with the former or No. 1 blade by means of a pin or screw
screwed or rivetted therein, the said pin or screw passing through the
slot of No. 1 blade, the head of the said pin or screw holding down
No. 1 blade upon No. 2 blade. On the inner face of No. 2 blade and
near the pin or screw is a depression or groove, the said depression
or groove being oblique, making an angle of about thirty degrees with
a line passing along the middle of the blade. In this depression or
groove the stud on the inner face of No. 1 blade engages when the
two blades are connected together.
The action of the parts is as follows:-On opening the scissors the
blade No. 1 turns upon the pin or screw of blade No. 2, which said pin
engages with the longitudinal slot in blade No. 1; but as the said
blade No. 1 separates from blade No. 2 it not merely turns upon the
said pin, but also slightly advances by a sliding motion, the said
advancing motion being occasioned by the travelling of the stud on
the inner face of No. 1 blade in the oblique depression or groove on the
inner face of No. 2 blade. On closing the scissors the reverse motion
takes place, that is, the blade No. 1 in approaching and covering the
blade No. 2 performs a sliding motion, and the matter being cut by the
scissors is not merely compressed between the two cutting edges, but is
also subjected to a cutting action similar to that of the drawing of a
cutting edge over it, that is to say, the cutting is effected by an action
similar to the combined action of a pair of scissors and the edge of a
knife. The depression in No. 2 blade may pass through the blade, thus
constituting a slot, in which case the stud on No. 1 blade is made longer
and passes through the said slot.
My Invention is applicable to all kinds of cutting instruments
consisting essentially of two blades turning upon one another after
the manner of a pair of scissors.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in
which the same is to be performed.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in front elevation a pair of scissors made according
to my Invention; Figure 2 represents in front and side elevation one of
the blades of the said scissors, and Figure 3 represents in front elevation
and side elevation the other blade of the said scissors.
a, b, are the two blades of the scissors. In the blade a is a longitudinal
slot c, and on the blade b is a pin or screw d screwed in or rivetted to
the said blade b. The two blades a, b, are connected together by the
said pin or screw d working in the slot c the head of the pin or screw
holding down one blade upon the other blade. By connecting the blades
together by the pin and slot d, c, the said blades in addition to turning
upon one another are capable of advancing or sliding upon one another.
On the inner face of the blade a and near the longitudinal slot c is a
short stud e, and in the inner face of the other blade b and near the
connecting pin or screw d is an oblique groove or depression f. When
the two blades are jointed or connected together by the pin and slot d, c,
the stud e on the inner face of the blade a engages in the oblique groove
or depression fin the face of the other blade b, as illustrated in Figure 1.
On opening the scissors the blade a by means of its slot c turns upon
the pin or screw d of the blade 6; but as the blade a separates from the
blade 6 the said blade a in addition to turning upon the pin or screw d
also slightly advances by a sliding motion upon the blade b, the slot c
moving upon the pin d. This advancing motion of the blade a is effected
by the travelling of the stud e on the inner face of the blade a in the
oblique depression or groove f in the inner face of the blade b. On
closing the scissors the blade a in approaching and covering the blade b
performs a sliding motion in the opposite direction. By this method of
jointing and connecting the blades of the scissors together, the matter
being cut is not merely compressed between the two cutting edges as
they approach one another, but is also subjected to a cutting action by
the sliding of one blade upon the other blade, the said cutting action
being similar to that of drawing a cutting edge over the material
being cut.

page_text: This arrangement of my Invention is represented in front elevation in
Figure 4, cross section in Figure 5, and the blades detached in Figures
6 and 7.
In this arrangement I make the longitudinal slot c and oblique
depression fin the blade a, and the joint pin or screw d and stud e for
respectively working in the said slot and depression in the other blade b.
The joint pin or screw d is shorter than that in the arrangement
Figure 1, and the two blades a, b, are held down upon one another by
the head of the said pin or screw d working upon a shoulder or flange
within the slot c in the blade a, as will be best understood by an 1
examination of the cross section, Figure 5. As the head of the pin or
screw d is situated below the outer face of the blade a the slot c in the
said blade a can be covered by the small plate g, and the entry of dirt
into the said slot thereby prevented.
In jointing large scissors and shears according to my Invention, I 1
prefer to make in place of the oblique depression in one of the blades an
oblique slot, the stud for working in the said oblique slot being made
longer and passing through the said slot, additional strength in jointing
the two blades together is thereby obtained.
Figure 8 represents in edge view, partly in section, a pair of scissors 2
in which an oblique slot is made in the blade & instead of the oblique
depression or groove represented in Figure 1, part of the blade being
represented in section taken through the oblique slot. Figure 9 represents
the inner face of the blade b.
In Figures 8 and 9, e is the stud or pin on the blade a, and fis the 2
oblique slot in the blade 6 in which the stud or pin e works. The head
of the stud or pin e bears on the outside of the blade b, and assists the
joint pin or screw d in holding the blades a, b, together. The joint pin
or screw d and the longitudinal slot in which it works are made in the
manner herein-before described with respect to Figures 1, 2, and 3.
Although I have only represented my improvements as applied to
scissors, yet my said improvements are equally applicable to shears and
all cutting instruments in which the cutting is effected by the opening
and closing of the blades after the manner of scissors.
3
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in 3
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do

page_text: not limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may
be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention, the improvements in scissors, shears, and
other like cutting instruments herein-before described and illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, jointing and connecting
together the blades of the said scissors, shears, and cutting instruments
in the manner described and illustrated, whereby on the opening and
closing of the said scissors or cutting instrument one of the blades in
addition to its motion about a centre is made to slide upon the other
blade, substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Carter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JOHN CARTER. (L.S.)