IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FASTENING THE HANDLES OF TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew,
and William Henry Andrew, trading under the style or firm of
George Butler and Company, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Cutlery Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MODE OF FASTENING THE HANDLES OF TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry George
Rowe, Albert George Andrew, and William Henry Andrew at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
. on the 7th June 1853.
We, HENRY GEORGE ROWE, ALBERT GEORGE ANDREW, and WILLIAM
HENRY ANDREW, trading under the style or firm of George Butler and
Company, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Cutlery Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MODE OF FASTENING THE HANDLES OF TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS" to
be as follows:-
The tang, or part of the knife or fork that fits into the handle, is
made fully as wide as the handle, flat, and from about half an inch
to one inch in length; the handle is prepared for the reception of the

page_text: tang by having a groove or slit cut therein by a circular saw or other
instrument; a ferule is then fixed on the handle, and the tang driven
tightly into the groove or slit, which, when enclosed by the ferule, forms
a mortice; the handles are firmly secured by rivets or pins driven
through the ferule and tang. This Invention embraces the short flat
tang, and the grooving in lieu of drilling the handles; it precludes the
necessity of using resin for fastening the handles, or lead for balancing
them. The ferule is an old feature, and is only claimed here in com-
bination with the new parts set forth.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew,
and William Henry Andrew, in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 7th December 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
HENRY GEORGE ROWE, ALBERT GEORGE ANDREW, and WILLIAM HENRY
ANDREW, trading under the style or firm of George Butler and Com-
pany, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Cutlery Manufacturers, send
greeting.
year of
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of June, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto them, the said Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew,
and William Henry Andrew, Her special licence that they, the said
Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew, and William Henry
Andrew, their executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as they, the said Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew, and
William Henry Andrew, their 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF FASTENING THE
HANDLES OF TABLE KNIVES AND Fовкs" upon the condition (amongst

page_text: others) that they, the 'said Henry George Rowe, Albert George Andrew,
and William Henry Andrew, by an instrument in writing under their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 we, the said Henry George Rowe, Albert
George Andrew, and William Henry Andrew, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):
Our Invention consists in the combination of a short flat tang and
an ordinary ferule in lieu of the long tang at present in use; and in.
order to explain our said Invention we will proceed to describe the best
means we are acquainted with for carrying our said Invention into
practical effect, reference being made to the illustrative Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference
marked thereon respectively, as follows:
Figure 1, exhibits a side view, and. Figure 2, a longitudinal section
of a table knife constructed according to our said Invention. Figure 3,
shews a section of the handle grooved.
The tang (a), or part of the knife or fork that fits into the handle, is
made flat to correspond in width with the thickness or the breadth of
the handle, as the case may be, whether the transverse or the longi-
tudinal line of axes of the cross section be adopted as the direction of
the groove or slit (b,) cut in the handle for the reception of the tang;
the groove or slit (b,) is cut, by means of a circular saw or other instru-
ment, in such manner that the tang fits tightly into it; the ferule (c,)
may be either let into the handle flush or with a projection, so that
when driven on the handle it converts the groove a slit (b,) into a
mortice; the tang (a,) is then driven into the mortice so formed, and
secured by rivets (d,) driven through it and through the ferule and
cheeks of the mortice.
The advantages of our Invention are, that by the adoption of the
combination of parts set forth and represented the necessity of drilling

page_text: the handle for a long tang, and thereby weakening it, as at present
practised, is removed, and the blade of the knife or prongs of the
fork are firmly secured in the handle without being dependent on resin,
so that immersion in boiling water, or the ordinary strains to which
such articles are subject, will not affect them.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be and may be performed, we desire it to be
distinctly understood that, with the exception of the short tang (a,) and
the groove (b), we do not claim the exclusive use of any of the separate
parts which enter into the combination of the articles made in con-
formity with our improvements, but in so far as they may be employed
for the purposes of our said Invention, which we hereby declare to
consist in, and we claim, as of our Invention of "Improvements in the
Mode of Fastening the Handles of Table Knives and Forks," the manu-
facturing of knives and forks in the manner herein-before particularly
described, set forth, and represented by the illustrative Drawings
hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry George Rowe, Albert
George Andrew, and William Henry Andrew, have hereunto
set our hands and seals, this Second day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
HENRY GEORGE ROWE
WILLIAM HENRY ANDREW. (L.S.)
Signed and scaled by the said
Henry George Rowe, Albert
George Andrew, and William
Henry Andrew in the pre-
sence of
T. F. CASHIN, C.E.,
Highway Buildings,
Sheffield.