IMPROVEMENTS IN " AXES
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM CODY KELLY, residing at Louisville, in the County of Jefferson
and State of Kentucky, in the United States of America, gentleman, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
"
AXES and in what
manner the saine is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
My invention has reference to certain new and useful improvements in axes.
The ordinary form of axe is one in which the general configuration is that of a
wedge, with the thickest portion slightly in advance of the socket in which the
handle is inserted, and diminishing quite abruptly in thickness as the cutting edge
is approached.
Great inconvenience is experienced in using this axe on account of the compara-
tively large amount of force necessary to force it into the wood and also from the
tendency to become wedged when deeply embedded in wood, handles being frequently
broken in withdrawing the blade, when it has been driven to any considerable depth
in hard wood.
Also in sharpening the edge after it has become dulled more and more metal has
to be ground away at each successive sharpening.
The object of my invention is to overcome the defects alluded to in the axes of
present manufacture and to so form the cutting blade that it shall be of practically
a uniform thickness for so much of its extent as would be usually available for
grinding and sharpening and embodying also the features hereinafter fully described
of presenting a gradually decreasing extent of surface of the chip or wood being cut
so that with the same amount of force employed it' can be driven deeper into the
wood than an axe as at present made, and the deeper it is driven in, the less will
be the power required to loosen it from the bite. And with these ends in view my
invention consists in forming the axe with the blade of practically a uniform
thickness at that point usually consumed by wear and grinding and beveled from
a central point in the line of juncture between the blade and head, toward the
back and front edges of the blade the line of said taper radiating from its starting
point outwardly on both sides and meeting the edges at the point of juncture with
the cutting edge of the blade as will be fully understood by reference to the
drawing accompanying this specification. In order that those skilled in the art
to which my invention appertains may know how to make my improved axe

page_text: I will now proceed to describe its construction in connection with the accompanying
drawing in which
Fig. 1 represents a side, elevation of an axe-blade made in accordance with my
invention.
3.
Fig. 2 represents a horizontal section taken at line of Fig. 1. and
Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken at the line y-y of Fig. 1.
In the drawing the blade portion of the axe is represented by A and the butt or
head by the letter B. The blank may be made in any suitable manner and similar
to the axe blank at present made except in cross section the blade is made some-
what thinner and of practically a uniform thickness in so much thereof as is liable
to be consumed by ordinary wear in use and grinding or sharpening. The blade is
then ground or otherwise suitably thinned toward the front and back edges and
from a central point where the blade portion and head or butt meet outwardly
toward the edges of the axe so as to form bevels. These bevels begin at the
point named and taper towards the points where the heel and toe of the blade
respectively meet the back and front edges as is clearly indicated by the
letters a, b..
From this construction or form of blade it will be seen that as the metal is
ground away to sharpen the same, the heel and toe instead of as in axes of present,
increasing in thickness are practically the same owing to the uniform thickness of
back and front edges of the blade, resulting from bevels referred to and it will also
be observed that as the blade portion naturally and of necessity thickens up in its
approach to the butt or head the bevels before referred to, traveling or starting
from the lines a, b, approach correspondingly nearer to the center of the blade
hence the deeper the axe enters the wood the less is the surface at its thickest
point, which will be in contact with the wood so that as will be readily see
seen a very
limited rocking motion becomes necessary to loosen the axe and remove the same.
In addition to the qualities of usefulness resulting from the formation described a
generally keen and desirable appearance is given to the instrument by which it
may be readily distinguished from the ordinary or wedge shaped axe of the
market. I have shown the lines a, b, at which the bevels begin as converging and
meeting as the most preferable but it will be understood that the generic feature
of my invention would still be preserved if the converging lines a, b, should be
separated at the top to a greater or less extent and hence I do not wish to
confine myself to so forming the bevels that they shall actually meet at their top
'extremities.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
.I claim is
1. As a new article of manufacture an axe having the blade of a practically
uniform thickness for so much of its extent as would be ordinarily consumed by
wear and grinding, and tapered from a point at or near its center towards the
edges the lines of taper diverging from said point towards the heel and toe of the
cutting edge, substantially as set forth.
2. An axe having the back and front edges of its blade portion practically of
uniform thickness from the points of juncture with the cutting edge to the shank
or butt, substantially as set forth.