IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
GREAVES, of Radford Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer
of Knives and Forks, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eleventh day of June, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francis
Greaves, Her especial licence, that I, the said Francis Greaves, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Greaves, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES AND FORKS;" in which said Letters Patent
is contained a proviso obliging me, the said Francis Greaves, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said' proviso, I, the said
Francis Greaves, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention to consist
in fastening the handles of knives and forks to their blades and tangs by
means of a detached bolster for a knife or fork, with a socket at one end made
of thin metal, which I can press into a groove or cavity, or over a rim or

page_text: projection on the handle, so as to hold it on to the handle of the said knife
or fork, while the other end is furnished with a socket of strong metal to
which the blade of the said knife or fork is to be attached. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Francis Greaves, do hereby
describe the manner in which my said Invention is to be performed, by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan, and Figure 2 a side elevation in section of one of my
said detached bolsters, drawn of full size, for a small table knife; and Figure
3 is a plan, and Figure 4 a side elevation in section of one of my said
detached bolsters, drawn also of full size, for a small table fork. By these
Figures it will be seen, as before described, that my said detached bolster
consists of a thin metal socket below, and marked A, and a thick metal socket
above, and marked B; this socket B is for the knife blade to be fastened to,
and it will be seen that my upper socket B is a long grove with an aperture in
the centre for the tang to pass through, while a conical hole serves for the
upper socket B, for the fork blade to be secured to and for the tang at the
same time to pass through the lower sockets, A being in both cases alike.
This kind of bolster, it will be observed, admits of any form required for
improving the balance of the blades, which is a very important object to
be attained. Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are for explaining the mode of apply-
ing my said bolsters to knives, and Figures 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, the mode
of applying them to forks. Figure 5 is a plain knife blade, which with my
kind of bolster may be made in one piece, tang and all, of steel, thereby doing
away with the iron bolster mark in the blade, the absence of which is
always considered an improvement in knives. Figure 6 is a handle prepared
to receive my said bolster by having a groove round it at C, where it enters
the lower socket A of the bolster. Figure 7 represents the knife blade seen
edgeways, soldered into the straight groove of the bolster, and the tang placed
into the hole bored for it and resined in in the usual manner, but before the
thin metal socket A has been pressed or hammered into the groove C.
Figure 8 represents the same knife, also seen edgeways, after the socket A has
been pressed into the groove C, and in both these two last described Figures
the handle is shewn in section, the better to explain the Invention; but
Figure 9 represents a side view of the knife complete. The remaining Figures
10, 11, 12, 13, and 14, form a similar series with reference to forks, and
similar letters being used to denote similar parts, wherever they occur, no
further description of the Figures will be necessary.
'

page_text: Now whereas the blades may be fastened to the thick metal upper sockets B
by rivetting as well as soldering, and the blades need not of necessity be made
of all steel for the purposes of my said Invention, though it affords the manu-
facturer the opportunity, option, or advantage of so making them. And
whereas my said detached bolster may be made of any suitable metal, and
plain or ornamented, and the handles may be fastened to the thin metal lower
sockets A by pressing them in a mould made for the purpose, or by hammering
them round, or by hand pressure with a tool or otherwise. But whereas I
claim as my Invention the detached bolster aforesaid with a thick metal upper
socket B, and a thin metal under socket A, attached to the blade of a knife
or fork by soldering or rivetting to the former, and attached to the handle by
means of a groove or projection on the same, which can pass into the said
latter or thin metal lower socket A, and into or over which the said thin
metal is pressed or forced, as aforesaid, in order to fix the said blade firmly to
the handle. And such my said Invention being, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, entirely new, and never before used within that part of Her said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, Her
said Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, I do hereby
declare this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
this my said Specification doth comply in all respects fully, and without
reserve or disguise, with the proviso in the said herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent contained. Wherefore, I do hereby claim to maintain exclu-
sive right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Greaves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Seventh day of December, One thousand eight
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventh day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1840, the said Francis Greaves came before our said
Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.