AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTO IN THE MANIFACERDE AF KETERS THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Reeves, junior, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTO IN THE MANIFACERDE AF KETERS"
Sealed the 16th April 1853, and dated the 18th October 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Reeves
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 18th October 1852.
I, CHARLES REKVES, junior, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF KNIVES" to be as follows :—
i
...I.claim the right of rolling knives of various kinds with bolsters,
the method adopted being as follows:-I take pieces of steel of such
shape as are suitable to form the bolsters of the blade intended to be
made. I pass such pieces or bars of steel through. rolls' having either.
plain 'surfaces or with grooves, and with holes or spaces cut in them. at
suitable distances, so that when they meet in the revolution of the rolls
they shape the steel into a form suitable for the bolster of the blade.
The spaces in the rolls vary in their distances and sizes, according-to
the length and width of the blade. The bars.are then cut into lengths;

page_text: heated in a furnace, and then passed through the rolls transversely, to
draw it out to the required width and thickness, grooves being cut in
the rolls of such form as will make the bolster of the blade of the
required shape, or nearly so, and at the same time marking the place
for and commencing the process of tanging.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.
filed by the said Charles Reeves in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th April 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
CHARLES REEVES, junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
'WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ITer
Letters Patent. bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Reeves. Her special licence that
J. the said Charles Reeves, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Charles Reeves, 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 Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
1. the said Charles Reeves, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Reeves, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: said bar being kept parallel to the axes of the said rolls, by which
treatment that portion of the said bar intended to form the blade of the
knife is still further flattened out, and the said bar is made to assume
the shape represented in Figure 5, the grooves y, in the rolls, Figure 4,
and the parts h, in the said rolls, still further improving the shape of
the bolster i, and tang k, Figure 5; the knives are then finished by the
ordinary or any convenient process.
"Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not limit myself to the exact method of carrying my
Invention into effect, herein described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from
the nature of my said Invention. But I claim the forming or partly
forming the blades, bolsters, and tangs of knives by the process of
rolling.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Reeves, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM WHITE.
CHARLES REEVES, J* (L.S.)

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say): "
. My Invention consists of a method herein-after particularly described
of forming or partly forming the blades of knives by the process of
rolling, the bolsters and tangs of the said knives being also formed or
partly formed at the same time by the said process of rolling. I take
pieces or bars of steel of any convenient length, and of a breadth and
thickness somewhat greater than the breadth and thickness of the
bolsters intended to be produced; I put the said bars of steel in a
heated state through the rolls, partly represented in front elevation in
Figure 1. The said rolls have, plain or cylindrical faces, excepting that
at intervals depressions a, a, are made in the said rolls, the distance
of the said depressions from each other, as well as their size, depending
upon the size of the knives to be produced. One of the rolls has a
collar. as shown at b; in the lower roll the said rolls are geared
together, so that in their rotation the depressions a, in the upper roll
are always presented to the depressions a, in the lower roll. By passing
the said licated bar of steel through the said olls the said bar is
rolled into the shape represented in edge view in Figure 2. and in plan
in Figure 3; that is to say, the said bar is flattened out and diminished
in thickness, excepting in those parts which were presented to the
depressions a, a, and which said parts are intended to form the bolster
of the knife: the said flattened parts are marked c, in Figures 2, and.
3, and the parts not affected by the rolls are marked d, in the said
Figures 2, and 3. A stop or guide c, shown in section in Figure 1, is
fixed near to the opposed surfaces of the rolls and against the collar b,
of the lower roll, to serve as a guide to the bar of steel, and to deter-
mine that the amount of flattening out of the said bar on one side
thereof shall not exceed the thickness of the said stop or guide (sec
Figure 3), the greater part of the said flattening out occurring on the
other side of the said har. The bars, Figures 2, and 3, are then cut
into lengths at the places marked f, in Figure 3, and being again
heated are passed through the rolls partly represented in elevation in
Figure 4, the said bars being passed through the said rolls in the
manner illustrated in Figure 4, that is to say, the longer axis of the