IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1867

page_text: of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th August,
1867. Partly a communication from abroad by Frederick Jeremiah
Miller, of Brooklyn, in the State of New York, United States of
America.
I, WILLIAM JOHN MILLER, of New York, in the United States of America,,
now residing at Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TABLE KNIVES
AND FORKS," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists, firstly, in. attaching the blades of table knives
to their handles by means of a bolster formed of two parallel plates between
which the end of the ivory [or other handle is inserted, the bolster being
secured to the handle by rivets passing through the handle from one plate of
the bolster to the other. That part of the handle on which the bolster fits
may be reduced in thickness and the bolster fitted against the shoulder formed,
or the bolster may be fixed on the end of the handle without reducing the
thickness of the handle. Instead of making the bolster only clip the end of
the handle the open sides of the bolster may be partly closed so as to form a
cup-like recess, into which the extreme end of the handle fits. This part of
the Invention may also be applied to tuble forks.
The said Invention consists, secondly, in-making-the-bolsters-of-table-knives--
of German silver or some other hard metal or alloy-other than iron or steel,
and attaching the said bolsters to the steel blades by brazing or hard soldering,
so that in the subsequent operations of hardening and tempering the blade the

page_text: bard soldering or brazing of the bolster will not be affected. The said bolsters
may be made in one piece by the process of casting, or they may be made in
two pieces by the process of stamping. In the latter case a projecting piece
is formed on the end of the blade, on either side of which the halves of the
bolster are brazed or hard soldered. By the improvements described the
blade is firmly connected to the handle, and the splitting and discolouration of
the handle when made of ivory are avoided. This part of the Invention may
also be applied to table forks.
The said Invention consists, thirdly, of the following improvements in the
manufacture of metallic handles for table knives and forks. The said handles
are usually made of two stamped metallic shells placed edge to edge and
soldered together. Handles thus made are wanting in strength, and are easily
injured. In making metallic handles according to the said Invention a
strengthening plate is inserted in the handle, the said plate occupying or nearly
occupying the plane in which the two sbells are soldered together. The said
strengthening plate is provided with a flange on its edge, on which flange the
two edges of the shells meet when the parts are put together, and the brazing
or soldering process unites the edges of the shells with the flange on the
strenghtening plate, and great rigidity is thereby given to the handle. Instead
of the strengthening plate described a bent wire or frame of sheet metal
having the configuration of the handle may be introduced within the shells, and
the shells brazed or soldered thereto; or the edge of the handle may be made
of bent wire or of a frame of sheet metal, the edges of the sides of the handle
being brazed or soldered thereto, leaving the edge of the wire or frame
exposed. The edges of the sides of the handle may be finished by filing or
otherwise.