Iм- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING BOOTS, SHOES, AND KNIVES, APPLICABLE ALSO TO HAIR BRUSHING PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Henry Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd April 1869.
I, GEORGE HENRY ELLIS, of New Barnet, in the County of Hertford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR CLEANING BOOTS, SHOES, AND KNIVES, APPLICABLE
ALSO TO HAIR BRUSHING PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object to provide a simple and complete
machine for cleaning all sizes and kinds of boots and shoes, certain parts
and modifications of which can be applied and adapted for cleaning
knives, and also for hair brushing purposes.
For cleaning boots and shoes I construct the machine as follows:-
I provide a neat base and pedestal or pillar suitable for standing upon a
table, and into this pillar I dispose a vertical shaft having a pulley keyed
thereon with a groove which receives a cord or belt of india-rubber.
I then place a horizontal shaft in a suitable bearing through the centre
of the pillar with a driving wheel and handle at one end made to act
against the pulley and to drive it noiselessly by friction. Upon the

page_text: other end of this shaft I dispose a brush slightly concave upon its
surface, and having a sponge or other pad fixed thereto to receive and
apply blacking to a boot held against it. This brush and pad are
arranged to be easily taken on and off the shaft. Upon the vertical
shaft I dispose a brush or brushes made nearly in the form of a bell
with the smaller diameter downwards. This shape and position I have
found by long practice to suit and fit the surfaces and hollow parts of
boots and to clean them more rapidly and conveniently than any other.
I usually only employ one brush stock, but the lower part has bristles
suitable for a "dirt" brush and the upper and larger portion suitable for
a "polishing" brush, having a space or division between them.
For the purpose of brushing hair the machine is for the most part
constructed substantially as above described, but it has only one "bell"
brush, made suitable for the purpose, mounted upon the vertical shaft.
The brush and shaft are made to slide up and down to suit the height
of any person using the machine, and the pedestal may be made
sufficiently high for the base to stand upon the floor.
When I make the machine for cleaning knives instead of employing
brushes, as above described, I use one or two discs with buff leather or
other suitable cleaning surfaces made in the usual manner. One of
these discs may serve as the working pulley, being acted upon by the
friction driving wheel, or the latter may be dispensed with and the discs
worked direct by a small handle fitted into one of them. I place a stop
in the base at the edge of the discs for the knives to rest against, and
the discs are held and tightened together by means of a thumb nut and
coil spring at the top of the vertical shaft. The machines may be
worked by a foot treadle if required, or when used upon a table india-
rubber feet are fitted to the base to keep them in position.