AN IMPROVE- MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE FORKS'
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alfred Nicholson, of 10, Chapel Place, Ber-
mondsey, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE FORKS'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th December 1854.
I, JOSEPH ALFRED NICHOLSON, of 10, Chapel Place, Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE FORKS " to
be as follows:-
In the manufacture of table forks as heretofore practised there has at all
times been found considerable difficulty in keeping the interior parts of the
teeth clean, by reason of the difficulty of passing a cloth in the spaces between
the neighbouring teeth, and this arises from the circumstance of the interior
parts of the teeth being relatively of considerable thickness when compared
with the width of the spaces between the neighbouring teeth of a fork;
and my improvement consists of forming the interior parts of the teeth of
table forks in such manner that each tooth or prong may come to or termi-
nate in a line or single edge at its inner parts, by which the act of wiping a
table fork with a cloth may, by the cloth touching all parts of the surfaces,
cleanse the inner as well as the front and back parts of such a fork.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
ALFRED NICHOLSON, of 10, Chapel Place, Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Alfred Nicholson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, 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 IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE
FORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Alfred
Nicholson, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
In the manufacture of table forks as heretofore practised there has at all
times been found considerable difficulty in keeping the interior parts of the
teeth clean by reason of the difficulty of passing a cloth in the spaces between
the neighbouring teeth, and this arises from the circumstance of the interior
parts of the teeth being relatively of considerable thickness when compared
with the width of the spaces between the neighbouring teeth of a fork;
and my improvement consists of forming the interior parts of the teeth of
table forks in such manner that each tooth or prong may come to or terminate
in a line or single edge at its inner parts, by which the act of wiping a table
fork with a cloth may, by the cloth touching all parts of the surfaces, cleanse
the inner as well as the front and back parts of such a fork.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a section of a fork constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 2 shows a front view of the same; Figure 3, a section, taken across
the dotted lines (1), 2); and Figure 4 shows a back view of the fork. The
teeth are made with inclined or bevilled sides, in such manner that the inclines
come to a comparatively thin edge on each side of each tooth, and the parts
a, a, at the upper ends of the prongs or teeth; and the inner sides of the teeth
are inclined or bevilled off at the front and back, so as to come to a com-
paratively thin edge, as shewn by the Drawing. By this construction of table
and desert forks, no dirt can remain between the teeth of a fork after the
teeth or prongs have been well wiped at the front and at the back. I may
here remark that it will not in wiping a fork be necessary to pass a cloth
through the spaces between the prongs or teeth, as the simple act of pressing
a folded cloth against the front and the back of a fork by the finger and thumb
will be sufficient to cleanse all parts of each prong or tooth, if the prongs or
teeth of the fork be drawn between the folded cloth, or if the cloth be moved
up and down by the finger and thumb.
I have shewn the angular forms to the sides of the teeth, which I prefer,
but I do not confine myself to the precise forms, so long as the sides and
upper ends of the teeth be made each to come to a single line, or comparatively
thin edge, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH A. NICHOLSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
F. FLEURET,
Proprietaire de l'Hotel Windsor,
Rue de Rivoli, Paris,
1ro Juin, 1855.

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Alfred Nicholson, of 10, Chapel Place, Ber-
mondsey, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE FORKS."
Sealed the 27th February 1855, and dated the 9th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th December 1854.
I, JOSEPH ALFRED NICHOLSON, of 10, Chapel Place, Bermondsey, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE FORKS
be as follows:-
In the manufacture of table forks as heretofore practised there has at all
times been found considerable difficulty in keeping the interior parts of the
teeth clean, by reason of the difficulty of passing a cloth in the spaces between
the neighbouring teeth, and this arises from the circumstance of the interior
parts of the teeth being relatively of considerable thickness when compared
with the width of the spaces between the neighbouring teeth of a fork;
and my improvement consists of forming the interior parts of the teeth of
table forks in such manner that each tooth or prong may come to or termi-
nate in a line or single edge at its inner parts, by which the act of wiping a
table fork with a cloth may, by the cloth touching all parts of the surfaces,
cleanse the inner as well as the front and back parts of such a fork.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPHI
ALFRED NICHOLSON, of 10, Chapel Place, Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Alfred Nicholson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, 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 IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DINNER AND DESERT OR TABLE
FORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Alfred
Nicholson, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
In the manufacture of table forks as heretofore practised there has at all
times been found considerable difficulty in keeping the interior parts of the
teeth clean by reason of the difficulty of passing a cloth in the spaces between
the neighbouring teeth, and this arises from the circumstance of the interior
parts of the teeth being relatively of considerable thickness when compared
with the width of the spaces between the neighbouring teeth of a fork;
and my improvement consists of forming the interior parts of the teeth of
table forks in such manner that each tooth or prong may come to or terminate
in a line or single edge at its inner parts, by which the act of wiping a table
fork with a cloth may, by the cloth touching all parts of the surfaces, cleanse
the inner as well as the front and back parts of such a fork.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a section of a fork constructed according to my Invention;
Figure 2 shows a front view of the same; Figure 3, a section, taken across
the dotted lines (1), 2); and Figure 4 shows a back view of the fork. The
teeth are made with inclined or bevilled sides, in such manner that the inclines
come to a comparatively thin edge on each side of each tooth, and the parts
a, a, at the upper ends of the prongs or teeth; and the inner sides of the teeth
are inclined or bevilled off at the front and back, so as to come to a com-
paratively thin edge, as shewn by the Drawing. By this construction of table
and desert forks, no dirt can remain between the teeth of a fork after the
teeth or prongs have been well wiped at the front and at the back. I may
here remark that it will not in wiping a fork be necessary to pass a cloth
through the spaces between the prongs or teeth, as the simple act of pressing
a folded cloth against the front and the back of a fork by the finger and thumb
will be sufficient to cleanse all parts of each prong or tooth, if the prongs or
teeth of the fork be drawn between the folded cloth, or if the cloth be moved
up and down by the finger and thumb.
I have shewn the angular forms to the sides of the teeth, which I prefer,
but I do not confine myself to the precise forms, so long as the sides and
upper ends of the teeth be made each to come to a single line, or comparatively
thin edge, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Alfred Nicholson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JOSEPH A. NICHOLSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
F. FLEURET,
Proprietaire de l'Hotel Windsor,
Rue de Rivoli, Paris,
10 Juin, 1855.