IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEARS OR PRUNERS FOR PRUNING TREES, AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Ault at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd June 1880.
SAMUEL AULT, of Bridgtown Cannock, in the County of Stafford, Grocer and
Provision Dealer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHEARS OR PRUNERS FOR PRUNING TREES,
AND FOR OTHER LIKE PURPOSES."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein after described in shears or
pruners for pruning trees, cutting hedges, and for effecting other like operations.
Shears or pruners constructed according to my Invention are compact and
very efficient in action, and they possess, many advantages over ordinary shears or
pruners.
In ordinary shears or pruners two crossing cutting blades jointed together are
used, the said blades being furnished with long handles or levers.
The essence of my Invention consists in so constructing the parts of the shears
or pruners that one of the blades or cutters is stationary, and the other made
capable of sliding upon the stationary blade for effecting the shearing or pruning
operation.
I construct a pruner or shears according to my Invention in the following
manner:
I make the fixed or stationary part of the instrument of a long bar of steel,
having at one end the fixed cutting blade, which is made of a hook shape. The
other end of this bar is provided with a handle for holding the instrument during
use. Upon the said fixed bar a nearly similar bar slides, the sliding bar having
at one end a cutting blade, which works closely upon the fixed blade described.
The sliding blade is connected near one end to the fixed blade by a screw pin fixed
by a nut on the said fixed blade taking into a longitudinal slot in the sliding
blade. The outer or handle end of the bar carrying the sliding blade is made into
a rack, which works in a hollow bracket secured to the fixed bar. In the said
bracket is a pinion, which gears with the said rack. By means of a handle on the
pinion it may be moved through the required angle, and a backward and forward
motion given to the rack bar and to the sliding blade connected to it.
The handle of the pinion besides serving to move the sliding blade also serves in
supporting the instrument during use.
Instead of working the pinion by a handle the axis of the pinion may be
prolonged through the bracket, and a hand wheel be placed upon the prolonged
Axia

page_text: When the sliding blade is worn its position may be adjusted on the fixed blade
by adjusting the position of its rack bar with respect to the pinion engaging with
it. The sliding blade of the instrument is readily removed for sharpening, and
replaced after sharpening.
"
When the pruning or shearing is to be effected at a considerable elevation I
modify the parts for working the sliding blade in the following way:-
I provide the fixed blade with a long handle, and I connect to the sliding blade
a screw, which turns in a screw box on the fixed blade. Motion is communicated
to the screw for working the sliding blade by means of a strong wire or rod fixed
to the screw passing through eyes or loops on the long fixed handle of the instru-
ment, the said wire or rod terminating in a hand wheel or handle. By rotating
the hand wheel or handle the screw may be made to move in either direction
in its screw box, and slide the moveable blade to or from the cutting edge of the
fixed blade.