IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY KNIFE- CLEANING AND POLISHING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Kent, of High Holborn, in the County
of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROTARY KNIFE-
CLEANING AND POLISHING MACHINES."
Sealed the 24th May 1870, and dated the 12th January 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said George Kent at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Declaration,
on the 12th January 1870, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE:
KENT, of High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
IMPROVEMENTS
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "
IN ROTARY KNIFE-CLEANING AND POLISHING MACHINES," and have petitioned
Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns
Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made solemn
Declaration that I am the true and first Inventor thereof.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Kent, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,

page_text: fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:-
This Invention relates to rotary knife-cleaning and polishing machines,
and consists of the improvements in their construction herein-after
described, which improvements have for their object, first, to limit the
adjustment of the junction of the cleaning and polishing faces of,
the discs to the centre line of the knife holes in the drum; secondly,
to provide supports between the said working faces of the discs for
supporting the backs of the blades of the knives, lessening the strain
upon their handles, and preserving the latter from wear during the
cleaning and polishing operations: And thirdly, to provide a better
external stay or support for the handles, preserving the edges of the
blades from injury when the knives are being put into and taken out
of such machines, and also preventing that unequal wearing of the
blades which occasionally arises from placing the knife, during the first
part of each operation, in exactly the same position in the machine,
namely, with the bolster of the handle of the knife upon the top instead
of against the side or face of the present external stay.
For effecting the first-mentioned improvement I fix a rigid or spring
collar or stop in the centre or midway between the journals of the
feathered shaft upon which the discs are mounted, or I elongate the outer
ends of the said feathers and cut the same and the slots in the sliding
collars to a gauge. The length of the central stop is regulated by the
distance at which the discs are ultimately to work at or be kept apart
at the inside faces of their bosses. The length of each elongated feather,
and also the length of the slot in each of the sliding collars, are regulated
by the distance which the discs are ultimately to slide:
" For effecting the second improvement I form steel or hard metal.
tongue-shaped stops, which dip edgewise between the discs at their
peripheries.
For effecting the third improvement I dispense with the present
external handle stay, and substitute therefor a hollow standard, at the
top of which I fit a roller. This standard, the hollow side of
which is placed next to the knife hole in the drum, is made of sufficient
height to receive that portion of the blade which usually stands out of
the machine, during the first part of the operation; within the hollow

page_text: and under the roller, the periphery of which presents a moving instead
of a fixed surface to the edge of the knife.
The accompanying Drawing to which the following explanation applies
is intended to further illustrate my improvements:—
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
.
Fig. 1 shews the improved shaft, as fitted with a centre stop; Fig. 1*,
the same shaft with the outer ends of the feathers elongated and fitted.
with the improved sliding collars. a is the centre stop, which may be.a,
fixed and rigid collar, or a volute spring of the same length when closed,
as the rigid collar; b, b', the improved sliding, collars; c, c¹, the
elongated feathers; d, d', the adjusted slots. The limited sliding motion.
of the discs, from their normal to their ultimate positions, is shewn by
the space between the solid black lines 1, 1, 1, 1, and dotted lines 2, 2, 2, 2.
It will be seen that the space between the ends of the elongated feathers
and ends of the adjusted slots and the space above mentioned are equal,
so that when the sliding collars are forced forward to their full extent,
or the bosses of the discs f,f, come in contact with the ends of the
centre stop, all further forward motion of the discs will be thereby
arrested, and the junction of their working faces indicated by the
lines g, g, will be exactly under the centre line of the knife holes in
the drum. This result may be obtained by either of the improvements
singly.
Fig. 2 shews a front and side elevation of the blade support, and
Fig. 3 an inverted plan thereof; g is the face, against which the back
of the knife is supported. I make this face straight or curved, and
round off the lower point or edge, as shewn at Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 shews,à front elevation of the improved handle rest, and Fig. 5:
a plan view thereof. h is the hollow standard, and i, the roller; j is an
opening formed by cutting away the metal, as here shewn. The roller i
will rotate, should the edge of the knife touch it when passing up or
down.
Fig. 6 shews the blade support and improved handle rest, as fixed
with a knife k, in about the position in which it will usually be placed
when commencing the cleaning and polishing operations, from which
position it may be afterwards lowered to that shewn at l. As the discs
are turned the blade rests against the polished face of the support m,

page_text: .
while the handle k rests against the periphery of the roller i. It will
be seen that as there is no stop to enable the operator to fix the exact
position of the knife, as is the case in the present form of rest, when
inserting it in the machine; this position will constantly vary, and tlius
the unequal wearing of the blade will be prevented. To prevent carving
knives from being inserted except when the rotary discs are in the proper
position a suspended stop or drop plate which covers the carving knife
hole is fitted inside the drum; this stop is moved laterally and held
clear of the hole by contact with a projection on the periphery of
one of the discs while the latter are in the required position. To
prevent the rotary discs from being turned in the wrong direction a stop
which consists of an eccentric toothed ratchet is substituted for the
ordinary ratchet stop.
Without confining myself to the exact shapes and dimensions of the
stops, collars, blade supports, and handle rests shewn upon the Drawing
I claim,―
"
First. The improvement in the shaft for limiting the sliding motion
of the discs.
· Secondly. The blade support inside the machine and improved handle
rest outside the machine, and the uses and applications of the same
respectively, singly, and in combination, and also their application in
whole or in part to such machines.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Kent, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.