AN APPARATUS FOR CUTTING BREAD OR BREAD AND BUTTER
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Berry, of 4, Willow Place, Stamford Hill,
1.
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN APPARATUS FOR
CUTTING BREAD OR BREAD AND BUTTER."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Berry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st March 1865.
I, WILLIAM BERBY, of 4, Willow Place, Stamford Hill, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
APPARATUS FOR CUTTING BREAD OR BREAD AND BUTTER," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in a box with a moveable bottom working
freely within it, on which the bread is placed and forced up, according to the
thickness of bread or bread and butter to be cut, by a spring or other
A knife attached to the box containing the bread or an
ordinary table knife may be used for cutting.
suitable means.
Secondly, above or on one side of the box containing the bread, and
attached to it by a hinge or pivot, is a box furnished with a perforated bottom,"
through which the requisite quantity of butter for each piece of bread is forced
by a screw or lever pressing upon a cover resting on the butter: If the butter
box is used above the bread, the butter may be pressed upon it and spread
with the knife; when the butter box is used at the side the butter is taken
from the perforations with the knife and spread on the bread. Should the

page_text: butter box be used above the bread it may be thrown back and removed, if
bread only is to be cut. A lever or spring may be attached to the bread or
butter box to remove the bread when cut. The box containing the butter
may be warmed in winter and cooled in summer by hot or cold water, ice,
or other means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Berry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BERRY, of 4, Willow Place, Stamford Hill, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Berry, Her special licence that I, the said William
Berry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Berry, 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. APPA-
RATUS FOR CUTTING BREAD OR BREAD AND BUTTER," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Berry, my. executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Berry, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has for its objects facilitating the cutting of loaves of bread
into slices, of any requisite thickness, and spreading butter by mechanical
means on the bread to be so cut, and my said Invention consists, firstly, of a
:

page_text: box open at its upper end, and having a moveable bottom or platform working
freely within it. The loaf to be cut is supported by this platform, which is
raised by means of a spring, or a rack and pinion, or other suitable means, to
such a height as to cause the portion of the loaf which it is wished to cut off,
to project above the sides of the box.
÷
My Invention consists, secondly, of a butter box having a perforated bottom,
through the perforations in which any required quantity of butter is forced on
to each slice of the bread to be cut, the forcing of the butter through the said
perforations being effected by a plunger pressed upon by or affixed to a screw
or lever. This box may be carried, by rails affixed to the bread box, capable
of being so adjusted thereon as to support the butter box at such a height as
to allow of the contact of its lower edges with the slice of bread to be cut.
In this case the required amount of butter having been deposited on the
bread, the box is slidden along the rails out of the way of the knife used for
cutting the bread the spreading of the butter being effected by one of the
edges of the box, as the same passes over the surface of the loaf; or the said
box may be attached to the box containing the bread by means of a vertical
or horizontal hinge. If the butter box turn on a vertical hinge, the turning
back of the said box will cause its edge to spread the butter on the bread
but if the said box turn on a horizoutal hinge the butter may be pressed on
the bread, and when the said box has been turned back be spread on the
bread with the knife, or the box may be turned back so as to bring its
perforated bottom uppermost, and the butter may be taken therefrom and
spread with the knife.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which I prefer to carry the same into effect, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of one arrangement of the apparatus
constituting my Invention; Figure 2 is a section of the same, taken on the
line x, Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan (partly in section, taken on the line y,
Figure 2,) of the bread box; and Figure 4 is a plan (partly in section, taken
on the line 2, Figure 2,) of the butter box, and the rails on which it slides.
The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures.
A is a box containing the moveable bottom or platform B, on which the
loaf C is supported, the said loaf being steadied by springs a', a'. The said
platform is affixed to a plate D, the parts d',d', of which slide in grooves a², a²,
in the sides of the box A, and rest on an axle E provided with ratchet wheels
e, e, and pinions e², e, which latter gear with racks F, F, fixed to the box: A

page_text: Pawls de, d², turning on pins d³, d³, carried by the side plates dª, dª, engage
with the teeth of the wheels e¹, e', and thereby keep the axle E in any position
into which it may be brought by the turning of the winch G; H, H, are rails'
on which the butter box I is supported by slides J, J. These rails are
connected by the bar H', which is formed with a vertical arm H. This arm
passes through a staple H³ screwed to the box A, and may be adjusted to any
required height by means of a screw h having a milled head. The upper-
part of the butter box I is preferably of a circular form, and has a plunger
working within it. The lower part of the said box may be square or oblong,
and is provided with a perforated bottom . K is the cover of the box, which
has lugs or projections A, A, which engage (after the manner of a bayonet
fastening) with similar lugs &,, formed on the box I. L is a screw, which
is keyed to the plunger, and passes through the screw box l, which turns in
a collar formed on the cover K, the said screw box being retained in the
said collar by screwed pins k³, k³, which pass through the collar I, and engage
in a groove in the said screw box.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-The butter box being adjusted
above the top of the bread box, at a distance corresponding with the thickness
of the slice of bread to be cut, the loaf C is raised by means of the winch G,
and racks F, F, and pinions e², e, until its upper surface comes into contact
with the lower edges of the butter box I. The screw box l'is then turned by
its milled head, and the screw L and the plunger attached thereto are
thereby depressed, and a certain portion of butter is forced through the
perforations in the bottom of the box I on to the bread. The box I is
then slidden back so as to be out of the way of the knife, during which motion
the butter deposited on the bread is spread evenly over it by the lower edge
of the said box as it passes over the surface of the bread, such edge being
bevilled as shown. The knife is then passed through the bread in the direction
shown by the arrow, being guided in its motion by the upper edges of the
box A. When the platform B has arrived at the upper part of the box A,
and another loaf is to be inserted, the pawls d2, d, are lifted off the ratchet
wheels e', e', when the said platform can be lowered by turning the winch G
in the reverse direction. When the slices of bread to be cut are not required
to bave butter spread thereon, the butter box and rails by which it is carried
may be removed. The platform B inay be supported on and raised by a
belical spring or helical springs, in which case the racks, pinions, and ratchet
wheels herein-before described are dispensed with, and apparatus is affixed to
the box A for the purpose of arresting the motion of the platform when it has
been raised to a sufficient height. This apparatus may consist of springs

page_text: affixed to the inside of the said box, so as to clip the loaf, or of pawls affixed
to the said platform, which engage with the teeth of vertical ratchets fixed to
the said box, the said springs or pawls being held back (when it is wished to
raise the loaf) by knobs, the stems of which pass through slots in the sides of
the said box.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein-before described and repre-
sented, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of
my said Invention; but I claim as my Invention,-
Firstly, apparatus for facilitating the cutting of bread into slices of any
required thickness, the said apparatus consisting of a box, in which the bread
to be cut is supported by a moveable platform, which is raised by means of
racks and pinions or a spring or other suitable means to the required height,
the portion of the loaf which is to be cut off projecting above the top of the
box, the edges of which form a guide for the knife, as herein-before described.
Secondly, apparatus for depositing butter on the bread to be cut, the said
apparatus consisting of a box having a fixed perforated bottom, through the
perforations in which the butter is forced by a moveable plunger, whether the
subsequent spreading of the butter be effected by the sliding of the box in
the manner described or otherwise.
In witness whereof I, the said William Berry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
5
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
7, Staple Inn.
W. BERRY. (L.S.)