IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING KNIVES."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Leonard Appleton, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County
of Middlesex, Accountant, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING KNIVES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Leonard Appleton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st March 1881.
.
LEONARD APPLETON, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Accountant. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
KNIVES,"
This Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of apparatus
for cleaning knives suitable for being worked by hand, foot, or by power, whereby
greater simplicity of construction and efficiency of action are obtained, whilst
facility is afforded for cleaning a greater number of knives at one and the same
operation than by the arrangements hitherto adopted.
According to this Invention the blades of the knives to be cleaned are laid flat
side by side, and held stationary upon a suitable fixed bed or supporting surface,
the upper surfaces of the blades being cleaned by the action of one or more flat
rubbing surfaces clothed with bristles, leather, felt, or other suitable material, to
which a rapid reciprocating or vibrating motion transversely to the blades is
imparted by a crank or cranks or their equivalent, actuated by hand, foot, or power
of any kind. The rubber or rubbers is or are pressed down onto the blades by
adjustable or other springs or by weights, and the blades are disposed. parallel to
each other across the bed, by preference back to back. The knives are held in a
convenient frame or holder, and when one side of the series is cleaned, the whole
of them may be withdrawn and replaced in a reverse position at one operation, so
as to subject the opposite sides to the action of the vibratory rubber or rubbers, or
each knife may be withdrawn and reversed separately if desired. In order to
avoid any extra wear at the backs or thicker portions of the blades, the latter may,
if desired, be placed in transverse grooves or channels in the bed so formed as that
the upper sides of the several blades disposed therein shall present an even and level
surface for the rubber or rubbers to operate upon. Or the supporting bed may be
composed of metal or other suitable material covered or not as required with
leather, felt, or other yielding substance, to permit of the blades bedding themselves
more or less therein when under the action of the rubber or rubbers. A removeable
cover or casing enclosing the rubber or rubbers may be provided if desired, and
provision made for the automatic or other supply of any suitable cleaning powder
to the rubbing surfaces.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Leonard Appleton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st September 1881.
LEONARD APPLETON, of Brecknock Crescent, in the County of Middlesex,
Accountant. " IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING
KNIVES."
My said Invention relates to a peculiar construction and arrangement of apparatus
for cleaning knives suitable for being worked by hand, foot, or by power, whereby
greater simplicity of construction and efficiency of action are obtained, whilst
facility is afforded for cleaning a greater number of knives at one and the same
operation than by the arrangements heretofore adopted.
According to this Invention the blades of the knives to be cleaned are laid flat
side by side, and held stationary upon a suitable fixed bed or supporting surface,
the upper surfaces of the blades being cleaned by the action of one or more flat
rubbing surfaces clothed with bristles, leather, felt, or other suitable material, and
receiving a reciprocating or vibrating motion in a direction transversely to or across
the blades from a crank or cranks or their equivalent actuated by hand, foot, or
power of any kind. The rubber or rubbers is or are pressed down onto the knife
blades by adjustable or other. springs or by weights, and the blades are disposed
parallel to each other across the bed, by preference back to back. The knives are
held in a convenient removeable frame or holder, and when one side of the set of
blades is cleaned, the whole of them may be withdrawn at once and replaced in a
reverse position at one operation, so as to subject the opposite sides to the action of
the vibratory rubber or rubbers, or each knife may be held stationary by hand, and
be withdrawn and reversed separately if desired, in which latter case the removeable
frame or holder may be dispensed with. In order to avoid any extra wear at the
backs or thicker portions of the blades, the latter may, if desired, be placed in
transverse grooves or channels in the fixed bed so formed, as that the upper sides
of the several blades disposed therein shall present an even and level surface for
the rubber or rubbers to operate upon. Or in lieu of such transverse grooves or
channels the supporting bed may be composed of metal or other suitable material
covered if required with leather, felt, or other yielding substance, to permit of the
blades bedding themselves more or less therein when under the action of the rubber
or rubbers. A removeable cover or casing enclosing the rubber or rubbers may be
provided if desired, and provision made for the automatic or other supply of any
suitable cleaning powder to the rubbing surface.
And in order that my said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the explanatory Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of my Drawings represents a side elevation of one form or arrangement
of my improved knife cleaning machine, the example shown being a duplex machine
provided with two rubbers, and adapted for cleaning two dozen knives at one and
the same time; Figure 2 is an end elevation corresponding to Figure 1; Figure 3
is a longitudinal vertical section taken along the line 1-2 in Figure 2; Figure 4 is
a transverse vertical section taken along the line 3-4 in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a
general plan of the machine showing one end open, or with its top cover removed
in order to show more clearly one of the rubbers and its connection with the
actuating mechanism; Figure 6 is a detail edge view of the removeable frame or
holder for the knives in its closed position, ready for being inserted with its knives
into its place in the machine, as hereinafter more fully explained, and Figure 7 is

page_text: a detail plan of the same holder opened for the reception of the knives to be
cleaned, four of which only are shown fitted therein." a is a stationary bed or
surface of wood, metal, or other suitable material, upon which the blades b to be
cleaned are disposed transversely and held stationary by the holder c. This holder
consists of two parts of wood or metal hinged together at d, the one part being.
provided with transverse rigid ribs or projections e, e, and with india rubber or
other yielding stops f, f, at convenient intervals to receive the handles g, g, of the
knives, which are pressed.down between the said ribs or projections and the elastic
stops f, the latter tending to maintain the handles firmly pressed laterally against
the ribs, and to keep the projecting edge of the bolster of each blade over the end
of the corresponding rigid rib, thereby maintaining the knife in its proper position
longitudinally as well as laterally. The holder having been charged with knives,
the upper half is closed down (see Figure 6), leaving each of the blades free to play
slightly in a vertical direction, so that each blade may lie freely across the fixed
supporting surface a whilst under the action of the reciprocating rubber h actuated
in any well known manner. The holder thus charged is slid into the guides i, i, in
the front of the machine, with the points of the several blades foremost, the said
points sliding up the incline k at the front side of the bed, and entering beneath
the rubber, which should be previously elevated slightly to allow the knives to
enter. This lifting of the rubber may obviously be accomplished in various ways,
but I prefer the arrangement illustrated in my Drawings, which consists of a
lever working on a fulcrum at m, and connected by a pin and slot o to a vertical
stem n of square or equivalent section which fits in and works through a corre-
spondingly shaped aperture in the stationary cover p. To the lower end of this
stem there is secured a bow or other suitable spring q carrying an antifriction
roller at each end, which runs along the back of the rubber h. A metal loop or
bridle pieces is also secured to the underside of the spring q, and engages
underneath the raised bar or rod t (shown more clearly in Figure 4a) attached
to the back of the rubber, along which bar the said bridle piece is free to
travel to and fro from end to end thereof. To the free end of the lever there is
jointed a notched bar u engaging with a fixed catch or tooth on the end of the
machine (see Figure 2). When the lever is depressed and locked down by the
catch, the rubber will be pressed by a yielding pressure down upon the knife
blades. By releasing the catch and lifting the lever, the rubber will, by the action
of the bridle piece, be also elevated slightly for the purpose of allowing of the
introduction of the knife blades underneath it. If desired, the knives may be held
singly or in couples by hand, in lieu of being fitted into the removeable holder, but
I prefer the latter arrangement. As a convenient mode of actuating the rubber a
connecting rod v may be used, connecting the rubber with a crank or eccentric on
the actuating shaft w working in suitable bearings in the sides of the machine, so
that on rotating or rocking the said shaft in either direction, by the aid of the
winch or lever handle x, or by a treadle worked by the foot, or by a strap and
driving pulley on the said shaft worked by power, a longitudinal reciprocating
motion will be imparted to the rubber across the several knife blades, thereby
effectually cleaning and polishing the same, any suitable polishing powder being
supplied as required by hand, or automatically in any suitable manner beneath the
rubber. The blades having been cleaned on one side the holder is withdrawn,
reversed, and again inserted in its reversed position so as to expose the opposite
sides of the blades to the action of the rubber or rubbers. The rubber may consist
of a flat board or metal plate h covered on the underside with leather, felt, bristles,
or other good polishing or cleaning medium, which should be sufficiently elastic or
yielding to accomodate itself to any inequalities of surface produced by the thick
and thin portions of the series of blades. I do not confine myself to any special
construction of such rubbing surface, but have found in practice that a good result
is obtained by employing a number of transversely disposed rubber tubes z secured
in any suitable manner to the body of the rubber, over which elastic tubes I stretch
a piece of leather 1 secured at each end to the ends of the rubber, and turned up

page_text: The
along the front side or edge so as to fit well into and clean the hollows of the
bolsters, as shown more clearly in Figure 4. A small sliding drawer or trough 2
at one or both ends of the bed serves to collect any superfluous cleaning powder
that may work out from under the rubber during the action of the machine, the
same being readily returned to the bed as required on lifting the rubber. The
rubber may be turned back bodily with its connecting rod on the crank pin as a
centre, so as to fully expose the bed, first removing the cover p which is held down
by the catches 3 engaging into studs passing up through the fixed cover.
machine may be constructed with a single rubber only, in which case the crank and
driving shaft might, if desired, be situate at one end of the case, but where two
separate rubbers are worked simultaneously, the driving shaft may be placed in
the middle of the casing, as shown in my Drawings. In either arrangement a
small hinged door 4 may be provided to afford ready access to the crank and
bearings. An opening or slit may be provided in the back of the casing to enable
the end of a carver or blade of extra length to project through when it is required
to introduce the carver into the machine.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that I am aware that knife cleaning machines
have been constructed, consisting of a top and bottom rubber opposed to each other,
both reciprocating longitudinally in opposite directions, and having the knife blades
placed between them without any stationary bed or support, and therefore I do not
claim such an arrangement, but what I consider to be novel and original; and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First. In a knife cleaning machine, the combination of one or more reciprocating
rubbers actuated by a crank or its equivalent, with a fixed bed or support for the
blades to rest upon, the whole being arranged and caused to operate substantially
as herein before described.
Secondly. In a knife cleaning machine, the combination of one or more recipro-
cating rubbers actuated by a crank or its equivalent, with a fixed bed or support
for the blades to rest upon, and one or more removeable frames or holders for the
knives, the whole being arranged and caused to operate substantially as berein-
before described.
Thirdly. The peculiar arrangement of removeable holders for holding a row of
any number of knives to be cleaned simultaneously, and permitting of the entire
series of knives being withdrawn from the machine, and reversed for the cleaning
of the opposite sides thereof, substantially as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Leonard Appleton, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.