AN KNIFE AND FORK CLEANING MACHINE, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Weedon, of No. 41, Poland Street, in the
County of Middlesex, and David William Rice, of No. 1, New Road,
Woolrich in the County of Kent for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Weedon and
David William Rice at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 28th August 1858.
We, GEORGE WEEDON, of No. 41, Poland Street, in the County of
Middlesex, and DAVID WILLIAM RICE, of No. 1, New Road, Woolwich, in the
County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED KNIFE AND FORK CLEANING MACHINE, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE
TO OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain mechanism, by means of which we keep
knives to be cleaned flat upon the board, and there holding them securely.
The means we employ are as follows:-Immediately under the cleaning board
of the machine (for which Letters Patent were granted on the 9th day of
November 1857, No. 2833, we place a lever, one end of which projects from
the front of the machine, the other end being bolted to the centre of the

page_text: machine. This lever is formed of one piece of metal in the shape of a T, and
having a tongue attached at each end of the cross piece in opposite directions,
so that as the lever is moved from left to right, one tongue advances as the
other recedes, said tongues being wedge-shaped. These tongues work in
vertical bolt heads, with spaces left for them, a spiral spring being placed on
each bolt, the bolts passing first through the board of the machine. On the
upper end of the bolt a cross piece is dropped, and a nut screwed on to each
bolt to keep the cross piece in its position. This cross piece, as also the bed
through which the handles of the knives pass, are lined with india-rubber, for
the purpose of easing the pressure on the knife handles. When the handles
are inserted, and the blades laid on the board, the lever has but to be pulled
from the left or right hand of the machine, as the case may be, bringing down
the cross piece upon the knife handles, at the same time keeping the blades
perfectly flat upon the board while the process of cleaning takes place, thereby
preventing the emery powder or other dust getting under the blades.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Weedon and David William Rice in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
WEEDON, of 41, Poland Street, in the County of Middlesex, and DAVID
WILLIAM RICE, of 1, New Road, Woolwich, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said George Weedon and David William Rice, Her special licence that
we, the said George Weedon and David William Rice, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Weedon
and David William Rice, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 IMPROVED
KNIFE AND FORK CLEANING MACHINE, PART OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER

page_text: PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said George
Weedon and David William Rice, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us, or them, 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 we, the said George Weedon and David William
Rice, 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 :-
This Invention consists in certain mechanism, by means of which we keep
knives to be cleaned flat upon the board, there holding them securely until one
side has been operated on, when by another mechanical contrivance they are
reversed, to be acted upon on their other sides.
In order to explain our said Invention as completely as possible, we now
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet
of Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively as follows.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan view of the under side of the table of our machine (for
which Letters Patent were granted to the above named George Weedon and
Thomas Turner Weedon, the Ninth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-seven, No. 2833), shewing the mechanism employed for
applying the necessary pressure to the knife handles. Figure 2, front eleva-
tion of mechanism above and below the table; Figure 3, side view of wedge-
shaped tongue; Figure 4, front elevation of reversing box; and Figure 5,
plan view of tray or rest upon which the knives are pressed flat. Similar
letters of reference denote corresponding parts, where such parts can be seen
at each of the Figures respectively.
b
At Figures 1 and 2 will be seen a T-shaped piece of metal a, a, working
upon a bolt or pin 6 passed through the table c, the piece a being provided
with tongues d, d, Figures 1, 2, and 3, of an inclined form or wedge-shaped;.
said tongues passing through holes made in upright moveable guides e, e, the
upper parts of which pass through the ends of a horizontal bar f, and secured;

page_text: therein by nuts, as shewn under the ends of the bar f, and round the guides
e, e, are placed spiral springs to keep the bar f up in its place before the
knives are placed between the upper bar f and the lower bridge g, both of which
are provided with a bed of vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable flexible
material; i, i, the handles of the knives are passed between the parts f and g,
and then inserted into the reversing box, Figure 4, by the means of which
they are turned from one side to the other simultaneously by the motion of
the small handle h, which carries the inner bar (attached to the receivers)
over from right to left, and vice versa, as described in the former Patent
herein above mentioned. The reversing box is placed on the upper surface of
the table c, immediately behind the bar and bridge f and g, and slides back-
ward or forward, according to the length of the handles of the knives to be
cleaned, the ferrules of the knives invariably falling into the space between
the guide j, Figure 5, and the tray k at the edge *. The guide is made in
the form shown, for the purpose of keeping the blades parallel one with the
other, as in the reversing motion they would, in some cases, fall on the
polishing board in different directions. The part of the tray k which receives
the flat of the blades is covered with a piece of "kamptulicon" 1, or other
such like material; the knives when pressed down on the piece are then
brushed over, as described in the before-mentioned former Specification.
The effect of the T-shaped piece a upon the bar f will be clearly understood
npon referring to Figures 1 and 2, where it will be seen that if the end of the
lever a is pulled from left to right in the direction of the dotted lines, the ends
of the tongues d; d, will be forced through the holes in the guides e, e, thereby
drawing the guides e, e, downwards, and with them the barf which holds the
knives down firmly upon the board while being cleaned.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of our said
Invention of "An Improved Knife and Fork Cleaning Machine, Part of
which is applicable to other Purposes," we would remark, in conclusion, that
we do not confine or restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described
and exhibited in the accompanying Sheet of illustrative Drawings, as many
slight modifications may be made therein without in any way departing from
the principle of our Invention; but what we claim as our Invention intended
to be secured to us by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is,-
Firstly, the reversing motion shewn at Figure 4, for the purpose herein
described.
Secondly, the up-and-down motion caused by the tongues or wedge-shaped
pieces d in connection with the T-piece a, for the purpose herein described.

page_text: And, lastly, we claim the exclusive right of using the pressure movement
exhibited at Figures 1 and 2 for any purpose where either vertical or hori
zontal pressure is required.
In witness whereof, we, the said George Weedon and David William
Rice, have hereunto set their hands and seals, this Twenty-eighth day
of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.
Witness,
ALEX. PRINCE,
Agent for Patents,"
GEORGE WEEDON.
(L.8.)
DAVID WILLIAM RICE. (L.B.)
4, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross.