IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIFE-CLEANING MACHINES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jane Weedon, of King Street, Soho, in the
County of Middlesex, sole Administratrix of George Weedon,
deceased, late of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, for
the Invention of
66
IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIFE-CLEANING MACHINES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Weedon at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th March 1870.
I, GEORGE WEEDON, of Gracechurch Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN KNIFE-CLEANING MACHINES," to be as follows:
1
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon a former Patent
granted to me, the said George Weedon, and bearing date the 17th July
1867, Numbered 2094, for "Improvements in Knife-cleaning Machines,"
and the features of novelty in this present Invention are as follows :-
First. Instead of constructing and arranging the lever employed for

page_text: holding the knives whilst they are being cleaned, in the manner set
forth in the Specification of the said former Patent, I propose simply to
hinge the lever, and dispense with the pawl and ratchet used in the
other machine.
Another improvement consists in adapting a piece made with V shaped
openings to that part of the aforesaid hinged lever employed to hold the
handles of the several knives whilst they are being cleaned, so that the
blades shall be flat on the cleaning table and be self-adjusting. I also
employ a self-acting spring catch for holding down the aforesaid hinged
lever whilst the knives are being cleaned. In combination with the said
lever I employ the mechanical arrangements described in the Speci-
fication of the aforesaid former Patent for turning over the knives when
one side of the blades has been cleaned.
Another improvement consists in arranging a tray at the back of the
machine to hold the cleaning brushes, and a box to contain emery or
other cleaning powder.
Another improvement consists in making the cleaning brushes in the
following manner, that is to say, instead of making the brushes as
described in the Specification of the aforesaid former Patent, I make
the handles of the said brushes to screw against the ends of the brushes
by means of a rod passing through the aforesaid ends and handles with
screwed nuts on the outer ends of the said rod. The ends of the brushes
are so made as to receive the back of cach brush and grip it tightly by
the aforesaid screw nuts. By unscrewing the nuts the brushes may bo
readily detached when necessary.
I propose to use the above improvements in combination with such
other parts of the machine described in the Specification of the aforesaid
former Patent as I may deem necessary.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Janc 30
Weedon in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th October 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JANE
WEEDON, of King Street, Solo, in the County of Middlesex, solo.

page_text: Administratrix of George Weedon, deceased, late of Gracechurch Strect,
in the City of London, who departed this life on the 11th day of May
1870, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Jane Weedon, Her special licence that I, the
said Jane Weedon, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Jane Weedon, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIPE-CLEANING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jane
Weedon, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jane Weedon, 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, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to certain improvements upon a former Patent
granted to the said George Weedon, and bearing date the 17th July
1867, Numbered 2094, for "Improvements in Knife-cleaning Machines,"
and the features of novelty in this present Invention are as follows:-
:-
First. Instead of constructing and arranging the lever employed for
holding the knives whilst they are being cleaned in the manner set forth
in the Specification of the said former Patent, I propose simply to hinge
the lever and dispense with the pawl and ratchet used in the other
machine.
Another improvement consists in adapting a piece made with V shaped
openings to that part of the aforesaid hinged lever employed to hold the

page_text: handles of the several knives whilst they are being cleaned, so that the
blades shall be flat on the cleaning table and be self-adjusting. I also
employ a self-acting spring catch for holding down the aforesaid hinged
lever whilst the knives are being cleaned. In combination with the said
lever I employ the mechanical arrangements described in the Specifi-
cation of the aforesaid former Patent for turning over the knives when
one side of the blades has been cleaned.
Another improvement consists in arranging a tray at the back of the
machine to hold the cleaning brushes, and a box to contain emery or
other cleaning powder.
Another improvement consists in making the cleaning brushes in the
following manner, that is to say, instead of making the brushes as
described in the Specification of the aforesaid former Patent, I make
the handles of the said brushes to screw against the ends of the brushes
by means of a rod passing through the aforesaid ends and handles with
scrowed nuts on the outer ends of the said rod. The ends of the brushes
are so made as to receive the back of each brush and grip it tightly by
the aforesaid screw nuts. By unscrewing the nuts the brushes may be
readily detached when necessary.
I propose to use the above improvements in combination with such
other parts of the machine described in the Specification of the aforesaid
former Patent as I may deem necessary.
And in order to explain this Invention as completely as possible, I
now proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, reference being had to the
illustrative Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to the
numeral figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively
as follows:-
]
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 represents a ton plan view of my improvements in knife-

page_text: A, B, marks the stand of the machine, made in the form of a tray, to
which is affixed the. mechanism shewn at Figures 3 and 4, employed to
receive the ends of the several knives required to be cleaned, and for
turning them over, as presently described; C is a raised piece of wood,
the surface whereof is covered with sheet metal; D, D, forked-shapes
pieces fixed to the stand A, B; these pieces receive the ends of the
forked lever E, which is connected to the pieces D by nuts and bolts
at a, which are the fulcra of the lever E; the bar 6 of the lever E has
a long piece of wood 1 fixed thereto, and to this piece of wood a piece
of vulcanized india-rubber 2 or other suitable clastic material is fixed
and employed to hold the knives firmly whilst they are being cleaned;
G is a spring catch for keeping the lever E and bar 6 in forced contact
with the knives, thereby holding them steady when the ends of the
handles have been inserted into the recesses d formed in the several
pinions H to receive the said handles.
The construction and arrangement of these pinions and the mechanism
for actuating them will be better understood by referring to Figures 3
and 4, where H marks a series of toothed pinions, the bosses e whereof
fit loosely in holes formed in the casting I and plate K screwed thereto
atf, f; L is a toothed rack taking into the teeth of the several pinions H;
the top of this rack is formed with a long flange g, which covers the
pinions H and rests on the top edges of the pieces I and K, on which it
is capable of being slidden backwards and forwards from right to left,
and vice versa, for turning over the knives when one side thereof has
been cleaned. The casting or flange g is formed with slots / at the
under side of the said flange, and there is a stop piece i formed on the
casting I, so that when the stops i come against one or other of the
slots the pinions H by the action of the teeth of the rack L thereon
shall turn the said pinions one half of an entire revolution, thereby
turning over or reversing the position of the several knives as desired.
I propose to clean the blades of the knives by means of a double-sided
brush formed of bristles, as described in the former Specification of the
said George Weedon. M is a box for emery powder.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of this
Invention for "Improvements in Knife-cleaning Machines," together
with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical effect, I would remark in conclusion, that I hereby declare

page_text: this Invention to consist in and I claim, the general combination and
arrangement of the mechanism above described with reference to the
accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and the mode of operating therewith,
as constituting "Improvements in Knife-cleaning Machines."
In witness whereof, I, the said Jane Weedon, have hereunto set 5
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
JANE WEEDON. (L.S.)