Speed Rotary Fork, Spoon, and Knife Cleaning Machine.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Oct., 1886.
Complete Left, 30th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 31st May, 1887.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
High Speed Rotary Fork, Spoon, and Knife Cleaning Machine.
I WILLIAM EDWIN RENSHAW Iron Turner of 25 Lancaster Street Pendelton in
the County of Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of my invention for HIGH
SPEED ROTARY FORK SPOON & KNIFE CLEANING MACHINE to be as follows:-
It consists of three rollers one large & two small ones, the two small ones are
covered with chamois leather & are in diameter half the size of the large one, which is
covered by a number of discs of Buff leather one half of which are larger in diameter
than the other half, these being placed alternately, form a number of grooves which
admit the prongs of the fork, the grooves are rather narrower than the width of a
prong, when the fork is inserted the large discs spring out, & whilst the fork is in are
constantly pressing against the sides of the prongs, the two small rollers revolve close
to each other just above the large one, in two swivel arms connected together at the
front by a Rail or Stay & are pressed down on to the top of the prongs by means of a
finger plate fastened at the centre of the Rail or Stay, when the pressure is taken off the
swivel arms automatically spring up, the fork is then turned over, the curve of the
prongs being upwards, the two top rollers are then pressed on them again, & the front
top roller serves to polish the curve at the root of the prongs, the shank of the fork
is then placed in the grooves, & the back top roller polishes the other side of the
curves, whilst the front one polishes the curve at the stock of the shank.
In the case of metal forks, Buff leather being two hard, the bottom roller is
changed & one of chamois leather is inserted, half of this roller has a number of
grooves & the other half is flat, to serve for polishing the flat part of the fork, the top
rollers act same as before.
In the case of spoons, the top & bottom rollers are changed, & one roller only
is used at the top, & one at the bottom both rollers are of chamois leather, the bottom
one hollowed to fit bottom of the spoon & the top one has an oval shaped surface to
fit the scope of the spoon, there is also a flat part to both to clean the handles, as in
the case of metal forks.

page_text: Knives are cleaned by two buff rollers one at the top & one at bottom, the
pressure is applied the same throughout. The centre of each roller is a square hollow
tube, there is a spindle at both ends of each, these are squared at one end to fit square
in the roller, & are made so that the roller can be taken out. The spindles on the
right hand have the motion imparted to them by means of a band pulley & gearing,
the bottom roller is driven direct from band pulley & has a pinion wheel on the
spindle, the pinion gears with two intermediate wheels, one large & one small one,
the large one runs loose on the same stud as the swivel arm moves on. The two top
rollers revolve in bosses in the swivel arm & have pinions on their right hand
spindles which gears into the large intermediate wheel & as the swivel arms move up
& down, they describe an arc which is coincident with the circumference of the large
wheel & therefore wherever the arins move they still remain in gear. The spindles at
the other ends revolve in the swivel arm, but by lifting a tail plate they can be pushed
out & the rollers removed & fresh ones inserted, the spindles are then pushed in their
places & the tail plate dropped, to prevent them coming out. The rollers are enclosed
in a box, to contain emery or other grit, the box has a suitable lid, in two segments
hinged together the front part is lifted to insert the articles to be cleaned, but the top
part is only raised when the rollers want changing, the cover also prevents the grit
from flying, the necessary speed is obtained from a large band pulley mounted on a
stand, & may be driven either by treadle or power.
The whole arranged for use substantially as set forth.

page_text: High Speed Rotary Fork, Spoon, and Knife Cleaning Machine.
1 WILLIAM EDWIN RENSHAW Mechanic of 25 Lancaster Street Pendleton in the
County of Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of this invention, for FORK SPOON AND
KNIFE CLEANING MACHINERY and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
My invention consists of improvements in knife spoon & fork cleaning and
polishing machinery and it is comprised under the following heads.
The revolution of rollers of suitable material and form at a very high speed, one or
more of which rollers are free to move laterally and to which pressure can be applied
and controlled at will.
For such articles as require special guiding owing to their form or liability to
damage the rollers I use three rollers of which one may be of larger diameter than the
other two.
To obtain and allow the free & lateral motion above described I mount two of the
rollers, or one when only two are used in bearings formed in two swinging arms one
on each side of the machine which arms are constrained to swing or move together by
being rigidly connected by a rail or stay preferably passing in front of the machine.
Centrally attached to this stay is a finger plate by which the pressure upon and motion
of the arms and upper roller or rollers can be adjusted & controlled.
The centre of motion of the swinging arms is also the geometric centre of an
idle spur wheel on one side of the machine through which the rotation is com-
municated to the upper roller or rollers by means of spur pinions mounted on their
spindles.
The weight of the arms, upper rollers and pieces attached to and moving with them
is rather more than counterbalanced by a spring or other suitable arrangement so
that the tendency is for the rollers to open out to admit the article to be operated
upon.
The rollers being made with a central tube of square or polygonal section can be
readily removed and others substituted by the following arrangement. The spindles
which carry and drive them are not continuous but are carried separately in their
bearings in the swing arms and a short length is squared or shaped to fit the roller
tubes. One of these short spindles is prevented from moving endways only by a loose
tail piece falling over the end of its bearing. The tail piece being removed this spindle
is passed a short distance outwards, when it recedes from the roller tube. The other
short spindle cannot be thus moved and it carries the driving pinion. In place of
the central tube a solid rod may be used formed into a hollow square at each end.
For the purpose of cleaning & polishing between the prongs of forks a portion or
the whole of one of the rollers is constructed with discs or washers of buff leather or
other material between each of which is a smaller ring or washer of india rubber
or leather.

page_text: Knives can be cleaned between the continuous flat part of this roller and one or
both of the two smaller rollers above mentioned.
For cleaning and polishing spoons 1 use two rollers only revolving in the same
direction and formed with two or more rises and hollows of different radii.
I mount a cover preferably in two parts with hinges to close in the box within
which the rollers revolve.
The Box which also serves as the Frame for the machine is preferably fixed upon a
table. The first motion shaft carries a cord pulley and fly wheel the former being
driven by a cord from a larger wheel mounted below the table & driven by a treadle
and pitman rod as is usual in the case of sewing machines.
In order to make my invention clearly understood I refer to the accompanying
drawings.
Fig. 1. is a cross section of the machine.
Fig. II. is a longitudinal section taken through the centre of the large or lower
roller.
Fig. III. is an end elevation of the driving end of the machine with the pulley &
fly wheel removed.
Fig. IV. is a plan of the machine with the cover removed.
Fig. V. is a detached view of the rollers used for spoons.
In all the figures similar reference letters refer to the same parts.
a is the main frame or box whose sides are continued upwards by plates b secured
by screws c. d is the lower roller carried by short spindles e and e¹ running in fixed
bearings f&f. The former spindle is fixed longitudinally but the latter can be passed
outwards as shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. IV. when the tail
is swung
downwards as shewn dotted in Fig. I. The roller can then be removed. This
method of removal applies to all the rollers and in Fig. IV. one of the small rollers is
shewn dotted as in the process of removal.
Upon the spindle e is mounted the cord pulley h and fly wheel i. The spur pinion 1
on the same spindle drives the idle spur pinion 2. whose bearings are also in bracket f.
Pinion 2 drives spur wheel 3 which runs freely on stud bolted to frame a.
The
stud carries also the swing arm 1, which is at this end forked to embrace the
gearing. The stud k¹ at the other side of the machine carries also the arm . These
arms being rigidly connected by the rail m. are constrained to move together and they
carry in bearings the short spindles n, o and n¹, o' which carry and actuate the small
rollers p p. nando also have mounted upon them the pinions 4 & 5 the former driven
by spur wheel 3 and the latter by pinion 4. n' and of can be passed outwards for
removal of rollers as already described. Radial slots q. q and q¹, 7 are cut in the
sides b. of the box to allow of the swinging motion of the upper rollers. By this
arrangement it will be seen that the rotation is communicated to the spindles n & o
in any position of the framework formed by arms l, and rail m. A spring s shewn
dotted in Fig. I. bearing on the top of bracket f¹ and secured to the boss of arm
by screw t and of sufficient strength to rather more than counterbalance the weight
of and carried by the said framework serves to keep the top rollers in their upper
position to allow for the insertion of the articles to be operated upon from the front
as shown by the arrow. The top roller or rollers are closed upon the lower one by
pressure at will upon the fingerpiece ».
In Fig. II. the discs of leather for cleaning between the prongs of forks are shewn
at u. and the rubber or leather rings between them at v.
P
For cleaning forks which are entirely of metal the back roller p can be removed.
For cleaning or polishing spoons the rollers shewn in Fig. V. are used, the roller
being removed altogether and the convex roller w fixed in the place of the roller
upon spindles o and o¹ and the concave roller is inserted in place of d. The two
curved portions are of different radii to suit the varying curvatures of the spoons and
the flat portions are for polishing the handles.
I prefer to construct the rollers as follows:-The bottom roller d and the spoon
rollers & x are formed of discs of Buff or other suitable leather lying close

page_text: together strung on to the central tube and kept on by the ends of the tubes being
turned outwards against the outer discs.
The small rollers are of chamois or other suitable leather or material which is wound
around the central tube which if not itself round has segmental strips of leather
fastened to its sides to give it externally a circular form, as indicated at 6 Fig. I.
The cover consists of two parts y and z of which only needs to be opened for
insertion of the articles and y is opened only when changing rollers.
At ¹ Fig. I. is shewn a guard for preventing the dust being thrown out at the
front.
Having now fully set forth the nature of my invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that what I claim is as follows tha
is to say-
I. The arrangement of two or more polishing rollers revolving at high speed one or
more of which is capable of lateral motion substantially as and for the purposes
hereinbefore described.
II. The use of three rollers of which one may be of larger diameter than the other
two substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
III. The method of obtaining and allowing for the lateral motion of one or more
of the rollers substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
IV. The method of driving the roller or rollers carried by the swing frame
so as to keep their wheels in gear substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore
described.
V. Counterbalancing the weight of the swinging frame and rollers substantially as
and for the purpose hereinbefore described.
VI. The method of carrying and removing the rollers by moveable short spindles
and tail pieces substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
VII. The discs and rubber washers for cleaning forks substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described.
VIII. The rollers with curved surfaces of different radii for cleaning spoons
substantially as and for the purposes herein before described.
the
IX. The cover for the Box containing the polishing rollers substantially as and for
purposes hereinbefore described.
X. The method of building or constructing the rollers substantially as and for the
purposes herein before described.
XI. The method of driving the machine at a high speed substantially as and for
the purposes as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 29th day of April 1887.
WILLIAM EDWIN RENSHAW.