An Improved Appliance or Machine for Cutting Cheeses and the like.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Aug., 1898-Accepted, 24th Sept.,
1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Appliance or Machine for Cutting Cheeses and the like.
I, JOSEPH WRIGHT, of 398, Stratford Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Tobacconist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention is an improved appliance for cutting and carving cheeses and
other similar articles, and is especially adapted, and constructed for use by whole-
sale and retail cheesemongers for cutting up cheeses into portions before being
weighed and sold. The said appliance or machine is distinguished by a cutting
board or table upon which the cheese to be cut is placed, and a knife, which is
carried by a free working arm, joined to the said table, and which works within
a slot or gap through the table's middle so that it comprehends the entire surface
of the table in one direction when the arm carrying it is swung in that direction
for the table's entire length. Springs are fitted to the free working arm carrying
the knife so as to return it to its normal position after a cut in a cheese has been
made, and also so as to ensure the said arm always taking a handy position when
not in use so that it would be easy to lay hold of it. The knife takes the form of
a tensioned wire stretched between the axis or joint of the free working arm and
its outer extremity, a tensioning device being applied to the said extremity by
which the wire can be pulled up.
The invention is practically illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings
Fig. 1 being a topside plan of the appliance or machine, Fig. 2 a vertical section,
and Fig. 3 an incomplete transverse vertical section, the latter to illustrate the
disposition of the slot or gap in the cutting board or table and the connection
means for the inner end of the wire knife.
In the said figs. the same letters of reference are used to indicate the parts.
The cutting board or table a takes the form of a rectangular structure of wood
of a sufficient size to hold a full size cheese, and its top a² is covered in with
enamelled iron layers a³ which extend across the entire surface of the top, but
are so placed as to leave a longitudinal slot or gap a running the full length of
the said top between them; a similar clearance as being left in the material which
constitutes the top proper of the said cutting board, for the purpose of allowing
the free passage and working of the knife c. This knife is carried by a free work-
ing arm or pull which is jointed to the cutting board or table on the one side
by a transversely working bar or axis c³, the said axis taking its bearings in the
opposite side of the cutting board. The free working arm has a right-angled
part on its outer end which reaches over or extends transversely to the middle
of the cutting board, and the one end of the wire knife c is connected to the ter-
minations of this right-angled part through the medium of a tensioning
device, comprising a screw bolt with a hook and a pulling-in fly nut c
The other end of the wire knife c, after passing through the slot or gap in
the top of the table and its enamelled sheet iron covering, is connected to the
axis through the medium of a circular plate or disc d which is rigidly carried

page_text: upon the said axis, the connection of the wire end being made onto a pin d
carried by the said disc. Springs e e² are stretched from pegs 9 9 upon the disc d
and hook connections h h2 on the inside face of one of the sides of the cutting
board, for the purpose of holding the free working arm in an upright position as
shown in Fig. 2 so that it may always be in a handy position for being laid hold
of, and also for steadying and balancing the said arm should it be quickly let go
after its knife has been used. It will be clearly seen from Fig. 3 how the one
end of the wire knife passes through the slot or gap in the top of the table and is
connected to the axis of the free working arm through a plate or disc d.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what?
claim is:-
First. A cheese cutting appliance or machine characterised by a slotted or
gapped table or cutting board, a swinging knife working longitudinally in the
said gap or slot, and which is carried and moved by a free working arm jointed
to swing along the said table, substantially as described and set forth.
Second. A cheese cutting appliance or machine comprising as a combination.
a slotted or gapped cutting board or table, a free working arm jointed to the said
table by a transverse axis or bar c, which said arm has a right-angled extension c
upon its free end, a knife c connected to the extremity of the part c" of the jointed
and which is stretched between the said extremity and the axis of the jointed
arm, and passes through the slot or gap in the top of the cutting board, substan-
tially as set forth in the sheet of drawings.
arni,
Third. A cheese cutting appliance or machine comprising as a combination a
cutting board whose surface is enamelled and formed with a slot a, a free working
arm 2 jointed to the said table by a transverse bar or axis 3, and which has a right-
angled extension " upon its free end, a wire knife c whose one end is connected
by a tensioning device to the extremity of the extension c* of the jointed arm,
and which is stretched through the slot in the cutting board from a disc d
carried by the axis or bar c³, and springs e e² which govern and steady the move-
ment of the free working arm when suddenly loosened, substantially as set forth
in the sheet of drawings.