IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE Manufacture of KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Horrabin Greaves, of Sheffield, in the
County of York, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE Manufacture of KNIVES AND FORKS."
Sealed the 14th September 1875, and dated the 16th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Horrabin
Greaves at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 16th April 1875.
I, SAMUEL HORRABIN GREAVES, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES AND FORKS," to be as
follows:-
The object of the Invention is simplicity and economy of construction
with improved appearance, as well as efficiency and durability in use.
The blades of knives and the portion for the prongs and stems of forks
have heretofore generally been cut singly from sheet or plate metal, or

page_text: when cut in pairs, as described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to me bearing date the 3rd day of September 1869, No. 2596,
they were cut side by side (and in the case of the blades of knives back
to back) from the metal, and one part of my present Invention relates to
cutting them from the metal in double pairs joined in the cutting end to
end as well as side by side, connected endwise by short projections or
part tangs. For this purpose the metal is rolled for these double pairs
of blades of knives thin at the opposite ends and edges, and thicker at
the middle of the length and of the central line between the width of
such metal, whilst the metal for the forks is rolled variable in thickness
corresponding with the variations in the substance of the parts of the
fork to be produced from the points to the tang. By the metal being
thus produced and cut in pairs of blades or forks joined by the tangs
end to end increased facility is afforded for the operations of grinding
and finishing of each of the pair, as the operator is enabled to make use
of the one blade or fork as a handle or holder, whilst he is grinding or
finishing the other blade or fork, and is thereby enabled better to control
the grinding and finishing processes.
According to another portion of the Invention a tang or portion to be
secured in the handle and the holster or bolster and handle are cast or
otherwise formed in one with a receptacle for the projection or portion
of tang referred to, as left in the cutting of the blade of a knife or the
corresponding portion of a fork, and the blade or fork after being ground
or finished, together with so much of the part tang as will lie just within
the bolster to be applied, but leaving the remainder of the part tang to
be covered by the bolster in the rough, is secured within such bolster by
the compression thereon of such bolster, aided by a rivet or pin if desired,
by which in the after finish of the bolster the line of juncture of the
bolster with the blade or fork at the part tang will not be perceptible,
and thus the appearance of the article will be improved.
According to another portion of the Invention the bolsters are first
ground and polished and then stamped, squeezed, or embossed to any
desired form on the short tang or projection of knife or fork, thereby
avoiding the possibility of loosening the bolster in the process of grinding
and polishing, an operation which causes much heat to the part ground
and weakens the union of the bolster with the blade or fork. By these
means also increased facility is given to cheaply ornament the holster by
embossing.

page_text: According to another portion of the Invention the tangs of the blades
of the knives or the corresponding parts of forks produced as described
in the Specification of the Letters Patent before referred to, or otherwise,
and ground and finished to the extent of that portion of the tang to
be in part within the bolster, have applied to each of them a thin plate
or part bolster of steel or other hard metal, the edges of which are to
form the most projecting part of the finished bolster, and the bolsters
are completed by casting other metal against the sides of such thin plates
or part bolsters to the form desired for the complete bolster.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Horrabin Greaves in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
HORRABIN GREAVES, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Horrabin Greaves, Her
special license, that I, the said Samuel Horrabin Greaves, my executors,
administrators, and assigns; or such others as I, the said Samuel
Horrabin Greaves, 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 law-
fully 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF KNIVES AND
FORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel
Horrabin Greaves, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Horrabin Greaves, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is simplicity and economy of construction
with improved appearance, as well as efficiency and durability in use.
The blades of knives and the portion for the prongs and stems of forks
have heretofore generally been cut singly from sheet or plate metal, or
when cut in pairs as described in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to me bearing date the 3rd day of September 1869, No. 2596,
they were cut side by side (and in the case of the blades of knives back
to back) from the metal, and one part of my present Invention relates to
cutting them from the metal in double pairs joined in the cutting end to
end as well as side by side connected endwise by short projections or part
tangs. For this purpose the metal is rolled for these double pairs of
blades of knives thin at the opposite ends and edges and thicker at the
middle of the length and of the central line between the width of such
metal, whilst the metal for the forks is rolled variable in thickness cor-
responding with the variations in the substance of the parts of the fork
to be produced from the points to the tang.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawings show a
plan view, a sectional view, an edge view, and an end view of a sheet
of metal formed to have cut therefrom four blades with their part
tangs, the lines a, a, in which indicate the forms to be cut from such
plate.
Figures 5 and 6 show two of such blades connected together by their
part tangs a¹, as obtained according to the previous illustration.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 show a side view, an end view, and an edge view
of a blade with its part tang separate from the other.
Figures 10 and 11 show by side and end views a modification of the
combined part tang, which instead of being separated transversely will
be separated somewhat in the direction of the dotted line b, but the form
of the blades and of the part tangs connecting them may be variously
modified to the requirements of the case without departing from the
peculiarity of this part of the Invention.

page_text: ↑
•
In a similar manner the corresponding parts of forks would be
obtained.
By the metal being thus produced and cut in pairs of blades or forks
joined by the tangs end to end, as indicated by these Figures 5 and 6,
increased facility is afforded for the operations of grinding and finishing
of each of the pair, as the operator is enabled to make use of one
blade or fork as a handle or holder whilst he is grinding or finishing the
other blade or fork, and is thereby enabled better to control the grinding
and finishing processes.
According to another portion of the Invention a tang or portion to be
secured in the handle and the bolster or bolster and handle are cast or
otherwise formed in one with a receptacle for the projection or portion of
tang referred to as left in the cutting of the blade of a knife or the cor-
responding portion of a fork, and the blade or fork after being ground or
finished, together with so much of the part tang as will lic just within
the bolster to be applied, but leaving the remainder of the part tang to
be covered by the bolster in the rough is secured within such bolster by
the compression thereon of such bolster, aided by a rivet or pin if desired,
by which in the after finish of the bolster the line of juncture of the
bolster with the blade or fork at the part tang will not be perceptible,
and thus the appearance of the article will be improved.
According to another portion of the Invention the bolsters are first
ground and polished and then stamped, squeezed, or embossed to any
desired form on the short tang or projection of knife or fork, thereby
avoiding the possibility of loosening the bolster in the process of grinding
and polishing, an operation which causes much heat to the part ground,
and weakens the union of the bolster with the blade or fork. An illus-
tration of thus connecting the parts is given by a sectional view at
Figure 12. By these means, also, increased facility is given to cheaply
ornament the bolster by embossing.
According to another portion of the Invention the tangs of the blades
of the knives or the corresponding parts of forks produced, as described
in the Specification of the Letters Patent before referred to, or otherwise,
and ground and finished to the extent of that portion of the tang to be
in part within the bolster have applied to each of them a thin plate or
part bolster of steel or other hard metal, the edges of which are to form
the most projecting part of the finished bolster, and the bolsters are

page_text: completed by casting other metal against the sides of such thin plates or
part bolsters to the form desired for the complete bolster.
Figure 13 shows the blade of a knife with one form of tang a' adapted
to be used in carrying out this part of the Invention.
Figures 14 and 15 show by plan and edge views one of the thin plates 5
or part bolsters c above referred to.
Figures 16 and 17 show by side and edge views one of these plates o
placed in position on the part tang of the blade, together with the
portion of other metal d cast thereon.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in 1
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that what I
claim is the improvements herein described in the manufacture of knives
and forks.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Horrabin Greaves, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, 1
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.