IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING NON-METALLIC HANDLES TO TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Stokes, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturing Jeweller and Silversmith, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING NON-METALLIC HANDLES TO TABLE KNIVES
AND FORKS."
Sealed the 9th May 1879, and dated the 22nd November 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Stokes at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd November 1878.
WILLIAM HENRY STOKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturing Jeweller and Silversmith. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING NON-METALLIC
HANDLES TO TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS."
My Invention has reference to knives and forks in which the blades and prongs
are made of steel, the said knives and forks being commonly called table knives and
forks; and my said Invention has for its object to dispense with the tang by means
of which the knife or fork is ordinarily attached to the hollow non-metallic handle,
and to use a solid handle in place of the ordinary hollow handle.
By my Invention the handle is attached to the knife or fork in a very simple and
efficient manner and the discolouring of the handle by the corrosion of the tang and
the liability of the handle to become loose or detached are prevented.
In place of the ordinary tang at the bolster end of the knife or fork I connect to
or make in one piece with the said bolster of the knife or fork a tubular collar or
socket or tubular extension of a size and shape proper to take upon the end of a
solid handle; I prefer to make the said tubular collar or socket or tubular extension
of the bolster of the knife or fork of steel, but it may be made of other strong metals
or alloys. The said collar or socket or tubular extension of the bolster may be made in
various ways. It may be made by taking a strip of steel, bending the said strip
into a tubular figure and brazing or otherwise joining its opposed edges. Or the
tubular collar or socket may be cut from thin steel tubes made in the ordinary
way. The tubular collar or socket is attached to the bolster of the knife or fork
Price Gdl

page_text: by brazing or hard soldering one of its ends to the bolster. Or the tubular collar
or socket may be made solid to or in one piece with the bolster by forging or shaping
it during the manufacture of the blade of the knife or the prongs of the fork; or
a solid piece may be forged or cast upon the bolster and the tubular collar or socket
made therefrom by drilling or cutting away the interior of the said solid piece.
The solid non-metallic handle is attached to the knife or fork thus provided with
a tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the bolster by introducing one end
of the solid handle into the open end of the tubular collar or socket or tubular
extension of the bolster, the said end of the handle fitting tightly in the said collar
or socket. The tubular collar or socket is then fixed to the handle by rivetting or
pinning the said collar or socket to the said handle.
The length and shape of the tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the
bolster may be varied.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Stokes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 12th
May 1879.
WILLIAM HENRY STOKES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturing Jeweller and Silversmith. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ATTACHING NON-METALLIC
HANDLES TO TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS."
My Invention has reference to knives and forks in which the blades and prongs
are made of steel, the said knives and forks being commonly called table knives and
forks; and my said Invention has for its object to dispense with the tang by means
of which the knife or fork is ordinarily attached to the hollow non-metallic handle,
and to use a solid handle in place of the ordinary hollow handle. By my Invention
the handle is attached to the knife or fork in a very simple and efficient manner,
and the discolouring of the handle by the corrosion of the tang and the liability of
the handle to become loose or detached are prevented.
In place of the ordinary tang at the bolster end of the knife or fork I make in
one piece with the said bolster of the knife or fork a tubular collar or socket or
tubular extension of a size and shape proper to take upon the end of a solid handle.
The tubular collar or socket is made solid to or in one piece with the bolster by
forging or shaping it during the manufacture of the blade of the knife or the prongs
of the fork; or a solid piece may be forged or cast upon the bolster and the tubular
collar or socket made therefrom by drilling or cutting away the interior of the
said solid piece.
The solid non-metallic handle is attached to the knife or fork thus provided with
a tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the bolster by introducing one end
of the solid handle into the end of the tubular collar or socket or tubular extension
of the bolster, the said end of the handle fitting tightly in the said collar or socket.
The tubular collar or socket is then fixed to the handle by rivetting or pinning the
said collar or socket to the said handle.
The length and shape of the tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the
bolster may be varied.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my Invention may be perforined.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation and Figure 2 in back elevation a table knife,
the handle of which is attached to the blade according to my Invention; Figure 3
represents in horizontal section partly in elevation, and Figure 4 in vertical section
partly in elevation, the handle and blade detached from one another; Figures 5 and
6 represent the blade and handle connected together, the junction of the said parts
being represented in section; Figure 7 represents a cross section of the joined parts
taken through the rivet or pin.
The same letters indicate the same parts in the soveral Figures of the Drawing.
a is the solid non-metallic handle of the knife, the inner end of which formed with
the shouldered or reduced part 6 for connecting it to the blade c; d is the bolster
of the knife, and e is the tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the bolster
of a size and shape proper for receiving the reduced or shouldered end b of the said
solid handle a. The said tubular collar or socket e is made in one piece with the
blade cand bolster d during the manufacture of the blade of the knife or afterwards.
In making the said tubular collar or socket e I take a piece of steel of sufficient
size to form the blade of the knife and its bolster as well as the said tubular collar
or socket e and by a forging process, or by the use of dies worked in a stamp, I
form on one end of the said piece of steel the bolster d together with the collar or
socket c. The blade is made from the piece of steel in the ordinary way. Or the
dies by which the blade and bolster arc fashioned may at the same time shape at
the bolster end of the said blade a lump or mass of steel sufficient to form from it,
by dies or by hand forging, the tubular collar or socket e. Or the lump or mass of

page_text: steel left at the bolster end of the blade may have a tubular cavity drilled or cut in
it to form the tubular collar or socket e. I do not, however, confine myself to the
methods described of making the tubular collar or socket solid to or in one piece with
.the blade of the knife
In the tubular collar or socket e a hole g (or holes) is drilled or made for the pin
or rivet, or pins or rivets, to pass through, and in the end b of the solid handle a
a similar hole (or holes) is made, as represented. In attaching the solid non-metallic
handle a to the blade c of the knife the end b of the said handle is introduced into
the tubular collar or socket e, the said end b fitting tightly in the said collar or
socket. By then pressing a pin or rivet i through the said collar or socket and
end of the handle and rivetting the said pin the handle a is firmly attached to
the blade of the knife, as represented in Figures 1, 2, 5, 6; and 7.
I attach the non-metallic handles of table forks to the prongs of the said forks
substantially in the manner described and illustrated with respect to the attaching
of a handle to a table knife.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which the
same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my Invention
the improvements in attaching non-metallic handles to steel knives and forks, com-
monly called table knives and forks, herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, attaching solid non-metallic handles to the
said steel or table knives and forks by making in one piece with the bolster of the
knife or fork a tubular collar or socket or tubular extension of the bolster, the said
tubular collar or socket fitting tightly upon the inner end of the solid handle and
being fixed in the said collar or socket substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Stokes, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM HENRY STOKES. (L.S.)