AN IMPROVED SCISSORS SHARPENER
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED SCISSORS SHARPENER."-
A communication from abroad by Garret Peter Bergen and Charles
Thomas Bainbridge, both of Brooklyn, in the State of New York,
United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 30th September 1868..
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED SCISSORS SHARPENER," to be
as follows:-
This sharpener is made in a disc form made up of a bevil-edged
circular file combined and arranged with a circular guide piece, so that
on the sharpener being held firmly by the forefinger and thumb of the
one hand and applied to the edges of a hole made through its centre or

page_text: any other convenient manner the blades of the scissors may succes-
sively be sharpened by drawing their bevilled sides across the cutting
surface of the file, while the guide piece serves to guide the flat side of
the blade and restrain the latter from slipping off the sharpener. The
sharpener may also be applied to the spindle or shaft of a sewing
machine, the scissors' blades in such case being held or directed by the
guiding piece while the sharpening portion of the device or cutting
surface of the file rotates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-second
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, 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 time 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
"AN IMPROVED SCISSORS SHARPENER," being a communication to me from
Garret Peter Bergen and Charles Thomas Bainbridge, both of the City of
Brooklyn, in the County of Kings and State of New York, in the United
States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Edward Newton, 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

page_text: Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):-
The scissors sharpener to which this Invention relates is made in a
disc form, and consists of a bevil-edged circular file combined and
arranged with a circular guide piece, so that on the sharpener being
held firmly by the forefinger and thumb of one hand applied to the
edges of a hole made through its centre or in other convenient manner
the blades of the scissors may successively be sharpened by drawing
their bevilled sides across the cutting surfaces of the file, while the
guide piece serves to guide the flat side of the blade and restrain the
latter from slipping off the sharpener. This sharpener may also be
applied to the spindle or shaft of a sewing machine in a similar manner
to that in which grindstones for sharpening the needle have before been
applied, the scissors' blades in such case being held or directed by the
guiding piece while the sharpening portion of the device or cutting
surface of the file rotates.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents the manner in
which the sharpener is employed; Fig. 2 is a back view of the
sharpener; Fig. 3, an edge view; and Fig. 4, a transverse section
of the same.
Although the construction of the sharpener in matters of detail
may be more or less varied, the following description of it will
suffice to explain how the same may be made for use. The sharpener
is shewn as formed of a circular bevil-edged piece A having file teeth
on its circumference, and provided with a round hole through the
centre at B, by which it is connected with a circular guide piece C of
greater diameter. This guide piece has a central hollow or tubular
cylindrical protuberance a, which in connecting the two pieces A and C
is put through the hole B of the file piece A, and is swaged out around
the outer edge of the same, thus holding the two firmly together. The
hole through the centre of the instrument thus produced allows the
same to be held in a convenient manner between the thumb and fore-

page_text: finger of the operator. In order to allow the file piece A to be set in
more the piece C may be made slightly dished bringing its projecting
portion when the two pieces are put together more nearly towards the
centre of the circumferential edge of the file. It will be seen that the
smaller side or diameter of the file A is placed next to the guide piece,
thus forming a sort of gulley, as it were, for the edge of the scissors blade
to be passed in during the operation of sharpening, which is performed
as follows: The sharpener is held firmly by the forefinger and thumb
of the left hand pressing upon the edges of the hole through the centre;
the scissors are taken in the right hand and the bevilled sides of the
blades successively drawn across the cutting surface or edge of the file,
the guide piece during such action directing the flat side of the blade
and preventing the latter from slipping off.
When it is desired to attach the device to the spindle or shaft of a
sewing machine, then the hole B through it should be made of polygonal
or other suitable form so as to secure its being driven by the spindle and
to admit of its ready attachment to and detachment therefrom.
One great utility of this Invention is the convenience with which it
does its work and facility with which it may be carried in the smallest
work box or basket; its expense too is but trifling, while it saves the
expense and annoyance of frequently sending scissors out to be ground
or sharpened.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention as communi-
cated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim the combination of
the bevil-edged circular file and guide piece arranged for joint action,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-third day of March, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.s.)