AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HONE
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HONE."-A
communication.
Sealed the 16th June 1854, and dated the 30th March 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1854.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF HONE" to be as
follows:-
It is known that the edge of a razor which has been recently ground upon
a cutler's wheel is superior to that which it can ever possess after being set
upon a flat hone; this is owing to the extreme thinness which is given to its
edge by the hollowing of the sides of the blade.
Now the object of the present Invention is to produce a hone which shall
keep the edge of the razor always thin, without at any time injuring it, even
though it be used by unskilful hands.
To this end, the grinding or acting surface of the hone is composed of a
convex metal disc, being a portion of the surface of a sphere, of, say, from 10

page_text: to 15 inches radius. This surface may be of iron, zinc, lead, or other metal,
but the material preferred is sheet tin.
The convex surface is attached to a handle, which may be hollow, to form a
rocanteals for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
"
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alfred Vincent 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 term 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 CONSTRUCTION OF HONE," being a communication from abroad,
upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my. hand and seal, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent 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):-
(T.
It is known that the edge of a razor which has been recently ground upon a
cutler's wheel is superior to that which it can ever possess after being set upon
ith

page_text: a flat hone; this is owing to the extreme thinness which is given to its edge
by the hollowing of the sides of the blade, as shewn in the accompanying
Drawing at Fig. 1, which is a section through the blade of a razor.
To imitate the operation produced upon the blade by a cutler's wheel, razor
strops have been made curved in one direction, as represented at Fig. 2. This
device may be made to answer a very good purpose in a razor strop, but will
never answer for a hone, as in unskilful hands or without the extremest care
the edge of the blade would be destroyed upon the edges a, a'.
To avoid this inconvenience, and at the same time to produce a hone which
shall keep the edge of the razor always thin, without at any time injuring it.
even though it be used ever so carelessly, or in ever so unskilful hands, is the
object of the present. Invention; which consists in making the hone of a portion
of the surface of a sphere, as represented at Figures 3 and 4, (Fig. 3 being a
perspective view; and Fig. 4, a cross section of the hone,) upon which, it will
be perceived, a razor may be honed in the most careless manner, or by the
most unskilful person, without danger of injury to the cutting edge.
To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the improved hone, I
will proceed to describe it and the manner in which it is made and operated;
6 is a convex disc of suitable metal, being a portion of the surface of a sphere of
from ten to fifteen inches radius. This surface may be of iron, zinc, lead, or
other metal, but the material preferred is sheet tin, the discs being struck into
a convex form by dies. The convex surface thus formed is suitably attached to
a handle c, which is made hollow, to accommodate a receptacle for the paste or
grit to be used with the hone; this may be ground emery, or any other suitable
cutting substance.
A portion of the paste, or of any suitable cutting substance, is spread upon
the convex surface of the hone, with sufficient oil to enable it to work freely,
and the razor is then honed thereon. It is evident that, as before stated,
however carelessly the hone may be used, there can be no danger of injury to
the razor, while at the same time the thin edge and concave blade is obtained,
heretofore only attainable by the use of the cutler's wheel.
Having now explained the nature of the Invention of "An Improved Con-
struction of Hone," as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and
set forth the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not claim making razor strops curved in one direction, or of
portions of the surface of a cylinder, as this has been done before; neither do
I claim the use of metal of any description as a material for making hones.
But what I do claim, and desire to secure under the above in part recited

page_text: Letters Patent is, making the grinding surface of hones for sharpening razors
convex, or of portions of the surface of a sphere, in the manner and for the
purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
FRED WALKDEN,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)