IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR OPENING PROVISION TINS OR METALLIC CASES AND EXTRACTING THE PRESERVED SUBSTANCES THEREFROM
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Yeates, of Portobello Road, Notting
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Cutler and Surgical Instrument
Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR OPENING
PROVISION TINS OR METALLIC CASES AND EXTRACTING THE PRESERVED
SUBSTANCES THEREFROM."
"
Sealed the 7th July 1871, and dated the 16th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Yeates at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
* 16th January 1871.
I, ROBERT YEATES, of Portobello Road, Notting Hill, in the County
of Middlesex, Cutler and Surgical Instrument Maker, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR OPENING
PROVISION TINS OR METALLIC CASES AND EXTRACTING THE PRESERVED SUBSTANCES
THEREFROM," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to the combination and employment of
a guide and guard to cutting lever blades in connection with punches.
(held or fitted within a handle, similar to pocket knives) for opening

page_text: tins or cases of preserved food, or as seperate instruments in wooden
handles, as also in the form of scissor forceps in which the tweezer-
shaped portions thereof are employed for lifting the preserved fish or
otherwise out of the oil contained in the tins whilst the beak or head
of the said forceps form the cutters in like manner to the lever blades
aforesaid, and consists in forming the said lever blades or forceps with
an angular projection to act as a fulcrum for the blade, as also as a
guide for directing the knife through the tin with greater uniformity
whilst cutting or opening the same.
Secondly. In employing in connection with the above a guard upon
the cutters, consisting of a turn or lip for retaining the hold of the said
knife or cutter upon the surface of the metal thus being cut through,
and thereby preventing the slipping of the blade whilst in opperation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Yeates in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
YEATES, of Portobello Road, Notting Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
Cutler and Surgical Instrument Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Yeates, Her special licence that I, the
said Robert Yeates, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Yeates, 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 "IMPROVED INSTRUMENTS FOR OPENING PROVISION
TINS OR METALLIC CASES AND EXTRACTING THE PRESERVED SUBSTANCES THERE--
FROM," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert
Yeates, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu

page_text: larly 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 Robert Yeates, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to
say) :-
-:
My Invention consists in the employment and mode of constructing
the blades of knives and similar instruments for opening or cutting
through hermetically closed tins or cases of preserved substances, so as to
enable the said operation to be more safely and uniformly performed
than hitherto, by providing the said blades or cutting instruments with
angular projecting studs and curves suitable for guiding and controlling
the knife in its horizontal and vertical course around the tin, and admit
of the said tins or cases under operation being cut through or opened
at the top or side, as circumstances may require, employing in like
manner scissor forceps (for uniting the cutting action with the extraction
of the preserved substances) in one or seperate instruments.
And in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood
and readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe the same by
the aid of the accompanying Drawings; reference being had to the
letters and figures thereon marked (that is to say): :-
Fig. 1 represents an horizontal view of one of my improved instru-
ments and mode of employing the same for punching and cutting
through, the side of a tin or case fitted in plain wooden handle; Fig. 2,
an edge view of the blade with handle removed; Figs. 3, 4, 5, and 6,
corresponding views showing modifications thereof; Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, and 14, similar corresponding views of instruments for
cutting vertically through the tins or cases aforesaid, as shown at
Figure 8; Fig. 15, horizontal and vertical cutters fitted to an ordinary
pocket knife; Figs. 16 and 17, side and edge views of cutting and
extracting forceps; Figs. 18 and 19, scissor tongs for lifting fruit or
other preserved substances out of the tins aforesaid; and Fig. 20, forceps
for removing or extracting preserved fish or otherwise from the said
tius or cases. In each Figure the same letters of reference denote similar
corresponding parts.

page_text: A, A, blade for cutting through the tin or case A¹; B, B, curved
fulcrum or claw projecting therefrom; C, C, guide stud; D, D, bearing
shoulder or fulcrum point for directing the cutting edge against the
inner side of the tin; E, E, drill pointed perforator for making the first
incision in the tin; F, F, handle; G, G, curved point forming the guard to
the cutting blades shown at Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17,
for retaining the hold of the said blade within the under surface of the
tins or cases so as to prevent its slipping out of the cut whilst in
operation; H and H', stud and point forming a guide for directing the
cutting action of the knife, as also for making the first incision in the
top of the tin or case for the curved point or guard aforesaid to enter.
In Figures 11, 12, 13, and 14, I, I, forms the piercing punch or
point; H, H, the guide, and G, the curved guard and cutter aforesaid;
J, J, the cutting beak or jaws of the forceps; K, K, ends of 'same for
extracting the contents of the tins; L, L, scissor tongs; M, M, fish
forceps.
In opening a tin or case by means of my improved instruments an
incision is first made with the punch or point aforesaid the knife is then
inserted so as to bring the guide stud or button to bear against the side
or top of the tin or canister whilst the curved point or guard of the
vertical cutter retains the hold of the blade and prevents its slipping
out.
In conclusion to the foregoing description I would here briefly note
that the said blades or cutters may be varied in shape and mode of
forming the same or receive such other modifications as in practise may
be found necessary. And I would further note that the said blades
may be fitted in seperate handles or in the form of the ordinary pocket
knives or with other blades, as at present.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed
and carried into effect, I would have it clearly understood that I do not
intend to confine myself to the precise details herein-before set forth
and described, as the same may be otherwise varied without departing
from the general principle of this my said Invention, nor do I claim as
new and of my said Invention the exclusive use of the several parts, com-
binations, and processes herein-before described, except when the same
are employed in and for the purposes of my said Invention, which I
hereby declare to consist in the construction and mode of employing the

page_text: guide guard and punch in conjunction with cutting and extracting
forceps and scissor tongs, either seperately or in combination with other
instruments, for the opening of provision tins and cases, in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Yeates, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
1
Witness,
B. F. WEATHERDON,
77, Chancery Lane.
ROBERT YEATES. (L.S.)