A METHOD FOR BETTER SECURING THE BLADES OF TABLE KNIVES AND FORKS IN THE HANDLES, BY MEANS OF CAPS BEING SOLDERED UPON THE TANGS, WHETHER OF IRON, STEEL, OR OTHER MATERIAL, AFTER THE HANDLES WERE UPON THEM
Year: 1820

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JONATHAN
BROWNILL, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Table Knife Cutler, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Fourth, in and by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Eighth day of June last, after reciting (amongst other things)
that I, the said Jonathan Brownill, had, by my Petition, humbly represented
unto His said Majesty that I had, after much study and application, found out
and invented "A METHOD FOR BETTER SECURING THE BLADES OF TABLE KNIVES
AND FORKS IN THE HANDLES, BY MEANS OF CAPS BEING SOLDERED UPON THE TANGS,
WHETHER OF IRON, STEEL, OR OTHER MATERIAL, AFTER THE HANDLES WERE UPON
THEM," which Invention I believed would be of much benefit and utility,
for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto me, the said
Jonathan Brownill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Jonathan
Brownill, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by.
myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or
agents, or such others as I, the said Jonathan Brownill my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein
expressed should and lawfully might have, use, exercise, and vend my said
Invention within that part of His Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain

page_text: and Ireland called England, His Majesty's Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said Jonathan Brownill,
my executors, administrator, or assigns, or any of them, should in my or
their discretions seem meet, and that I, the said Jonathan Brownill, my execu
tors, administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and enjoy the
whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage, from time to time coming,
growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said Invention, for and during
the term of years therein mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said
licence, powers, privileges, and advantages therein-before granted or mentioned
to be granted unto me, the said Jonathan Brownill, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, for the term of fourteen years from the date of the
now reciting Letters Patent next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be
complete and ended, according to the Statute in such case made and provided;
in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the
said Jonathan Brownill, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully.
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that, in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Jonathan Brownill, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention by the following description thereof, that is to say:-
That part of the knife or fork called the tang, whether a scale tang or
round tang, I make of sufficient length to go through the handle, and project as
much through it as is requisite for. the soldering and fastening of the cap upon
it. I tin the end of the tang in the manner in which iron or other metal is
generally tinned; that is, by dipping it, when cleaned, into water wherein sal
ammoniac has been dissolved, or otherwise, and by then putting it into hot
tin, and unless the handle will bear the heat requisite in the process of such
tinning, I tin the tang before it is put into the handle; and, as a further
security for the keeping on of the cap, I spread or beat out the end of the tang,
if a round tang, or make what is called a gainshire, or drill a hole through
the tang, whether a scale tang or round tang, in that part which projects
through the handle, so that the metal or solder may take hold of, or otherwise
pass through either kind of tang, thus
; but if such tang be of a

page_text: of spreading or beating out the tang, making the gainshire, or drilling the
the hole, is not very essential, and is only used by me in cases when much
strength is required; and in some cases I put a small piece of wire through
the hole above described, thus
+
; or, when there is
a fear of the solder not taking sufficient hold of the tang, I make that part of
the tang, if round, which projects, square, and put upon it, in the first instance
a strong tinned inner cap, by making a square hole in the centre of the cap,
so as to fit tight upon the tang, and then cutting off the tang, so as to leave
sufficient to make what is called a good rivet by hammering it upon the end.
This inner cap being thus firmly secured, when I unite the other or outer cap
I put in as much solder as will fill the vacuum between the two caps, the
end of the tang where is the rivet being first made clean and tinned as before
specified. The tang being thus prepared, or the inner cap being fixed as
above mentioned, I prepare the outer cap, of whatever material it is made,
being always hollow or dished, in manner following:-I tin it when made of
iron in the inside by the process before mentioned. If made of silver, copper,
brass, or any similar metal, it is only needful to make the inside of the cap
clean, and to put a little resin with the solder, and when of sufficient heat it
will cause the solder to unite firmly with the cap. When the cap is sufficiently
filled with solder and also sufficiently heated, the tang of the blade must be
put into it whilst thus hot; and when I am satisfied the cap is pressed close to
the handle, and in the situation in which I wish it to be, I raise it up and put
it into cold water, so that the handle may n t be damaged by the heat of the
metal or solder. The solder I use in the above processes is made of tin and
lead, being of the same kind as is generally used by plumbers and others.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second
day of August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
JONATHAN (L.S.) BROWNILL.
Signed, sealed, and delivered (being
first duly stamped), by the within-
named Jonathan Brownill, the
party in the presence of us,
JOHN BROWNILL
Sheffield,
Cutler.
JOHN DARWIN,
Sheffield.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of August, in
the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Jonathan Brownill came before our
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.