IMPROVEMENTS IN the ManufactuRE OF SPOONS AND FORKS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield, both of
139, Arundel Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN the ManufactuRE OF SPOONS AND FORKS."
Sealed the 25th April 1871, and dated the 2nd March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joshua Maxfield and
John Maxfield at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 2nd March 1871.
WC, JOSHUA MAXFIELD and JOHN MAXFIELD, both of 139, Arundel
Street, Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS AND
FORKS," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in manufacturing spoons and forks blanks of the shape
of the spoon or fork have first been punched out from sheet metal,
and if the spoon or fork was to have a pattern impressed upon it tho

page_text: "
blank has subsequently been pressed between dics. The pressing of
the blank between dies to produce a pattern upon it forms a
"burr
Or ‹
fache" around the edge of the blank, and this burr or fache has
heretofore subsequently been removed by filing. The removing of tho
burr or fache by filing is expensive and tedious, and requires to be done
by skilled workmen.
According to our Invention, in place of removing the burr or facho
from the impressed blank by hand filing, as heretofore, we cut it off by
means of cutting tools. The blank with the burr upon it is for this
purpose placed upon a bed having a slot of the shape of the spoon or
fork formed through it, and a corresponding cutting punch is then
brought down on to it and cuts off the burr, leaving the spoon or fork
free to fall through the slot. By cutting off the burr or fache in the
manner above described not only can it be removed at less cost than
heretofore, but in addition the several spoons or forks can all be formed 1
of the same shape and size one with the other, a result which cannot
be obtained by hand filing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, Joshua
MAXFIELD and JOHN MAXFIELD, both of 139, Arundel Street, Sheffield,
in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Palent, bearing date the Second day of March, in tho 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 us, the said Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield,
Her special license that we, the said Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield,
our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield, our 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SPOONS
AND FORKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Joshua Maxfield and John Maxfield, our executors or administrators,
5 by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and scal of one of us or them, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
Odiately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joshua Maxfield, on behalf of
myself and the said John Maxfield, 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
5 statement thereof, that is to say :-
"
Heretofore in manufacturing spoons and forks blanks of the shape of
the spoon or fork have first been punched out from sheet metal, and if
the spoon or fork was to have a pattern impressed upon it the blank has
subsequently been pressed between dies. The pressing of the blank
) between dies to produce a pattern upon it forms a "burr" or "fache'
around the edge of the blank, and this burr or fache has heretofore
subsequently been removed by filing. The removing of the burr or
fache by filing is expensive and tedious and requires to be done by skilled
workmen.
According to our Invention in place of removing the burr or fache
from the impressed blank by hand filing as heretofore we cut it off by
means of cutting tools; the blank with the burr upon it is for this
purpose placed upon a bed having a slot of the shape of the spoon or fork
formed through it, and a corresponding cutting punch is then brought
down on to it and cuts off the burr, leaving the spoon or fork free to fall
through the slot. By cutting off the burr or fache in the manner above
described not only can it be removed at less cost than heretofore, but in
addition the several spoons or forks can all be formed of the same shape
and size one with the other, a result which cannot be obtained by hand
filing.
In the Drawing hereunto annexed we have shewn a pair of cutting

page_text: and end of tho handle of a spoon by pressing the handle between dies to
produce upon it the requisite pattern.
Figure 1 is a plan view, and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of the bed
and of the lower cutters carried by it; Figures 3 and 4 plan and end
view of one of the lower cutters; and Figures 5, 6, and 7 shew separate |
views of the cutting punch.
a is the bed of the cutting apparatus with a slot of the shape of the
handle formed through it. Above the sides of the portion of the slot,
which is of the shape of the handle, the bed has fixed to it cutters
a', a', the slot or space between which is of the exact shape of the:
handle; is the corresponding cutting punch, which is caused to
descend between the cutters. This punch is hollowed out on its under
side so that it shall not come into contact with the raised parts of tho
pattern previously impressed upon the handle, whilst the outer edge of
the cutting punch bears upon the handle all around its sides and end and
forms a sharp cutting edge. The cutting punch 6 has a stem b¹ formed
upon it, by which it is fixed to the moving head of the stamping or
cutting machinery, and the punch works up and down through a slot in
the guide piece c, which is bolted down to the cast-iron bed a. A blank
of the shape of the spoon having had a pattern impressed upon its handle :
by dies in the ordinary manner and having then had a
"burr" or
"fache" formed around its edges is placed on to the top of the cutters a¹
with the “burr” or "fache" resting on the surface of the dic, whilst the
spoon itself fits exactly into the space or slot between such cutters. The
moving cutter & is then brought down on to the blank and forces the
blank down through the slot between the cutters a², thereby cutting off
the "burr or "fachic" all around its handle, and the spoon passes down
through the slot in the bed a. The burr or fache can thus rapidly and
at very small cost be cut off from the blanks. After the burr or fache
has been cut off the spoon or fork is finished in the ordinary manner as ;
when the burr or fache has been removed from the blank by filing, as
heretoforc.
"
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that what wo claim
as our improvements in. the manufacture of spoons and forks is, the
cutting off the “burr" or "fache" formed around the blanks by the act

page_text: of impressing a pattern upon it by means of cutting tools arranged
substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joshua Maxfield, have hcrcunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.