IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIPE-CLEANING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lewthwaite, of High Street, in the Borough
of Southwark, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIPE-CLEANING
MACHINES."
Scaled the 15th October 1867, and dated the 16th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lewthwaite at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
April 1867.
I, JOHN LEWTHWAITE, of High Street, in the Borough of Southwark, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIFE-
CLEANING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention relates to knife-cleaning machines and other
articles in which cylindrical brushes or polishers divided into segments are
employed, the segments being pressed outwards by springs. Hitherto there
has been no means of compelling these segments to move outwards and
inwards in a true radial line, and the machines have therefore worked
inefficiently.
My improvement consists in the employment of guides for causing the
segments to move radially; these guides preferably consist of radial grooves
or slots in end plates, into which pins or projections on the stocks of the
brushes take, or of radial slots in the stocks to receive radial ribs or projections
on the end plates.

page_text: The next part of my Invention consists in means of fixing the knife blades
in machines in which the knives are inserted through the sides of the outer
box or case. This part of my Invention consists in the employment of pins or
stops on the inner periphery of the outer box against which the backs of the
knife blades rest during the rotation of the brushes, and to allow the brushes
to pass these pins freely I make a division in the leather, felt, kamptulicon,
cloth, or other like material, when such is employed in the brushes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Lewthwaite in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
LEWTHWAITE, of High Street, in the Borough of Southwark, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Lewthwaite, Her special licence that I, the said John
Lewthwaite, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said John Lewthwaite, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIFE-CLEANING MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Lewthwaite, 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 calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lewthwaite, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being bad to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to knife-cleaning machines in

page_text: which cylindrical brushes or polishers divided into segments are employed,
the segments being pressed outwards by springs. Hitherto there has been
no means of compelling these segments to move outwards and inwards in a
true radial line, and the machines have therefore worked inefficiently.
My improvement consists in the employment of guides for causing the
segments to move radially; these guides preferably consist of radial slots or
grooves in the stocks of the brushes, into which radial ribs or projections on
end plates take, or of radial grooves or slots in the end plates, into which pins
or projections on the stocks take.
This improvement is represented in the accompanying Drawings of a knife-
cleaning machine. Figure 1 is a side elevation; Figure 2 a section through
A, B, of Figure 1; and Figure 3 a section through C, D, of Figure 2.
a, is the outer box; b, b, are the apertures through which the knife blades
are inserted; c, c, are a number of segments forming a cylindrical brush, as
shewn; d, d, are springs which press the segments outwards. The inner ends
of the springs bear upon flanges or circular ribs e, e, on an axle f, to which
rotary motion is imparted as desired by a handle g outside; h, h, are end
plates carried by the axle f; these plates have radial ribs i, i, which take into
corresponding grooves in the stocks or wooden portions of the segments c, c;
these ribs and grooves guide the segments and compel them to move in and
out in a true radial line. The turning of the handle rotates the end plates h, h,
segments c, c, and springs d, d, upon the axis f.
The next part of my Invention consists in means of fixing the knife blades
in machines in which the knives are inserted through the sides of the outer
box or case, as in the machine represented in the Drawings. This part of my
Invention consists in the employment of pins or stops on the inner periphery
of the outer box against which the backs of the knife blades rest during the
rotation of the brushes, and to allow the brushes to pass these pins freely I
make a division in the leather, felt, kamptulicon, cloth, or other like material
when such is employed in the brushes. k, k, represent the pins which act as
stops as just explained; they are in number equal to the apertures b, b,
through which the knife blades are inserted; 1, 1, represents the divisions in
the leather or other material used in the brushes to allow them to pass the
pins k, k, freely; sometimes I insert in the stocks strips of leather or other
suitable material placed in a slanting direction across the brushes, care
being taken that the ends of these strips shall not take against the pins k.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improve-
ments in Knife-cleaning Machines,"—

page_text: First, the employment of guides, substantially as herein-before described,
to cause the segments of the brushes or polishers to move radially.
Second, the employment of pins or stops, substantially as herein-before
described, to fix the knife blades inserted through the sides of the outer
box or case.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lewthwaite, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-seven.
JOHN LEWTHWAITE. (L.S.)