Improvements in Pencil Sharpeners.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 31st July, 1893-Accepted, 2nd Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Pencil Sharpeners.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of No. 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of
Middlesex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has
been communicated to me from abroad by The Eagle Pencil Company of New
York City, State of New York United States of America) and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
It is the object of this invention to produce a cheap and efficient pencil sharpener
in the form of a lead pencil attachment that is to say a sharpener which can be
fitted and applied to the end of a pencil and sold with it just as a rubber tip
now is.
To this end the sharpener is made of sheet metal which forms not only the body
of the sharpener proper, but also the holder by which the sharpener is held on the
pencil. The whole device is formed in one from a sheet metal blank which is first
cut out in the proper shape from the sheet, and is then swaged or struck up into its
ultimate form, furnishing the couical longitudinally slotted sharpener cap or tip with
a bed along the slot for receiving and holding the knife, and a tubular neck by
which it is fitted to and held on the pencil.
In the accompanying drawing:-
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the sharpener fitted as a tip on the end of a
pencil.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same.
Figure 3 is a cross section taken on the line 3-3 Figure 1 and
Figure 4 is a view of the blank from which the article is made.
C
The attachment has a tubular neck, which in this instance is composed of two
spring jaws a a enclosed by a sliding sheet metal clamping ring a. These jaws are
surmounted by the conical hollow body of the sharpener proper having in one side
a longitudinal slot bordered ou one edge by a knife bed, composed of two lips d
between which is held the knife & the edge of which is parallel with and projects a
suitable distance into the slot to furnish the cutting edge for the point of the pencil.
The knife is held to the lips by eyelets or rivets n which pass through the lips and
holes in. the intervening blade or it may be there held by solder which also secures
the 'ps together; or it may be held in place in any other convenient way. A
flang o e situated at the edge of one of the lips may be employed to be bent over
mpo;, the other lip so as to still further hold the two together but this flange may be
dispensed with. At the extreme end of the conical tip is the nozzle f, into which
the pointed end of the lead extends when the pencil is being sharpened.
Referring to the blank shewn in Figure 4, the jaws are formed by the prongs a;
is the part from which the hollow body of the sharpener is formned; c is the slot ;
the portions marked d are the lips; and e is the flange on the edge of one of
the l
ps.
By suitable tools and formers, this blank is struck up or swaged into the form
shewn in Figure 1 as will be understood without further explanation.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
ion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A sheet metal sharpener attachment for lead pencils the said attachment being
formed in one piece, with a tubular neck to fit on the body of the pencil, a conical
longitudinally slotted bod v surmounting the neck, and a knife bed at the edge of the

page_text: slot, a knife blade being applied and secured to the bed, substantially as hereinbefore
set forth and shewn.
2. A sheet metal sharpener attachment for lead pencils the said attachment having
a tubular clasping neck to fit on the body of the pencil, a conical longitudinally
slotted body, a knife bed composed of two lips d fastened together and situated at
the edge of the slot and a knife blade placed between the two lips and secured thereto
as hereinbefore set forth and shewn.
3. The pencil sharpener sheet metal blank comprising essentially the prongs a a,
the body part, the slot e and the lip portions d d as hereinbefore described and
shewn.
Dated this 31st day of July 1893
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.