IMPROVEMENTS IN SCISSORS OR HAND-SHEARS.
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Gatton Melhuish Hardingham; of 191, Fleet
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for an
LETTERS PATENT to George Gatton Melhuish Hardingham; of 191, Fleet
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SCISSORS OR HAND-SHEARS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Gatton Melhuish
Hardingham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd July
1881..
GEORGE GATTON MELHUISH HARDINGHAM, of 191, Fleet Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN SCISSORS OR
HAND-SHEARS."
My Invention relates to a method of constructing scissors or shears in such a
manner as to render certain portions of the band in which the instrument is held
or to which it is attached applicable for useful purposes, which have at present
generally to be performed by the other hand. To render my meaning more clear
it may be mentioned that certain fruits, flowers, vegetables, and other objects are
commonly taken hold of by one hand, whilst their stalks or connections are severed
with scissors held in the other hand. If a basket or other receptacle for the
articles alluded to bas to be carried, inconvenience and loss of time result, to avoid
which my Invention is designed.
The improved scissors or shears constructed according to my Invention consist of
two blades hinged or jointed at one end or attached together by thin spring-metal,
like ordinary hand-shears. On one of the blades I form, or to it I fit, a short
tube or sheath of such size as to fit the fore-finger. The other blade is maintained
normally in an open position by a spring, but may, when a severing operation is
required to be performed, be depressed or actuated by the thumb of the same hand
that carries the said scissors or shears. In use the opening or outer ends of the
blades point in a direction corresponding with or slightly inclining inwards from
that of the fore-finger. The most favourable position for the blades, relatively
both to the circumference and axis of the fore-finger, may however be readily
determined by experiment.
The object under treatment is held, both before and after severance, between the
remaining fingers, or between those fingers and the palm of the hand, and the other
hand remains free for employment otherwise. In certain instances the operating
band instead of grasping the article to be detached, is held underneath it, and
ready to receive it after being severed by the scissors or shears operated by the
thumb and fore-finger of the same band.

page_text: spring bow, such as F; or the spring bow may be formed on one of the blades and
the other blade attached to the bow, if more convenient for manufacturing
purposes or for affording facilities for sharpening the blades; or the bow itself
may be divided and fastened together with rivets, screws, or otherwise.
Fig. 5 represents in perspective another method of construction I sometimes
employ. In this instance the blades, spring bow, finger sheath, and thumb plate
are formed out of a single piece of sheet metal. A, A¹, are the blades; a, the
thumb plate; C, the sheath; and F the spring bow.
It is manifest that a further slight modification might be devised by forming
the sheath and one of the blades of one piece of metal, mounting the other blade
thereon, and providing the latter with a gun-lock, feather, bow, or other spring.
In any case the instrument is used in the following manner:-The tube or
sheath C is placed on the fore-finger, to which it fits with a fair degree of closeness.
The scissor or shear blades A, A', having been adjusted on the sheath at the most
favourable angle relatively to the axis thereof, and placed upon the forefinger in
the most favourable position relatively to the circumference thereof, the article to
be operated upon is grasped between two of the fingers, or between the palm and
fingers (according to the circumstances) of the same hand, and the thumb being
now applied to the thumb-plate a or outer blade A' the latter is closed upon the
blade A and a severance of the article is accomplished, the said article remaining
grasped between the fingers, or between the palm of the band and the fingers, as
the case may be. In some instances the fingers instead of grasping the article to
be detached are extended underneath it, and when severed it falls upon the fingers
or palm of the operating hand.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that
I neither confine myself to the precise details hereinbefore described and illustrated
on the accompanying Drawings, nor to the proportions and relative positions of
the various parts of the apparatus portrayed, as many of these may be modified or
varied without departing from the principle of my Invention, but what I consider
to be novel, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
On a finger sheath or its equivalent forming or mounting a pair of scissor
or shear blades, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Gatton Melhuish Hardingham, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the
year of our Lord 1882.
G. G. M. HARDINGHAM,
(L.S.)