Knives during Cleaning.
Year: 1888

page_text: Knives during Cleaning.
I, THOMAS COLDWELL, of 220 Upper Thames Street, City of London, Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates, 1st. To a novel construction of knife cleaning appliance or
strop composed of two battens slightly bent or curved and connected at one end by
a bolt adjustable or otherwise to regulate the degree of bite to enable the appliance to
be accomodated to suit the knives to be cleaned whether ordinary table, cheese, or
carvers. The battens at the bolt end are saw cut or split for some distance of their
length whereby springy ends are formed, the divided or split portions being kept apart
by a strip of leather, floor cloth, or the like as a liner, springs may be applied at the
ends. The inner surfaces of the two battens have strips of felt or other yielding
substance secured to them transversely with intervals preferably diametrically opposite
to each other and these strips are covered by straps of leather, kamptulicon, or other
material, the exposed. surfaces of which may be coated with fine emery powder, crocus,
or other cleaning agent.
The transverse strips and the longitudinal strips or straps with the spaces between
the strips constitute a kind of wavy or undulalory crevice to ensure the article when
in use as a knife cleaner to operate on the thin part of the blade of a knife as well as
on the thick part, the operation being performed by a to and fro operation of the
apparatus while the knife handle is fixed in a kind of clamp which forms the second
part of my invention.
'
This clamp is composed of a base for resting upon, say, a table and has two legs
capable of being pressed against the edge of the table. The base portion is somewhat
elongated and has pivotted in a slot a kind of tumbler lever which when the upper end
is thrown back causes the lower tail end to bear upon the table and lift the base of the
clamp from the table to leave a gap between the head of the tumbler and two ears of
the clamp piece for the insertion of the knife bandle, which by a slight pressure on the
two ears causes the tail end of the tumbler piece to yield for its head to press against

page_text: the knife handle and hold it firmly clamped therein. The two ears and the face of the
tumbler piece are notched for the reception of the knife handle.
Between the ears a flat surface is formed and this may be covered with leather,
kamptulicon, or other material to enable the backs. of the knives to be cleaned after
their removal from the clamp.
H. GARDNER,
166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Thomas Coldwell.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Knife Cleaners and an Appliance for Holding
Knives during Cleaning.
I, THOMAS COLDWELL, of 220 Upper Thames Street, City of London, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of this invention is to construct a knife cleaner, in which the leather, or
other material used for knife cleaning purposes is of a wavy or undulating character,
produced either by narrow strips placed at intervals between the cleaning leather and
a strip of wood to which the leather and the narrow strips are attached, or by shaping
the strips of wood, so that the leather, or other material secured to it, conforms to said
shape.
I use two of such strips of wood, with leather or other material secured to them,
and I connect, one or both ends of the strips by springs to obtain the necessary
pressure upon a knife when placed between them.
⋅
Instead of moving the knife to and fro between the cleaning surfaces, I purpose
fixing the handle of the knife between a clamp and to move the knife cleaner to and
fro upon the knife.
The annexed drawings show my invention.
According to Figure 1, I take two strips of wood A, A, and fit narrow cross
pieces B at intervals in such a manner as to leave intervening spaces between the strips,
so that the strips of the opposite board forces the leather, or other knife cleaning
material C, into said hollows, whereby I produce an undulating, or wavy surface to
both leathers.

page_text: One end of each of the two boards are saw cut on the flat, and through these ends I
pass a bolt, or other clipping device D, leaving the opposite ends free to be gripped
by the hand.
The two boards A, A, are of curved shape, so that by gripping the handles E, E, and
pinching them together will put sufficient pressure upon the knife for cleaning it.
Emery flour, or other cleaning agent can be supplied to the leathers preferably by a
small box F, as at Figure 2, the top board A being perforated corresponding with the
hole in the box F for the passage of the Emery.
At Figure 2, I show both ends of the boards A, A, held in close contact by
springs G, G, the lower board being longer than the upper one so as to serve as a
handle.
In Figure 2, the two boards A, A, are cut with undulating surfaces for producing
the wavy crevice, into which the knife blade is passed.
Figure 3 is a similar knife cleaner to that shown at Figure 1, except that the two
ends are connected by coiled springs G, G, the ends of which springs are secured to
one board, a portion being looped to press upon the other board, as at Figure 4, which
shows a plan view.
According to Figure 5, each batten is composed of narrow strips of leather, laced,
or strung upon wires, the narrow strips of leather being forced into close contact to
produce rigidity. The inner faces are undulatory as before described for knife
cleaning purposes and are held together by clip springs G, G.
Figures 6 and 7 are elevation and top plan view of a clamp, which can be laid upon
a table with the stud H pressed against the edge. A knife handle is to be placed in
the hollow J and the flap K pressed down upon it, which fixes the knife in the hollow J
by a pressure of the hand. The projecting blade is inserted between the two
leathers C, C, of the knife cleaner, which by a movement to and fro cleans the knife
very rapidly, the undulating surface of the two leathers causing the blade to be cleaned
from edge to back in a perfect manner.
I fit the clamp (Figures 5 and 6) with a piece of leather L, on which the back of
the knife can be rubbed after the blade has been cleaned.
The clamp may be dispensed with and the lower board A of the knife cleaner may
be fixed to a bench and the knife moved to and fro between the two undulating
surfaces C, C, to be cleaned.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. A knife cleaner, in which the cleaning surfaces are of an undulating, or wavy
character and put in close contact by springs, or otherwise, substantially as shown on
the annexed drawings.
2. The clamp, Figures 5 and 6 of the annexed drawings, for fixing the handle of
the knife in position while the cleaning apparatus, Figures 1, 2, or 3, having undulating
cleaning surfaces, is moved in contact with the knife blade, as described.
The
OPAR do At Lacomba 1KKY
H. GARDNER,
166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Thomas Coldwell.
H. GARDNER,
166, Fleet Street, London,
Agent for the said Thomas Coldwell.