IMPROVED BREAD-LOAF CUTTER
Year: 1883

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Mereweather.Ford
"AN
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th February 1883.
DANIEL MEREWEATHER FORD of the City and County of Bristol,
IMPROVED BREAD-LOAF CUTTER,"
This Invention is designed to give a regular series of cleanly cut radial incisions
to the upper portions of bread-loaves, and thus to impart thereto the desired
ornamental appearance without unduly depressing and flattening the said portions.
It consists of an instrument constructed as follows:-A series of cutters or
knives, sharpened to the desired degree, are arranged radially around a central
handle and are carried in slots or recesses formed in a boss at the lower end of the
handle. The knives are curved downwards so as to impinge upon and embrace
the top of the upper portion of a loaf, and, when the point in which the aforesaid
central boss terminates, is impressed upon the top of the loaf, the edges of the
knives penetrate the bread and produce the series of radial incisions aforesaid.
The spaces between the knives being open beyond the boss, pressure is not
exerted upon the portions of the loaf intervening between the knives, so that the
top of the loaf retains the desired rounded shape.
A collar or band is placed above the central boss and bears on the backs of the
knives above the recesses in which they are carried. A bolt or pin, passed through
the handle of the instrument and bearing upon the said collar, maintains the
knives secure. The knives are readily removed for sharpening, replacement or
other purpose, and, being of steel, they do not injuriously affect the quality of the
bread

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Daniel Mereweather Ford in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 17th August 1883.
DANIEL MEREWEATHER FORD of the Oity and County of Bristol AN IMPROVED
BREAD-LOAF CUTTER
My said invention is designed to give a regular series of cleanly cut radial
incisions to the upper portions of bread loaves while in the unbaked state and
thus to impart thereto the desired ornamental appearance without unduly depressing
and flattening the said portions.
It consists of an instrument constructed as follows:
A series of eutters or knives sharpened to the desired degree is arranged radially
around a central handle towards the lower end of which handle-is formed a boss
in which the knives or cutters are carried. The knives are curved downwards so
as to impinge upon and partially embrace the top of the upper portion of a loaf,
and, when the point in which the aforesaid central boss terminates is impressed
upon the top of the loaf, the edges of the knives penetrate the bread and produce
the series of radial incisions aforesaid.
A collar or band is placed above the central boss and bears on the backs of the
knives above the recesses in which they are carried in the boss. A bolt or pin,
passed through the handle of the instrument and bearing upon the_said_collar,
maintains the knives secure.
And in order that my said invention may be properly understood and the mode
or manner in or under which the same is carried into practical effect, I now proceed
more particularly to describe the same, reference being had to the accompanying
sheet of illustrative drawings and the letters and figures marked thereon.
Fig. 1 represents a view, partly in vertical section and partly in elevation, of an
example of my improved bread-loaf cutter. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same, a portion
of the collar or band D being removed. The knives or cutters A, a section of one
of which taken immediately beyond the outer face of the collar D is shown at
Fig. 3, are arranged radially around a central handle B and are hollowed out
towards their inner ends and carried in corresponding slots or recesses formed in
the boss C at the lower end of the handle B. They are curved downwards so as
to impinge upon and partially embrace the top of the upper portion of a loaf, and,
when the point c in which the boss C terminates is impressed upon the top of an
unbaked loaf, the edges of the knives penetrate the bread and produce a corre⚫
sponding series of radial incisions. The collar or band D, placed above the central
boss C, bears on the backs of the knives A, as shown. The pin or bolt F, passed
into a hole made therefor in the handle B, bears upon the top of the collar or
band D. The knives are thus maintained securely in position.
The spaces
between the knives or cutters A being open beyond the collar D, pressure is not
exerted upon the portions of the loaf intervening between the knives, and the
desired rounded shape of the top of the loaf is retained. On removing the pin
or bolt F and collar D, the knives may be readily withdrawn for sharpening or
other purpose, and, being of steel, they do not injuriously affect the quality of the
bread.
Having now described my said invention and the mode or manner in or under

page_text: which the same may be used or practically carried into effect, I claim as the
invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent.
The bread-loaf cutter constructed and arranged substantially as, and for the
purpose, hereinbefore described and shown on the accompanying sheet of drawings.
In witness whereof I, the said Daniel Mereweather Ford have hereunto set my
hand and seal this sixteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty three.
DANIEL MEREWEATHER FORD (L.S.)