Year: 1887

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM ROBERT HARTIGAN, of Burlington,
Connecticut, United States of America, Manufacturer.]
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
This invention relates to an egg opener, and is designed to provide a device adapted
to cut and remove from an egg any portion of its shell. During the operation, the egg
can be held in any suitable cup or support, or it can be held in a person's hand.
While features employed in prior devices of this class are of utility, they have, at
the same time, certain defects in operation, which defects are obviated in the device
forming the subject matter of this invention."
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a plan view of an egg opener embodying my improvements.
Figure 2 is a detail view showing the interior of the joint.
a, a denote partly-circular jaws hinged or pivotted together and provided with the
handles b. The nature of the joint or pivot by which the jaws a are connected is
illustrated in Figure 2. Each jaw is provided with a cup e at the joint, the open faces
of which cups fit together. Inside the cup and around the pivot pin d is coiled the
wire spring e, the ends of which bear against the lugs which are inside the cups.
This spring in the relation already described, tends to keep the jaws a apart or open to
the desired extent, so that in using the device the user has simply to press the handles
together, the said handles opening again when released, from the action of the spring.
The distinct and peculiar feature of the present improvement is the employment of
teeth which are set to project from the inner sides of the partly-circular jaws. These
teeth are in the form of slim sharp spines of a length at least double the diameter of
the base, and separated from each other at the base and throughout by a definite
interval.
In using this device the egg is encircled at any desired point by the partly-circular
jaws, and then, by pressing the handles together, the spines are caused to enter,

page_text: penetrate and perforate the egg-shell, so that the egg-shell, comes apart at this line of
perforations with a clean and clear division.
In the said former devices referred to, the parts corresponding to the present partly-
circular jaws were described as "formed with either plain or serrated working jaws,"
and in the drawing the jaws were shown serrated, being provided with teeth resembling
in general the teeth of a saw. As hereinbefore pointed out, while this shape of the
said teeth is of utility, there is a serious defect in working as compared with the
working of the present improvement; this defect is the crushing of the egg-shell along
the line of separation into a number of fragments, a difficulty entirely avoided by the
use of the spine teeth hereinbefore described. An egg-shell is so peculiar and so
brittle in its nature that it cannot be separated along a given line cleanly and nicely by
any and every kind of cutting edge; the use of the peculiar spine teeth herein shown
and described effects the desired end perfectly. I have shown and described this device
as distinct and by itself; it is obvious that it may be combined with a cup or cups.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
The partly-circular jaws provided with spine teeth, substantially as described and
for the purpose set forth.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.