Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning Knives, Boots, Shoes, and Plate.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Feb., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Nov., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning Knives, Boots, Shoes,
and Plate.
I SAMUEL GEORGE BOARD of Stanley Grove, Sale, in the County of Chester,
Insurance Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The principal object of this invention is to construct a combined apparatus by
which knives, boots and shoes, and also plate may be cleaned and polished.
The knife cleaning appliance consists of two boards or plates mounted between
the two end frames of the machine at a suitable distance from each other.
The upper board or plate is movable upon hinges for inserting the knives which
are placed between these two boards or plates, the handles being firmly held in
sockets formed in beadings on the edges of the two boards or plates.
Two narrow straps of suitable material to which emery or other powder is
supplied pass, the one above and the other below, these knives and the said strips
are caused to travel over rollers in the same direction across the knives (from the
back to the edge) and so clean them, being pressed upon them by small rollers.
As the straps are thus travelling the knives are slowly moved (by rollers or
otherwise) across the straps until they have been cleaned from the handles to the
points. They can then be removed from the apparatus.
On the same frame which carries the above I mount two pairs of spindles so
fitted with a head or otherwise that two different sets of revolving brushes can be
fixed thereto, the one set for cleaning and polishing boots and shoes and the other
set for cleaning and polishing plate.
The spindles of each pair are arranged in bearings which are adjustable nearer
to or further from each other as desired, so that boots or other articles of differing
sizes can be cleaned and polished by the aforesaid brushes.
For polishing silver or other plate discs formed of or covered with buff leather
or other similar material are combined with circular brushes in regular sections, the
buff leather or other disc doing the smooth polishing without wearing the silver
unduly while the brush portion of the roller removes any polishing paste or
solution from the engraving.
A roller or other known appliance is used in combination with the brushes to
supply blacking or polishing paste thereto, and these appliances are interchangeable
according to the use to which the apparatus is to be put.
The spindles are preferably coupled or geared together. by an elastic driving
band passing round grooved pulleys.
Did this 22nd day of February 1892
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Cleaning Knives, Boots, Shoes,
and Plate.
I SAMUEL GEORGE BOARD of Stanley Grove Sale in the County of Chester
Insurance Agent, 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 principal object of this invention is to construct a combined apparatus by
which knives, boots and shoes and also plate may be cleaned and polished, and the

page_text: .
invention will be readily understood from the following description on reference to
the accompanying drawings of which
Fig. 1 (Sheet 1) is a front elevation Fig. 2 (Sheet 2) a transverse section and
Fig. 3 an end elevation of one of my improved machines.
The knife cleaning apparatus consists of two boards or plates a a' shewn partly
broken away on Fig. 1 mounted between the two end frames 66¹ of the machine
and at a suitable distance from each other.
The upper board a is movable upon hinges a* for inserting the knives c which
are placed between these two boards or plates a a', the handles c* being firmly
held in sockets formed in beadings on the edges of the two boards a a¹ or formed
as shown by the projecting strips a² on the lower board a', and preferably lined
with india rubber or other suitable yielding material. The upper board or plate
is also lined with similar yielding material to prevent scratching or injury to the
knife handles c* which are thus securely held between the two pieces a a¹.
a
Two narrow straps, in the form of endless bands d d of leather or other suitable
material (to which emery or other powder is supplied) are caused to clean the
knives c in the following manner.
The two bands d d are carried by two pairs of pulleys e e and ele¹. The two
pulleys e e are on a frame 2 attached to the side frame of the machine, and
one of them is driven by the bevil gear and band pulley g from the pulley g¹ on
the driving shaft h.
The two pulleys el e¹ for the upper band d' are carried by a frame i attached to
the underside of the table k of the machine and this table k is hinged to the side
frames bb' of the machine upon the pins at the back so as to allow of its being
lifted up like the lid of a box.
When the table top k is in position as shewn the lower running side of the upper
band d and the upper running side of the lower band d are in contact, and the
driving pulley e of the lower band d and the pulley e' above it exert sufficient
pressure to cause both bands d and d¹ to be driven in the same direction, across the
blade of the knives to be cleaned.
The knife frame (formed by the two boards or plates a a¹) is pushed back by
hand into position so that the shoulder end of the knife blade is between the
bands d d the part a¹ sliding upon suitable brackets &³ on the side frames b b¹, until
the desired position is attained.
The knife frame a a' is provided with a half nut m into which gears a screw n
rotated by a ratchet wheel n' and a pawl n² actuated by an eccentric e² revolving
with one of the pulleys e¹.
The pawl n is held in gear with the wheel n¹ by the spring n³.
The knife frame is drawn forwards by this screw n and half nut m during the
cleaning of the knives and in order to assist in keeping the bands d d¹ in contact
with each other and thus give sufficient cleaning power upon the knife blades,
small rollers o o' are placed above and below the bands d d' at the points where the
knife blades pass through, the said rollers o o' being covered with india rubber or
other suitable material.
The action of this part of the machine is as follows:
The table top k is lifted up and with it the upper strap d' and feed screw n
which disengages itself from the half nut m and thus leaves the knife frame a a¹
free.
The latter is then pushed back by hand up to the bands d d' and the part a is
raised on its hinges. The knives are placed with their blades c across the lower
band d and their handles cx in the sockets a² and the top part a is closed down upon
them. The table top k is then brought down which brings the band d¹ in contact
with the knife blades c and the screw n into gear with the half nut m the machine
is set in motion by the treadle p and connecting rod or other equivalent
arrangement and the knives are thus drawn across the moving bands a d¹ and
cleaned from the handles to the points, and when they have been drawn out from
between the said bands the machine is stopped and the table raised to remove the

page_text: knives and substitute others if desired, or to repeat the operation upon the same
knives if necessary.
On the same frame which carries the above named mechanism I mount two pairs
of spindles rss so fitted with a screwed end or head that two sets of revolving
brushes can be fixed thereon, the one set for cleaning and polishing boots and the
other set for cleaning and polishing plate.
The spindles of each pair are arranged in bearings which are adjustable (as shewn
or otherwise) nearer to or further from each other as desired and they are driven
by their respective pulleys by means of elastic driving bands so that boots or other
articles of differing sizes can be cleaned and polished by the aforesaid brushes
without throwing the machinery out of gear.
I prefer to form the boot cleaning brushes as shown at t t on Fig. 1.
A roller or brush 2 contained in a box 3 carried by an arm is used for
supplying the blacking.
This box t is raised from the position shewn on Figs. 1 and 2 when required for
use into the position shown on Fig. 3 and retained there by pushing the knife
frame a beneath the projection t on the said box.
A similar box and lever u can be supplied for containing plate cleaning
mixture, as shewn or the box u³ can be interchangeable with the box t³ if preferred.
The brushes 2 and u² are rotated by the pulleys to and uº.
For polishing silver or other plate, discs formed of or covered with buff leather
or other similar material are by preference combined with circular brushes in
regular sections, the buff leather or other discs doing the smooth polishing without
wearing the silver unduly while the brush portion of the roller removes any
polishing paste or solution from the engraving.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what 1
claim is :-
1. The apparatus for cleaning knives boots or shoes and plate arranged in
combination substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the annexed
drawings.
2. The combination of a pair of travelling bands for cleaning knives with a frame
for holding the said knives the said frame being moved automatically to draw the
knives across the bands and so clean their whole length substantially as herein-
before described and illustrated by the annexed drawings.
3. Two brushes arranged in bearings which are adjustable one from the other at
the distance required according to the size of articles to be cleaned in combination
with elastic driving bands so that boots or other articles of differing sizes may be
cleaned without throwing the machinery out of gear substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the drawings annexed.
Dated this 21st day of November 1892.
GEO. DAVIES & SON,
4, St. Ann's Square, Manchester, Agents for the Applicant.