IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIVES AND FORKS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
NICHOLAS GREENING, of the firm of Messieurs Burdekins and Greening, of
Sheffield, Cutlery Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Seventeenth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Nicholas Greening, my exors, adñiors; and assigns, Her especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Thomas
Nicholas Greening, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, or such others as I', the said
Thomas Nicholas Greening, my exors, adiñors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term
of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make; use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN KNIVES AND FORKS;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Nicholas Greening,
should cause a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the sanie, reference being.
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said.
Thomas Nicholas Greening, do hereby declare that the nature of the said

page_text: Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
As table knives and forks are now ordinarily manufactured, the blade or fork
is secured to the handle by inserting the tang of the blade or fork into a hole
bored out for it in the centre of the handle (the tang being generally much
shorter than the handle), and filling in with resin; and when it is intended that
the handle should balance the blade or prong, the hole is enlarged for the pur-
pose of containing a quantity of lead sufficient to complete the required counter-
poise. Now, knives and forks when thus made up are very apt to become
loose in their handles from the shrinking or melting of the filling up com-
position under the strong heats to which such articles are commonly exposed,
especially in cleaning, and the handles themselves are apt to crack and split in
consequence of the thinness to which they are reduced by the extent to which
the hollowing out is carried in order to make room for the lead required to
produce a perfect balance. In small table knives and forks these defects are
particularly observable, the tang being often made so short, in order to leave
room for the quantity of lead required for the balance, that the blade or prong
after a few months' wear drops quite out of the handle. Now, my said
improvements consist in so connecting knives and forks to their handles that it
shall be impossible for them to become detached through mere tear and wear
under any circumstances, and so also that the introduction of lead into the
handles as a balance shall be rendered unnecessary. I effect these improve-
ments chiefly by making the tang of almost the entire length of the handle,
and carrying the hole in which it is inserted quite through the handle, so as to
admit of the tang being secured at its extreme end by means of a nut and
screw. The blade or fork can therefore be only separated from its handle by
purposely undoing the screw; and the tang, from its increased length, suffices
(or may be readily made to suffice), together with the encreased weight of the
handle itself, to balance the blade of the knife or prong of the fork. A plan
of the blade as thus constructed, detached from the handle, is given in
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings. A is the elongated tang, which is made
square at its inner end (to prevent the blade from turning round while in use),
and round towards the outer end, which is screw threaded. Figure 2 shews
the knife with the handle B on; C is the nut, which being screwed on to
the threaded end of the tang after it has been passed through the handle,
makes it fast in its place. For the sake of showing more clearly the office
which this nut performs, I have here represented it as projecting a little
beyond the end of the handle; but I prefer that it should be countersunk, and

page_text: made flush with the ivory or bone or other substance of which the handle is
composed, as it is then less exposed to be meddled with, and cannot be turned
by the fingor or hand alone. The square end of the tang is made to fit
tightly into the handle, and the handle is brought up flush against the bolster
of the blade or fork; but the better to secure the tang from becoming shaky
in its place (which is the worst that can ever happen), a little of the com-
position before mentioned may. be poured in wherever room can be found
for it.
If the knife or fork is made with a ferule, the connection between the blade
or fork and handle may be still farther strengthened by making the outer end
of the bolster of the blade or fork of the same shape or configuration as the
inner end of the handle, and fitting the ferulo part on the bolster and part on
the handle, as shewn in Fig. 3, where F represents the ferule.
I have not given any separate Drawings of a fork constructed according to
my Invention, because the improvements before described are all equally
applicable to forks as to knives.
The blades and prongs of knives and forks on this improved form of con-
struction will wear out long before the handles are in the least impaired; but
in that case, it will only bo necessary to undo the screws (which any competent
workman can readily do with suitable tools), and to substitute a new set of
blades and prongs. The saving of expense will in this way be very considerable,
especially where the handles are made of any valuable material, as ivory or
agate.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that the improvements which
I claim as constituting my said Invention are,―
First, the making of knives and forks with tangs of almost the same length
as the handles, and passing nearly but not quite through the same, and made
fast at the extreme ends thereof by nuts and screws, as before described.
Second, the making the tangs of knives and forks when elongated, as afore-
said, of such size or weight that they shall serve, with the weight of the
handles themselves, as a counterpoise to the blades and forks.
And, third, the making of knives and forks with ferules covering in part
the bolster and in part the handle, as before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Nicholas Greening, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
THOMAS N. (L.s.) GREENING.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Seventeenth day of October,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Thomas Nicholas Greening came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.