US2563373A - Knife sharpening machine - Google Patents

Description

A118? 7 1951 y E. ROEDER 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet l 67 fo HHM 5 65. 662

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Aug. 7, 1951 E. RoEDER 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947v 4 shegts-sheet 2 :Illll m um Aug. 7, 1951 E. RoEDx-:R 2,563,373

KNIFE SHARPENING MACHINE Filed July 5, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Aug 7, 1951 E. ROEDERA KNIFE SHAR-PENING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 5, 1947I 6 4 o a 5 J Z m Mw V ff/ f f 1/ l //H/ W a0 M z 11 zi. 1/ /f/r ,//f 1/ 7 u N Z w m 7 6 J my h il 40. l

Era/fo jaaederl Patented Aug. 7, 1951 UNITED STATS Fredi' OFFICE'v KNIFE sHARrENINo. MACHINE Erwin Roeder, Ebenezer, N. Y. Application July 5, 1947, serial No. 759,085

I'his invention relates to a knife-sharpening machine, and more particularly to that type of machine in which knife blades are removably held and sharpened at opposite sides thereof.

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a knife or blade Sharpener which is adapted to be power driven and is so constructed that a plurality of axially aligned sharpening disks are included, against opposing sides of which knives or knife blades are arranged to contact under desired pressures and in which improved means are provided to automatically withdraw the knives or blades from one disk and direct it against the surface of another so that both sides of the blades will be alternately acted upon and the blade sharpened to like degrees at opposite sides thereof.

A further object of my invention is to provide new and novel means for oscillating the knives r knife blades between sharpening and grinding elements so that opposite sides of the knife or blade are alternately acted upon with the bevel of both sides of the knife or blade finished at like angles.

A still further object of my invention is to provide means whereby the pressure of the knives or knife blades against the sharpening or grinding elements can be varied and whereby novel and positive means for oscillating the knives or knife blades are provided to assure action against the knives or knife blades to equal degrees at opposite sides thereof.

A still further object of my invention is to provide simple and effective means whereby the bevel 13 Claims. (Cl. 51-115) of the knife blade at its cutting edge can be easily varied to meet the requirements for which the particular knives or knife blades being sharpened are to be used.

With the above and other objects in view to appear hereinafter, my invention consists of the novel features of construction and in the arrangement and combination of parts to be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out in the subjoined claims.

In the drawing Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved knife sharpening or grinding machine.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the machine.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the same.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section taken on line 5 5, Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrow crossing said line.

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section taken on line 6 6, Fig. l looking in the direction of the arrow crossing said line.

Fig. 'l is a longitudinal section, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of one of the blade-tensioning means forming part of the blade oscillating `or reversing mechanism.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged section taken on line 8 8, Fig. 7.

Fig. 9 is a detailed view of the blade-carrying rock-shaft, its bearing, the standard or upright on which said bearing is formed, and a'portion of the frame on which the operating mechanism of my improved machine is mounted.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the upper end of one of the knife or blade-carrying rock-shafts, showing the anti-fricf tion thrust bearing associated with the standard in which said rock-shaft is secured.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged `transverse section taken on line H I'LFig. 5.

Fig. l2 is an enlarged vertical section through a portion of a rock-shaft standard or upright.r

Fig.13 is a detailed sectional view showing the manner of connecting the trip levers to the lower ends of the rock-shaft standards or uprights.

Fig. 14 is a detailed sectional view showing the manner of adjustably mounting the lower ends of the standards or uprights in which the knife or blade-carrying rock-shafts are journaled.

Fig. 15 is a longitudinal section of the bladeholder showing the same adjustably mounted on one of the knife or blade-carrying rock-shafts.

' Fig. 16 is a transverse section through one of the sprocket chains and the trip-roller carried thereby.

Reference being had to the drawings in detail, like numerals of reference refer to like yparts throughout the several figures of the drawings.'

The reference numeral 20 designates the frame or support of the machine which includes legs 2|, connecting a base 22 with a table 23, Formed integral with said framel or support is a hollow depending portion serving as a reservoir 24 which is open at the top and has the upper ends of its side and end walls connected to the table 23.

The frame or support, including the reservoir 24, may, as stated, be cast or otherwise fashioned in one integral piece, or if desired the reservoir may be formed separately and attached to the table portion of the frame or support.

The said table portion may be said to have an opening therein which forms the open top of the reservoir and at opposite sides of the opening the frame or support is provided with suitable bear--A ings 25, in which a drive shaft 26 is j ournaled, one end of the shaft extending any desired distance beyond the adjacent bearing for attachment thereto of any suitable medium vwhereby rotary of the sprocket wheels 55, which are utilized in conjunction with the sprocket chains 51 to actuate the means for oscillating the knives or knife blades, which may also be referred to as trip and pressure mechanism, to be presently described.

The trip and pressure mechanism referred to comprises several parts connected to the rock shafts 43 and actuated by the sprocket chains 51, and for such purposes a bar 58 extends outwardly from each rock-shaft, the bars being entered in said rock-shafts and fastened in any approved manner. Each of these bars extend in an outward direction from the rock-shaft to which it is secured and these bars are, therefore, directed in opposite directions. To the outer ends of these bars 58, the upper ends of links 5s are secured, said links having connection at their lower ends with trip levers 60, one of which is pivotally secured to the lower outer end of each of the standards 3E, and for this purpose a rock sleeve 62 is rotatably mounted on a pivot bolt 63 passed through the base of each standard 3G. The pivot bolts 53 may be reduced at their outer ends to receive nuts 64 which bear against shoulders formed by reducing the diameter of said bolts and thus provide free rotative movement of the sleeves into which the trip levers E!! are threaded.

I preferably connect the upper ends of the links 59 with the laterally extending bars 58 by means of screws 6E which pass loosely through slots 5l' in the upper ends of said links and enter said bars, said slots being preferably of key formation with the enlargement of each key-formed slot at its lower end; the arrangement being such that there is a certain amount of play provided between the bars 5B and links 59. By having the enlargements of the slots of greater diameter than the diameter of the heads of the screws 56, the parts connected by the screws can be easily disconnected.

The connection between the trip levers and the links 59 is established by passing screws 55 loosely through said links and entering the screws into threaded openings in the outer ends of thc trip levers.

Each of the sprocket chains 5l is provided with a trip roller @3; the pintle of which serves as a means of connection between two adjacent links of the sprocket chain and it is to be noted that the trip roller of each sprocket chain extends inwardly therefrom; also that the trip rollers of the sprocket chains are so positioned that the pintle of one is located on its sprocket chain exactly halfway around the chain from the pintle of the trip roller on the other sprocket chain, the purpose for which will appear hereinafter.

As clearly shown in Fig. 1, the trip roller 68 on the left hand sprocket chain has been brought into contact with the trip lever 6B at the same side of the machine due to the chains being at a lesser inclination than said trip lever when in normal position and it has reached a point where it will have caused maximum depression or swinging movement of said trip lever. Now, upon further movement of the sprocket chain, the trip roller will gradually ascend and will allow said trip lever to retrieve its normal position. This depressed position of the trip lever Si) will have caused the link 59 connected thereto to draw the bar 58 to which said link is connected downwardly, and thus the rock-shaft through which said bar is passed will be swung in one direction to the full extent intended for the same. Such ,.6 movement of the rock-shaft will have brought the knife or knife blade between the intermediate disk and the left hand disk, as viewed in Fig. 4, against the latter disk and also by reason of connecting means to be presently described, the knife or knife blade between the intermediate disk and the right hand disk, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 4, will have been swung against the intermediate disk.

Such cooperation between the knives or knife blades results from the following means, which comprise an angular or L-shaped rod 69 for each rock-shaft 43, having one arm 'l0 passed through the rock-shaft and its other arm 1 I arranged parallel with said rock-shaft, or substantially so. The arm 'l0 is adjustable in the rock-shaft 43 and is held in adjusted position by means of a set screw l2 threaded axially into said rock-shaft and impinging against said arm.

The portions of the arms 10 extending downwardly through the rock-shafts 43 are connected together at their lower ends by a link 13, so that the rock-shafts are rocked in unison. Each rock-shaft is actuated by one of the trip levers Si! and the other simultaneously therewith through the connecting link or means 'I3 between the rock-shafts provided by the angular or L-shaped rods 69 and the link 'I3 connecting the latter; thus upon rocking either of said rockshafts 43, one clockwise and the other counterclockwise, both are actuated in the same direction.

For this purpose each angular or L-shaped rod 69 has associated therewith a retractile spring le', one end of which is secured to the arm 'H of said rod, while the other end is secured to a contractible device comprising two parts 15, T6, adjustably connected together, as at 11, so that the contractible device can be lengthened or shortened to diminish or increase the tension of spring 14. It will be apparent, therefore, that the parts 69, 14, 15 and 16 form tensioning mechanism and that a quick approximate pressure adjustment for the knives or knife blades can be made by merely adjusting the arms 'it of each L-shaped rod 69 in the rock-shaft through which it is passed, and fine and final exact pressure adjustments are made by lengthening or shortening the contractible device.

The connecting link or means 'I3 also serves as part of the trip and pressure mechanism, or blade-tensioning mechanism as it may also be termed, by means of which the knives or knife blades are held against their respective sharpening or grinding disks with the desired pressure; it being apparent that the tension of the springs i4 controls the pressure of the knives or knife blades against the sharpening or grinding disks.

The lower end of each contractible device is rotatably mounted on a stationary rod or anchor iii which is threaded into a standard 3'! and eX tends rearwardly therefrom and thence upwardly at an inclination substantially at a right angle to the contractible device, forming part of the blade tensioning mechanism. In order to adjust the two parts of the contractible device relatively, it is simply necessary to rotate one while holding the other against rotation. Thus the device will be shortened or lengthened, depending on the part rotated and the direction of rotation there-- of. When a contractible device is lengthened, its spring 74 will become slightly relieved of strain and the pressure of the associated knife or knife blade against its co-operating sharpening disk will be slightly reduced. The shortening of the contractible device willlresult in a corresponding increase of' pressure of the knife or knife blade against its (zo-operating sharpening disk'.

So that the contractible device may be rotatable on the stationary rod or anchor 18, the latter is provided with an annular groove` 19, into which a set-screw 80 is entered. The inner end of said set-screw being reduced in diameter and unthreaded so that a free terminal is provided for. the same which will allow free rotation of the contractible device on the rod orY anchor 18.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Preparatory to sharpening knives or lniife blades, a suitable liquid substance is placed within the reservoir 24 to a level which will assure complete moistening of the sharpening or grinding disks when rotated over the area engaged by the knives or knife blades, and the. motor, not shown, for rotating the shaft 26 will, by reason of the sprocket wheels 55 being secured thereto, cause movement of the sprocket chains 51. These chains in turn pass around the sprocket Wheels 5G, thus providing an orbital path of travel for the sprocket chains. It will be clear from the preceding description that one sprocket chain is located at each side of themachine and that the sharpening or grinding disks 21 are located. between these sprocket chains.

Each sprocket chain has its trip rollers 6.8 ex.- tending inwardly therefrom and, as stated, these are disposed relatively at directly opposite points of the sprocket chains so that each trip. roller is idle during the major portion of theV cycle. of movement of theY sprocket chaink from which it extends while the other is brought into action during a minor portion ofv the vcycles of movement of the sprocket chain from which it extends and always approximately midway of the idle movement of the first-mentioned trip roller. L

These trip rollers. alternately engage the trip leversy 60, and thus through the mediumV of the links 55 cause the rock-shafts, which also serve as blade or knife blade carriers or supports to rock in opposite directions.

Viewing the machine as shown in Fig. 4, the rock-shafts have been swung counter-clockwise, due to the fact that the trip roller extending from the sprocket chain at the left of the machine has engaged the trip lever 63 at the same side of the machine, and thus caused said lever to swing downwardly and its connected link to descend, with the result that the bar 58 connected to said link has been drawn downwardly and caused counter-clockwise movement of the left hand rock-shaft. During this action the angular or L-shaped rod 69 passed through said rock-,shaft will have been swung from a position to the right of the center of said rock-shaft to the position shown therefor at the left of said center, and by reason of the lower ends of said angular or L- shaped rods being connected together by the link 13, the right hand rock-shaft shown in said figure will have been correspondingly moved.

The tensioning mechanism associated with each rock-shaft serves to hold the arm 1| of its associated angular or L-shaped rod 69 to either the left or right of a vertical plane passing axially through the rock-shaft, and during the movement of said rock-shaft through one-half of*A its clockwise or counter-clockwise movement, the retractile spring 14 connected to said arm will have become expanded and immediately on said arm passing said plane, or what may be termed the dead-center, said spring will immediately recover itself and exert its force to move the arm 1I off said angular or L-shaped rod to the left.

Such movement of the rock-shafts will cause the knives or knife blades 45 carried thereon to swing against the right hand face of the left hand and intermediate sharpening or grinding disks, and due to the fact that the knives or knife blades are firmly clamped in the knife or blade holders and the latter are rigidly mounted on the rock-shafts, the sharp edges of the knives or knife blades will be held against the surfaces of the, sharpening or grinding disks at the desired angle to assure the proper bevel and sharp edge being established along the outer or thin edge of the knife or knife blade.

It is to bev noted that the knife blade holder is adjustably fastened within the rock-shaft and that by unthreading the screw stud 4B the blade carrier may bel spaced a greater distance from the rock-shaft, with the result that the angularity of the bevel will be increased. It willbe clear therefore that variations in the bevel of the knife or knife blade being sharpened may be had by adjusting the blade holder with respect to the rock-shaft on which it is mounted.

It is also to be noted that by reason of the rigid connection provided by the blade holder and the rock-shaft and the non-movable disposition o f the knife or knife blade. within its, holder, the pressure of the blades aga-inst. the disks can be varied by varying the tension of the retractile springM, which may be accomplished by increasing or. decreasing the length of the contractible device provided by the two parts or connected members 15 and 16, as hereinbefore stated.

It is also to be noted that each knife or knife blade can be easily removed from the machine, or inserted thereinto, by merely disengaging the setscrew 8E from its annular groove 19,`and by disconnecting the lower end of the link 59 from the trip lever 60, after which the rock shaft can be withdrawn lengthwise from its bearingV 39,the width of the slot 53 of which is sufficient to anew the knife blade helder and its studio be passed upwardly therethrough or to be inserted downwardly therethrough for positioning the knife or blade in operating relation to itsA sharpenin g or grinding disks.

It is also to be noted that during the rotation of thesharpening or grinding disks the liquid within the reservoir becomes agitated so as to keep the sharpening substance in suspension within the liquid and to assure an equal distribution thereof over the entire grinding or sharpening areas of the disks.

It is further to be understood that by reason of the trip rollers 68 alternately engaging the trip levers 6i) at opposite sides of the machine, the rock-shafts are swung alternately clockwise and counter-clockwise so that the knives or knife blades, under clockwise movements of the rockshafts, as shown in Fig. 4, will cause the. knives to be swung against the left hand surfaces of the intermediate and right hand sharpening and grinding disks, and under the counter-clockwise movement said knives or knife blades will be swung against the right hand surfaces ofthe intermediate and left hand sharpening or grinding disks.

While I have made provisions for utilizing a liquid sharpening solution for moistening the grinding or sharpening disks, I particularly wish to stress the fact that in many instances the disks are used without a liquid solution being applied thereto. However, when resorting to nner sharpening operations, which may be referred to as honing of the knives or knife blades, the sharpening disks, or honing disks as they may more particularly be referred to, depend on the use of a sharpening solution, and it is to be understood that such sharpening solution need not necessarily include an abrasive substance which it is necessary to maintain in suspension, since in some instances oil may be poured into the reservoir and serve to aid in sharpening or honing knives or knife blades. The sharpening or honing disks may vary in abrading qualities, depending on the nature of the knives or knife blades being sharpened.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising a suitable support, a shaft mounted on said support, three spaced-apart axially aligned sharpening disks secured to said shaft so as to rotate therewith, said disks being disposed to provide a center disk and two end disks, means for rotating said shaft, sprocket wheels on said shaft between which said sharpening disks are located, two shaft bearings mounted on said support, a rock-shaft journaled in each of said shaft bearings and extending forward between adjacent sharpening disks, a knife or blade holder carried by each rock-shaft, a shaft parallel with and in spaced relation to said firstmentioned shaft, sprocket wheels on said lastmentioned shaft in alinement with said rstmentioned sprocket wheels, a sprocket chain trained around alined sprocket wheels at each side of the machine, a trip device carried by each sprocket chain, combined trip and tensioning mechanism interposed between eachtrip device and each of said rock-shafts to cause rocking movement of said rock-shaft in a given direction, and means for connecting said rock-shafts together so as to cause rocking movement of both rock shafts in unison, depending on the direction of movement of the rock-shaft actuated by its cooperating trip and tension mechanism.

2. A machine for sharpening knives'or knife blades, comprising a support, a shaft extending transversely above said support, three spacedapart sharpening disks rotatable with said shaft, sprocket wheels on said shaft between which said sharpening disks are located, standards mounted on said support in rear of said sharpening disks, a second shaft rotatable in said standards, sprocket wheels secured to said second shaft in alinement with first-mentioned sprocket wheels, sprocket chains trained over each pair of alined sprocket wheels, a trip roller on each sprocket chain, -said standards having shaft bearings at their upper ends inclined downwardly and forwardly, rock shafts rockable in said shaft bearings and extending downwardly and forwardly to positions between the intermediate and outer of said three sharpening disks, said rock-shafts lextending upwardly a distance above said shaft bearings and having arms extending radially therefrom, links connected to the outer ends of said arms, trip levers connected to the lower ends of said links and against each of which the trip roller of one of said sprocket wheels is adapted to ride while traveling around said sprocket wheels, means of connection between said rock-shafts to cause them to rock in unison and move said rock-shafts in like directions so as to position the knives or knife blades carried thereby against said sharpening disks, each trip roller and its cooperating trip lever causing movement of said rock shafts through one-half their movements in each direction, and tensioning means to cause movement of said rock-shafts through the remaining half in each direction.

3. A knife sharpening machine, comprising a support, a shaft mounted on said support and having spaced-apart bearings thereon, a plurality of axially-alined sharpening disks arranged in spaced-apart relation on said shaft, rockshafts journaled in suitable bearings carried by said support and arranged with one end extending centrally into each spacebetween adjacent sharpening disks, a knife or knife blade carried by each rock-shaft and adapted to be forced under spring pressure alternately against the two opposing faces of spaced-apart disks into which said rock-shaft extends so that at least one of said disks has knives or knife blades associated therewith and disposed to contactY opposite sides thereof, a sprocket wheel on said firstmentioned shaft at each side of the machine, sprocket wheels carried by said support in rear of and spaced from said first-mentioned sprocket wheels, a sprocket chain trained around the sprocket wheels at each side of the machine, and means interposed between said 'sprocket chains and said rock-shafts to cause the latter to be rocked alternately in opposite directions so as to bring opposite sides of the knives or blades carried thereby against opposing faces of adjacent sharpening disks, said means including pressure and tensioning mechanism to cause the knives or blades to be subjected to like pressures at opposite sides thereof.

4. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising a support, three spaced-apart rotatable sharpening disks carried by said support, a rock shaft extending into each space between adjacent sharpening disks also carried by said support; knives or knife blades carried by said rock-shafts and adapted to alternately engage said sharpening disks, spaced-apart sprocket wheels carried by said support and rotatable with said sharpening disks, a second pair of sprocket wheels carried by said support and alined with said rst-mentoned sprocket wheels, sprocket chains trained around alined sprocket wheels and each sprocket chain having a trip roller, the trip roller of one sprocket chain being disposed halfway in the cycle of movement of the trip roller of the other sprocket wheel, trip levers adapted to be engaged -and depressed by said trip rollers alternately, means between each trip lever and one of said rock-shafts to cause rocking movement of the latter so as to swing the knife or knife blade carried thereby against opposing faces of adjacent sharpening disks, and means to cause each rock-shaft to be actuated in unison with the other.

5. A knife sharpening machine, comprising a support, having a reservoir at its front end furnished with a sharpening solution, a shaft mounted on said support across the top of said reservoir, three sharpening disks rotatable with said shaft and having their lower portions normally disposed within said sharpening solution, a pair of sprocket wheels on said shaft between which said sharpening disks are arranged, standards mounted on said support in rear of said sharpening disks, a shaft journaled in said standards, sprocket wheels on said last-mentioned shaft alined with said first-mentioned sprocket wheels, sprocket chains trained over alined sprocket wheels at each side of the machine, a

by said knife-blade holder alternately against the sharpening disks at opposite sides of said rock-shaft, pressure and tensioning means connected to said rock-shaft, means for actuating said pressure and tensioning means to govern the pressure with which said knife blade is swung against said sharpening disks.

11. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising a suitable support, a shaft transversely mounted on said support, two axiallyalined spaced-apart sharpening disks secured to said shaft, means to rotate such shaft, a standard mounted on said support in planes in rear of said sharpening disks and centrally between the latter and having an elongated bearing at its upper end provided with a slot extending from end to end thereof, a rock-shaft journaled in said bearing and having a knife blade mounted lengthwise thereon and projecting radially therefrom, and means interposed between said firstmentioned shaft and said rock-shaft to rock the latter, said rock-shaft being lengthwise insertable into said elongated bearing and lengthwise removable therefrom and said knife blade being removable with said rock-shaft through the slot in said elongated bearing.

12. A machine for sharpening knives or the like, comprising a suitable support, a shaft transversely mounted on said support, two axiallyalined spaced-apart sharpening disks secured to said shaft, means to rotate said shaft, a standard mounted on said support in planes in rear of said sharpening disks and centrally between the latter and having an elongated bearing at its upper end provided with a slot, a rock-shaft .lournaled in said bearing and having a knife 13. A machine for sharpening knives or knife blades, comprising a suitable support, a shaft transversely mounted on said support, two axially spaced-apart sharpening disks secured to said shaft, means to rotate said shaft, a rook-shaft journaled above said support in rear of said sharpening disks and having its forward end extending between the latter, a knife or knifeblade holder carried by said rock-shaft and a knife or knife-blade secured thereto, means to cause said rock-shaft to rock and swing said knife or knife-blade alternately against opposing faces of said sharpening disks including an angular rod having two arms disposed at a rightangle to each other, one of said arms being passed through said rock-shaft and the other being disposed substantially parallel therewith, and a retractile spring connected with said substantially parallel arm and with a point in fixed relation to said support, said last-mentioned means being actuated through the medium of said rstmentioned shaft.

ERWIN ROEDER.

`REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 538,331 Hyde Apr. 30, 1895 839,289 Heimerdinger Dec. 25, 1906 1,014,745 Beamisderfer Jan. 16, 1912 1,076,012 Allsopp Oct. 21, 1913 1,179,621 Furan Apr. 18, 1916 1,608,103 Kellogg Nov. 23, 1926 1,854,577 Brown Apr. 19, 1932 2,110,441 Kasch Mar. 8, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,593 Great Britain May 24, 1869 146,490 Great Britain Mar.22, 1919 271,965 Germany Mar. 21, 1914

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