US118675A - Improvement in handles of pocket-knives - Google Patents

Description

'ra ef/ZM? Hainilefarzfe; 'el N0. 118,675. l I Patented Sep. 5,1871.

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CICERO BECKHAM, OF ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 118,675, dated September 5, 1871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CICERO BECKHAM, ofthe city and county of Alexandria and State of Virginia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Handles for Pocket-Knives, Snc.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXactdescription thereof', suiiicient to enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains to fully understand and to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, and in which- Fignre 1 is a side view of a pocket-knife with a handle made according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a back view of the same 5 and Fig. 3 is a top view, the blade being open.

Heretofore the springs of pocket-knives and similar instruments have been generally made separately from the handle and afterward affixed thereto.

The object of my invention is to cheapen the manufacture of this class of articles, and at the same time increase their strength, durability, and usefulness. To this end my invention consists in the formation of the spring in one piece with the handle, as hereinafter more fully described. 1

The accompanying drawing represents a pocket-knife composed of a handle, c, and spring b made in one piece, and a blade, @,pivoted in the handle at d. In the manufacture of pocketknives according to my invention the handle and spring will be preferably and generally made of cast-steel, forged in one piece and then bent into the form represented or other suitable shape. The blade or blades are then attached by means of a rivet, d, which is the only rivet required in the knife. The body of the handle is, ofcourse, open to receive the blade. The end e of the spring forms a tenon which enters a recess of corresponding shape in the handle. The inner end of the blade, which is made as usual, acts upon this tenon.

Knives made as above described can be manufactured as cheaply if not at less cost than those in which the spring is separate, and they are,'ob viously, stronger and more durable.

I do not limit myself to the precise form shown, nor do I confine the application of the invention to knives, as it is plain that other instruments may be provided with'handles and springs made in one piece; but I do not wish to be understood as claiming al1 kinds of spring-handles, for 11andles of cork-screws have long been made more or less elastic to hold the screw in its open or closed position. My invention is not, then, the construction of the Ahandle so as to possess in itself elasticity 5 but it consists, simply, in making the spring what might be called a continuation of the handle and in one piece with it, the handle proper, or the part in which the blade is riveted, not serving in any manner as a spring.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

As an improvement in the manufacture of pocket-knives and other instruments of that class, the formation of the spring c and handle a in one piece, substantially as herein described.

Witnesses: GIUERO BECKHAM.

GEO. W. ROTHWELL, THOMAS R. BROWN.

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