Blade stropping apparatus

Abstract

In the embodiment depicted, the apparatus has a pair of contra-rotating stropping wheels to, and between which successive blades are carried for stropping. A blade-carrier magazine is supported on a rack for slidable translation thereof below a transversingly-travelling blade clamp. A solenoid operates the clamp to cause it to sieze a blade from the therebelow magazine and carry it to the stropping wheels while holding the blade fast. After a blade has been adequately stropped, the clamp returns it to the magazine, to its individual carrier, and displaces a limit stop to allow the magazine to advance and present a next blade to the clamp. The clamp is threadedly engaged with a drive screw, whereby the clamp is moved back and forth between the wheels. Corresponding fore and aft drive clutches, driven by a dual-speed motor, rotate the drive screw, alternatingly, in clockwise and counter-clockwise rotations. A counter operatively engaged with one of the clutches serves to signal when the motor driving the wheels should alter its rotary speed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.