Method and apparatus for sharpening a knife
AssigneeEdgecraft Corporation
InventorDaniel D. Friel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A knife sharpener is provided with a pre-sharpening section and with two honing sections. The pre-sharpening section includes a pair of spring biased back to back rotary disks. The honing sections include orbitally driven sharpening members.
Claims13
A knife sharpening apparatus for sharpening a knife having a cutting edge facet comprising a rotatably mounted drive shaft, drive means for rotating said shaft, a first disk assembly slidably mounted on said shaft, said first disk assembly having a back face and a front face perpendicular to said shaft, a second disk assembly slidably mounted on said shaft, said second disk assembly having a back face an a front face perpendicular to said shaft, said back faces of said disk assemblies being disposed toward each other and said front faces being disposed remote from each other, resilient means between said back aces and reacting against said assemblies for urging said front faces away from each other, stop means on said shaft or limiting the sliding motion of said disk assemblies imparted by said resilient means, a slot in each of said assemblies terminating short of said back faces leaving a wall portion, said stop means comprising a pin mounted to said shaft and located in each of said slots whereby said pins function to halt the motion of said disk assemblies when contacted by said wall portions and to prevent relative rotation of said disk assemblies with respect to said shaft for causing said disk assemblies to rotate with said shaft, and abrasive means on said front faces.
A knife sharpening apparatus comprising a housing, a pre-sharpening section and first and second honing sections in said housing, a rotatable shaft in said pre-sharpening section, a pair of back to back disks mounted on said rotatable shaft, abrasive particles on each of said disks, a slot in said housing for each of said disks, guide means in said housing opposite each of said slots and their respective disks, said guide means having guide surfaces at mirror image angles to each other, each of said honing sections having a sharpening member with a pair of flat outer faces having abrasive particles thereon, drive means for orbitally driving each of said sharpening members, said housing having a pair of slots at said first honing section with each slot disposed opposite said outer faces of its sharpening member, first honing section guide means in said housing opposite respective outer faces of its sharpening member, said first honing section guide means having guide surfaces at mirror image angles to each other with said mirror image angles differing from said mirror image angles of said pre-sharpening section, said housing having a pair of slots at said second honing section with each slot disposed opposite said outer faces of its sharpening member, second honing section guide means in said housing opposite respective outer faces of its sharpening member, and said second honing section guide means having guide surfaces at mirror image angles to each other with said second honing section mirror image angles differing from said mirror image angles of said pre-sharpening section and of said first honing section.
A method of sharpening a knife comprising placing the knife in a sharpener by guiding the knife against an orbitally driven sharpening member having abrasive particles on its exposed surface, orbitally driving the sharpening member to impart an orbital motion to each of the abrasive particles of no greater than 3/8 inch effective diamter an an orbital velocity of no reater than 1500 feet/minute, the sharpener having a pair of slots each with guide means at mirror image angles for directing the knife edge against opposite sides of the same sharpening member, including the step of placing the knife against one of the guide means and into its respective slot against the orbitally driven sharpening member, removing the knife from:
- the one slot, placing the knife against the other guide means into its respective slot against the orbitally driven sharpening member, orbitally driving the sharpening member to impart an orbital motion to each of its abrasive particles of no greater than 3/8 inch effective diameter and an orbital velocity of no greater than 1500 feet/minute when the knife is in each slot, including a second honing section in the sharpener with a pair of slots each having guide means at mirror image angles different from the mirror image angles of the first honing section for directing the knife edge against a second orbitally driven sharpening member having abrasive particles on its exposed surfaces, including the steps of removing the knife from the first honing section, placing the knife against one of the second honing section guide means with the knife against the second sharpening member, orbitally driving the second sharpening member to impart en orbital motion to each of its abrasive particles of no greater than 3/8 inch effective diameter and an orbital velocity of no greater than 1500 feet/minute, removing the knife rom the one slot of the second honing section, placing the knife against the other guide means of the second honing section with the knife edge against the second sharpening member, orbitally driving the second sharpening member to impart an orbital motion to each of its abrasive particles of no greater than 3/8 inch effective diameter and an orbital velocity of no greater than 1500 feet/minute, including a pre-sharpening section in the sharpener with a pair of slots each having guide means at mirror image angles different than the angles of the honing sections for directing the knife edge against a rotating disk associated with each pre-sharpening slot, including the steps prior to inserting the knife into the honing sections by placing the knife against one of the pre-sharpening guide means into its respective slot with the knife edge against the rotating disk at that slot, removing the knife from the one pre-sharpening slot, and placing the knife against the other pre-sharpening guide means into its respective slot with the knife edge against a rotating disk at that slot.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.