Cutlery And Flatware

Abstract

A method of manufacturing items of cutlery and flatware, or of components of items of cutlery and flatware, which includes the forming of a handle part from metal, colouring at least a part of said handle part by a colouring process, and machining a pattern at the coloured surface so that the applied colouring contrasts with the colour of the metal.

Description

The invention relates to cutlery and flatware this phrase being used herein to mean knives with a cutting edge or knives devoid of a cutting edge (e.g., a fish knife) and spoons, forks and the like implements intended for use at table or in the kitchen (e.g., a cake slice lifting implement). The object of the invention is to provide an improvement in or relating to cutlery and flatware and other table and kitchen implements and components thereof and the manufacture thereof.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an item of cutlery or flatware which includes the steps of forming a handle part from metal, colouring at least a part of said handle part by a colouring process such as, for example, a chemical or electrolytic process, and machining a pattern at the coloured surface. The handle part is preferably made of aluminium or of an aluminium alloy and in this case the surface of the handle part is preferably coloured by being anodised. The handle part will in any case preferably be made of a non-ferrous metal to facilitate machining of the pattern. The machining of the pattern at the coloured surface is preferably carried out by diamond milling and preferably before the handle part has been secured to a blade, bowl or prong part to form an item of cutlery or flatware as the case may be.

The forming of the handle part will preferably include the drilling of a hole at one end of said part for the reception of a tang projection from a part which is to constitute a service portion which includes the bowl of a spoon or the prongs of a fork or the blade of a knife as the case may be. The service portion part which includes, the bowl of a spoon or the prongs of a fork or the blade of a knife, as the case may be, will preferably be made by a method which includes the step of fitting a peg securely to a length of bar by inserting it in a hole extending in an axial direction of the bar, the bar being of metal and capable of being formed into the shape of a bowl for a spoon or prongs for a fork or a blade for a knife as the case may be, the protruding part of the peg being intended to serve as or in place of the tang and a part of the bar adjacent the protruding part of the peg being intended to serve as a bolster. Preferably, the hole into which the peg is fitted is formed so as to coincide with the axis of the bar. The bar will preferably be of circular section. Preferably, also, the hole will be a blind bore. The part intended to serve as a bolster may be tapered; this for a given size of bolster leaves more metal in the front part of the bar (that is to say, in the part of the bar not intended to act as a bolster). The front part of the bar may be flattened by cold forging after insertion of the peg; the flattening is an intermediate step in the formation of the bowl of a spoon or the prong part of a fork or the blade of a knife and is preferably effected by rolling and cross-rolling. Flattening is followed by clipping to form the outline of the bowl, prong part or blade, as the case may be, and by pressing or grinding to impart the required three-dimensional shape or to form a cutting edge, and (if desired) by polishing or other like finishing operation. Holding the blank during all these steps is greatly facilitated by the insertion of the peg prior to flattening. The hole or the taper or both may be machined on an automatic lathe. Similarly, the handle part which is subsequently to be secured on the peg serving in place of a tang, preferably by being pressed thereon, may be formed wholly or in part on an automatic lathe.

According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided a component for use in the manufacture of cutlery or flatware, the component comprising a handle part made of metal, a surface of which is chemically or electrolytically coloured and bears a pattern which has been machined into the surface, that is to say, which has been machined through the coloured surface so that the chemically or electrolytically applied colouring contrasts with the colour of the metal. The component will preferably be made of aluminium or of an aluminium alloy and in this case the surface thereof will have been coloured by being anodised. The component in any case will preferably have been made of a non-ferrous metal to facilitate machining of the pattern. The component may be fitted with an end cap.

According to a still further aspect of the invention, there is provided an item of cutlery or flatware including a bowl, prong or blade part as the case may be, and a handle part abutting thereagainst, said handle part being made of metal and having a surface which is chemically or electrolytically coloured and bears a pattern which has been machined into the surface, that is to say, which has been machined through the coloured surface so that the chemically or electrolytically applied colouring contrasts with the colour of the metal. Said handle part will preferably have been made of aluminium or of an aluminium alloy in which case the surface thereof will have been coloured by having been anodised. It may however, have been made of some other metal, the colouring process having been carried out in an appropriate manner.

In order that the invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect, the same will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a spoon embodying the invention,

FIGS. 2 to 6 are views which illustrate successive steps in the manufacture of the spoon, and

FIGS. 7 to 10 are views which illustrate diagrammatically similar steps in the manufacture of knives and forks.

Referring now to the drawings, in FIG. 1 there is illustrated a chutney spoon having a bowl 10 and handle part generally indicated 12.

The handle part has been made of aluminium, having been formed on an automatic lathe as indicated diagrammatically in FIG. 2, that is to say of circular cross section and slightly tapering shape. At the same time, a relatively deep hole 14 has been drilled axially of the handle part from the smaller diameter end thereof and subsequently a relatively shallow hole 16 has been drilled axially of the handle part from its larger diameter end.

The surface of the handle part has subsequently been anodised so that it has been coloured in some distinctive colour (for example, red or yellow) and a pattern has then been machined on the anodised surface in a diamond milling operation. (Diamond millers are well-known machines used in the jewellery trade and have a so-called diamond wheel, or a number of diamond wheels, and adjustments whereby a limitless number of designs can be produced on a component according to the setting of the adjustments). The diamond milling operation has machined a required pattern into the surface, that is to say, through the anodised surface, so that the surface colouring contrasts with the colour of the metal beneath. (The handle part alone, having a coloured surface with a pattern machined on it, or such a handle part provided with an end cap as will presently be described, can be regarded as a component for use in the manufacture of cutlery or flatware).

As shown in FIG. 3, an end cap 18 having a projecting peg 20 for tight fitment in the hole 16 has been secured to the larger diameter end of the handle part and the finished handle part has been secured to the bowl part 10, to form the finished item of flatware, by being pressed firmly on a tang part 22 of a bolster 24 of said bowl part.

The bowl part of the spoon has been manufactured by a method successive steps in which are illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6 of the drawings. FIG. 4 shows a length of stainless steel bar 26 of circular cross section having a front part 28 intended to form the front part (i.e., the bowl) of the spoon and having a tapered part 30 intended to form the bolster 24 of the spoon. The end surface 32 of the tapered part is perpendicular to the axis 34 of the bar and has a hole in the form of a blind bore 36 extending in the direction of the axis and indeed coinciding with it. A peg in the form of a steel tension pin 38 has been inserted in the hole and a protruding part of the peg constitutes the tang part 22 of the bolster. The tension pin is made of rolled spring steel in the nature of a tube having a slit 40 along its length, and, though firm, is compressible. The hole 36 is of slightly smaller diameter than the outside diameter of the pin. The pin is inserted in the hole by use of a jig having a pneumatically actuated plunger. By reason of the difference in diameter, the pin is compressed slightly as shown at 42 and is tight in the hole being a force fit therein and thus fitted securely in the bar. Moreover, the compressibility of the pin makes it unnecessary to observe close tolerances in the diameter of the hole. If not of stainless steel, the pin can be cadmium plated to render it corrosion resistant.

Next, the front part of the bar is cold forged by being rolled and cross rolled to form a flat blank as shown in FIG. 5. Tapering of the bolster ensures that for a given size of the end surface 32, sufficient material is available to form a flat part of the required size. This is then clipped to the shape of the outline of a bowl of a spoon as shown in broken line and thereafter the front part of the blank is pressed to impart three-dimensional shape to the bowl as shown in FIG. 6. During clipping and pressing, the blank can conveniently be held by the protruding part of the peg.

It will of course be understood that the method of manufacture hereinbefore described can be used for the manufacture of knives and forks and like implements as well as of spoons. The blade part of the knife or the prong part of the fork, or the blade part of some table or kitchen implement as the case may be, may well be manufactured by the method just described for manufacturing the bowl of a spoon, that is to say by a method which includes the step of fitting a peg securely in a length of round metal bar to form a tang part of a bolster. This is illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 7 and 8 which illustrate the successive steps in the manufacture of the blade part of a knife and in FIGS. 9 and 10 which are similar views illustrating the successive steps in the manufacture of the prong part of a fork. That is to say, each of FIGS. 7 and 9 illustrates a flat blank which has been formed by a cold forging operation from an appropriate length of bar provided with a tang part in the form of a tension pin as shown in FIG. 4. FIGS. 8 and 10 on the other hand correspond to FIG. 6 referred to previously and illustrate the finished component, that is to say, a blade part and a prong part ready for the fitment of a handle as illustrated in FIG. 3. The method of manufacture of the bowl, blade or prong part is particularly useful because it is advantageous for the tang part of the bolster to be exactly co-axial with the un-flattened part of the bar from which the bowl, blade or prong part as the case may be is made (no finishing operation is necessary to match the adjoining surfaces of the handle part and bowl, blade or prong part in the finished item; such an operation would be likely to damage the coloured surface finish of the handle part). It must, however, be understood that this is not essential to the present invention; the tang could be formed integrally with the bowl, blade or prong part if desired.

Various other modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, it is not essential that the handle part should be of circular cross section; it could if desired be of square or other cross section. Neither is it essential that it should taper from one end to the other. Furthermore, it is not essential that the entire length of the handle part should be coloured before a pattern is machined on it.

Claims

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of manufacturing cutlery and flatware having a handle portion securely fixed to a service portion which includes a bowl, prongs or blade, said method including the steps of forming said handle from metal, colouring at least a portion of the surface of said handle by a colouring process, selectively removing portions of said coloured surface to expose the metal underlying the coloured surface of said handle, fitting a radially compressible pin into a hole formed in the end of a bar adapted to be shaped as desired to form said service portion, said pin being sized and adapted to radially expand against the wall of said hole for secure engagement therewith and to extend outwardly thereof, shaping said bar into the desired form of said service item and fitting the outwardly extending portion of said radially compressible pin into a hole formed in an end of said handle portion, said hole in said handle portion having a diameter which will compress said pin for securely fixing said service portion to said handle portion.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said colouring process is a chemical process.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said colouring process is an electrolytic process.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said handle portion is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminium and alloys of aluminium, and said surface portion of said handle is coloured by being anodised.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the removal of the surface colouring is accomplished by diamond milling.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 in which said bar is shaped in the desired manner by cold forging while said pin is in place therein.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 in which said bar is shaped in the desired manner by rolling and cross rolling while said pin is in place therein.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said pin is composed of spring steel.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said pin is composed of spring steel and rolled to form a radially compressible generally tubular member having an elongated slit formed therein.

10. An item of cutlery or flatware, said item comprising a handle, a service portion which includes a bowl, prongs or blade, and means for securing said handle to said service portion, said handle being composed of metal, at least a portion of the surface of said handle having a colour which contrasts with the colour of said metal, selected portions of said coloured surface having been removed to expose the underlying metal and thereby provide said handle with a durable decorative design, said service portion including a bolster having an end surface adjacent said handle, said end surface of said bolster including a blind bore, said handle including an end surface adjacent said bolster, said end surface of said handle including a blind bore, and said means for securing said handle to said service portion including a radially compressible pin which extends into each of said bores in said handle and said bolster, said bores each having a diameter which compresses said pin for securely fixing said handle and service portion to each other.

11. The item of claim 10 wherein said pin is composed of spring steel.

12. The item of claim 10 wherein said pin is composed of spring steel and rolled in the form of a radially compressible tubular member having an axially aligned slit along the entire length thereof.

13. The item of claim 10 wherein said metal in said handle is selected from the group consisting of aluminium and alloys of aluminium.

14. The item of claim 10 wherein said metal in said handle is selected from the group consisting of aluminium and alloys of aluminium and said portion of the surface of said handle is anodised.