Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CUTLERY (Fr. coutellerie, from the La...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 672 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CUTLERY (Fr. coutellerie, from the See also:Lat. cultellus, a little See also:knife) , a See also:branch of See also:industry which originally embraced the manufacture of all cutting See also:instruments of whatever See also:form or material. The progress of manufacturing industry has, however, detached from it the fabrication of several kinds of edge-tools, saws and similar implements, the manufacture of which is now regarded as forming distinct branches of See also:trade. On the other See also:hand See also:modern cutlery includes a See also:great number of articles which are not strictly cutting instruments, but which, owing to their more or less intimate relation to table or See also:pocket cutlery, are classed with such articles for convenience' See also:sake. A See also:steel table or See also:carving See also:fork, for example, is an important See also:article of cutlery, although it is not a cutting See also:tool. The See also:original cutting instruments used by the human See also:race consisted of fragments of See also:flint, See also:obsidian, or similar stones, rudely flaked or chipped to a cutting edge; and of these tools numerous remains yet exist. See also:Stone knives and other tools must have been employed for a See also:long See also:period by the prehistoric races of See also:man-See also:kind, as their later productions show great perfection of form and finish. In the See also:Bronze period, which succeeded the Stone See also:Age, the cutlery of our ancestors was fabricated of that alloy. The use of See also:iron was introduced at a later but still remote period; and it now, in the form of steel, is the See also:staple article from which cutlery is manufactured. From the earliest period in See also:English See also:history the manufacture of cutlery has been peculiarly associated with the See also:town of See also:Sheffield, the prominence of which in this manufacture in his own age is attested by See also:Chaucer, who says of the See also:miller of Trumpington- " A Sheffeld thwitel baar he in his See also:hose." That town still retains a See also:practical See also:monopoly of the See also:ordinary cutlery trade of Great See also:Britain, and remains the See also:chief centre of the industry for the whole See also:world. Its See also:influence on methods of See also:production has also been widely extended; for instance, many Sheffield workmen emigrated to the See also:United States of See also:America to take See also:part in the manufacture of pocket-knives when it was started in See also:Connecticut towards the See also:middle of the 19th See also:century. The thwitel or whittle of Chaucer's See also:time was a very poor See also:rude See also:implement, consisting of a blade of See also:bar steel fastened into a wooden or See also:horn handle. It was used for cutting See also:food as well as for the numerous See also:miscellaneous duties which now fall to the pocket-knife.

To the whittle succeeded the See also:

Jack knife, the Jacques-de-See also:Liege, or Jock-to-Ieg of the Scottish See also:James VI.,—which formed the prototype of the modern clasp-knife, inasmuch as the blade closed into a groove in the handle. About the beginning of the 17th century, the pocket-knife with See also:spring back was introduced, and no marked improvement thereafter took See also:place till the See also:early part of the ,9th century. In 1624, two centuries after the See also:incorporation of the Cutlers' See also:Company of See also:London, the cutlers of Hallamshire—the name of the See also:district of which Sheffield is the centre—were formed into a See also:body corporate for the See also:protection of the " industry, labour, and reputation of the trade, which was being disgraced by the " deceitful and unworkmanlike wares of various persons." The See also:act of incorporation specifies the manufacture of " knives, See also:scissors, See also:shears, See also:sickles and tUTTACIt other cutlery," and provides that all persons engaged in the business shall " make the edge of all steel implements matte' factured by them of steel, and steel only, and shall strike on their wares such See also:mark, and such only, as should be assigned to thei'n by the See also:officers of the said company." = Notwithstanding these regulations, and the pains and penalties attached to their infringement, the See also:corporation was not very successful in maintaining the high See also:character of Sheffield wares. Most manufacturers made cutlery to the See also:order of their customers, on which the name of the retailer was stamped, and very inferior malleable or See also:cast iron See also:blades went forth to the public with London made;;'' " best steel," and other falsehoods stamped on them to order. The corporate mark and name of a few firms, among which See also:Joseph See also:Rodgers & Sons stand foremost, are a See also:guarantee of the very highest excellence of material and finish; and such firms decline to See also:stamp any name or mark other than their own on their manufactures. In See also:foreign markets, however, the reputation of such firms is much injured by impudent forgeries; and so far was this See also:system of See also:fraud carried that inferior foreign See also:work was forwarded to London to be transhipped and sent abroad ostensibly as English cutlery. To protect the trade against frauds of this class the Trades Mark Act of .1862 was passed chiefly at the instigation of the Sheffield chamber of See also:commerce. The variety of materials which go to See also:complete any single article of cutlery is very considerable; and as the stock See also:list of a See also:cutler embraces a vast number of articles different in form, properties and uses, the cutlery manufacturer must have a practical knowledge of a wide range of substances. The leading articles of the trade include carving and table knives and forks; pocket or clasp knives, razors, scissors, daggers, See also:hunting knives and similar articles, surgical knives and lancets, butchers' and shoemakers' knives, gardeners' pruning-knives, &c. The blades or cutting portions of a certain number of these articles are made of shear steel, and for others crucible cast steel is employed. Sometimes the cutting edge alone is of steel, backed or strengthened with iron, to which it is welded. The tang, or part of the blade by which it is fastened to the handles, and other non-cutting portions, are also very often of iron.

See also:

Brass, See also:German See also:silver, silver, horn, See also:tortoise-See also:shell, See also:ivory, See also:bone, See also:mother-of-See also:pearl, and numerous See also:fancy See also:woods are all brought into requisition for handles and other parts of cutlery, each demanding See also:special treatment according to its nature. The essential processes in making a piece of steel cutlery are (1) See also:forging, (2) hardening and tempering, (3) grinding, (4) polishing, and (5) putting together the various pieces and See also:finishing the knife, the workmen who perform these last operations being the only ones known in the trade as " cutlers." The following outline of the stages in the manufacture of a See also:razor will serve to indicate the sequence of operations in making an article which, though See also:simple in form, demands the highest care and skill. The first essential of a See also:good razor is that it be made of the finest quality of cast steel. The steel for razors is obtained in bars the thickness of the back of the See also:instrument. Taking such a bar, the forger heats one end of it to the proper forging temperature, and then dexterously fashions it upon his See also:anvil, giving it roughly the required form, edge and concavity. It is then separated from the See also:remainder of the bar, leaving only sufficient See also:metal to form the tang, if that is to be made of steel. The tang of the " See also:mould," as the blade in this See also:condition is termed, is next See also:drawn out, and the whole " smithed " or beaten on the anvil to compact the metal and improve the form'and edge of the razor. At this See also:stage the razor is said to be " forged in the rough," and so neatly can some workmen finish off this operation that a shaving edge may be given to the blade by simple whetting. The forged blade is next " shaped ",by grinding on the dry stone; this operation considerably reduces its See also:weight, and removes the oxidized See also:scale, thereby allowing the hardening and tempering to be done with certainty and proper effect. The shaped razor is now returned to the forge, where the tang is See also:file-cut and pierced with the See also:joint-hole, and into the blade is stamped either the name and corporate mark of the maker, or any mark and name ordered by the tradesman for whom the goods are being manufactured. The hardening is accomplished by See also:heating the blade to a cherryred See also:heat arid suddenly quenching it in See also:cold See also:water; which leaves the metal excessively hard and brittle. To bring it to the proper See also:temper for a razor, it is again heated till the metallic See also:surface assumes a See also:straw See also:colour,' and after being plunged into water, it is ready for' the See also:process of wet grinding.

The wet grinding is done on stones which vary in See also:

diameter from Ii to 12 in. according to the concavity of surface desired (" hollow-ground, " See also:half hollow-ground," &c.). "Lapping," which is the first stage in polishing,'is performed on a See also:wheel of the same diameter as the wet-grinding stone. The See also:lap is built ups of segments of See also:wood having the See also:fibres towards the periphery, and covered with a metallic alloy of See also:tin and See also:lead. The lap is fed with a mixture of See also:emery See also:powder and oil. " See also:Glazing'' and "polishing," which follow, are for perfecting the See also:polish on the surface of the razor, See also:leather-covered wheels with See also:fine emery being used; and the work is finished off with See also:crocus. The finished blade is then riveted into the scales or handle, which may be of ivory, bone, horn or other material; and when thereafter the razor is set on a See also:hone it is ready for use. The processes' employed in making a table-knife do not differ essentially from those required for a razor. Table-knife blades are forged from shear and' other steels, and, if they are not in one piece, a'See also:bit of malleable iron sufficient for the bolster or See also:shoulder and tang i's welded to each, often by machinery, especially in the 'See also:case of the cheaper qualities. The bolster is formed with the aid of a See also:die and swage called " prints," and the tang is drawn• out. The tang is variously formed, according to the method by which it is to be secured in the haft, and the various Processes of tempering, wet grinding and polishing are pursued as described above. Steel forks of an inferior quality are cast and subsequently cleaned and polished; but the best quality are forged from bar steel, and the prongs are cut or stamped out of an extended flattened extremity called the mould or " See also:mood." In the United States of America machinery has been extensively adopted for performing the various See also:mechanical operations in forging and fitting table cutlery, and in Sheffield it is employed to a great extent in the manufacture of table and pocket knife blades, scissors and razors. The cutler of the 18th century was an See also:artisan who forged and ground the blades and fitted them in the hafts ready for See also:sale; to-See also:day the See also:division of labour is carried to an extreme degree.

In the making of a See also:

common pocket-knife with three blades not fewer than one See also:hundred See also:separate operations are involved,,and these may be performed by as many workmen composed of five distinct classes—the scale and spring makers (the scale being the metal lining which is covered by the handle proper), the blade forgers, the grinders, the cutters of the coverings of ivory, horn, &c., that form the handles, and the hatters or cutlers proper.:.. Grinders are divided into three classes—dry, wet and mixed grinders, according as they work at dry or wet stones. This branch of trade is, in Sheffield, conducted in distinct establishments called "wheels," which are divided up into separate apartments or " hulls," the dry grinding being as much as possible separated from the wet grinding. Dry grinding; such as is practised in the shaping of razors described above, the " humping " or rounding of scissors, and other operations, used to, be a process especially dangerous to See also:health, See also:lung diseases being induced by the fine` dust of See also:silica and steel with which the See also:atmosphere was loaded; but a great improvement has been effected by resorting to wet grinding as much as possible, by arranging'fans to remove the dust by suction, and by See also:general See also:attention to sanitary conditions.

End of Article: CUTLERY (Fr. coutellerie, from the Lat. cultellus, a little knife)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CUTLER, MANASSEH (1742-1823) 		[next]
CUTTACK

Site © 2006 - Net Industries