US20250033158A1

US20250033158A1 - Knife Sharpener System and Apparatus

Info

Publication number: US20250033158A1
Application number: US18/892,198
Authority: US
Inventors: Todd A. Jones; Dominic LEONE
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2023-07-20
Filing date: 2024-09-20
Publication date: 2025-01-30

Abstract

A knife sharpening device is provided having a knife sharpening assembly with first and second grinding wheels. A robotic arm is actuable to grip and draw a knife to be sharpened along a sharpening pathway running between the to grinding wheels. A digital camera may be employed to capture digital images of the knife to be sharpened which are communicated to a computer running software to compare the digital image to a database of knife images and adjust the speed of the grinding wheels to predetermined levels of a knife image matching with the digital image.

Description

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent application Ser. No. 63/527,940 filed on Jul. 20, 2023.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention herein disclosed relates generally to cutting implements, such as knives. More particularly, it relates to a self centering knife sharpener which employs precision dampeners and guides to reduce the harmonic waves to form a smooth micro-serrated edge with no burrs on the cutting edge of a knife.

2. Prior Art

Background of the Invention

For millennia knives have been employed for cutting, and over time, the cutting edge of knife blades lose their edge and become dull and in need of sharpening. Conventionally, knife sharpening employs a process of making a knife or similar tool sharper by grinding the cutting edge against a hard, rough surface. Such surfaces can be formed of stone where a hard surface is desired or a flexible surface with hard particles, such as sandpaper. Other conventional means for imparting a finished sharp edge to a dulled knife may include contact therewith against a leather razor strop, or strop.
Different types of knives are sharpened in different fashions which are dictated generally according edge geometry of the knife and the application for which the knife is employed. For example, surgical scalpels are extremely sharp but fragile, and are generally disposed of, rather than sharpened, after use. Straight razors, used for shaving, must cut with minimal pressure, and thus must be very sharp with a small angle and often a hollow grind. Typically these are stropped daily or more often.
Where knives are employed for cutting of food and the like or for food products such as in meat processing, such knives generally cut by employing a slicing motion rather than just pressing. However, the effort required by the user correlates to the sharpness of the blade of the knife they employ. Consequently, a sharp knife edge is of paramount importance to ease the amount of physical force a user must impart to the material being cut.
In recent times with the development of knife blades having a micro-serrated edge, many sharpening challenges have surfaced. Such, for example, include excessive vibration or harmonics of the sharpener, bends in knife blanks, variations in blade thicknesses, variations in the material forming the blade, and issues concerning blade orientation during the sharpening process. As a consequence, such blades can easily be sharpened to an edge that is less than ideal.
With respect to the above, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the knife sharpening device and method herein, it is to be understood that the disclosed device herein is not limited in its application to the details of employment and to any arrangement of steps set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The various apparatus components and configurations and methods of employment thereof as herein disclosed, are capable of other embodiments, and of being practiced and carried out in various ways, all of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art once the information herein is reviewed.
Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description for an understanding of the knife sharpening device and system herein and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for other knife sharpening devices and systems. It is important, therefore, that the embodiments, objects and claims herein, be regarded as including such equivalent construction and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The apparatus and system herein provides for an improved apparatus and method for the sharpening of handled knives, including micro-serrated knives. In a first improvement in the action of knife sharpening, the device employs a robotic arm for the purposes of holding and drawing knives to be sharpened through a sharpening apparatus. The use of a robotic arm to hold and draw the knife rather than that of a human, insures that the blade to be sharpened is drawing through the sharpening apparatus at a constant perpendicular angle to the sharpener.
In all modes of the device and system herein, the employment of a robotic arm which is computer actuated as to the drawing movement of the knife being sharpened is particularly preferred. This computer controlled action of the arm, which is actuated by software operating to the task of properly drawing the blade against the sharpener and adjusting speed, insures that the blade is drawn through the sharpener at a speed and for a proper duration to yield a knife edge which is sharp and substantially without burrs. Such an elimination of defects in the sharpened knife will eliminate the conventionally employed secondary step of deburring the blade. This step uses abrasive material,s such as ceramics, emery cloth or leather to remove small projections on the sharpened knife. In the long run the elimination of a deburring step also helps to reduce the number of times such blades are sharpened, thereby elongating their life span.
Used in combination with the robotic arm is a knife sharpening component which is configured to minimize and to absorb vibration during the sharpening process which is a common cause of burring and pitting. The knife sharpening component is also mounted in the system herein in a manner which will substantially accommodate any knife miss-alignment of the blade with the sharpening component. Still further, the knife sharpening assembly component is constructed to operate to compensate for any bends or defects in the knife blade during the drawing of the blade therethrough.
To this end, the knife sharpening assembly component includes a housing having a head unit which includes a matched set of high precision and timed spindles. The spindles are coupled to grinding wheels configured to sharpen the intended knives. These spindles operate in a fashion to move in tandem with a first or right lead screw and second or left lead screw.
The spindles are operatively coupled to spindle block bodies, each of which is respectively independently coupled to a linear slide. This linear slide is engaged upon a single base frame plate. This base frame plate is coupled to a second linear slide. The second linear slide is adjustable using spring loaded travel limiters. During a sharpening operation where the robotic arm has gripped a knife and is drawing it through the grinding wheels which are operatively engaged in opposing positions on the spindles, the spring loaded travel limiters will allow movement of the head unit slightly. This movement provides a means to absorb vibration, as well as a continuous accommodation for any knife miss-alignment. Additionally, the movement of the head unit during blade sharpening will substantially compensate for bends or defects in the knife blade.
As such, the employment of the robotic arm which operates to hold and draw the knife through the grinding wheels of the head unit at an even speed and at an angle substantially perpendicular to the surfaces of the grinding wheels, in combination with the spring loaded movement of the head unit operatively engaged with the grinding wheels, yields a highly improved system. It eliminates any handling errors for speed and angle from which conventional sharpeners suffer.
As described herein, employing a computer having software operating to a stated task, such as choosing, grasping, and drawing a knife through the sharpener, in all modes herein uses a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions operating to the specific task identified for the software. The software will run in computer memory which is accessible to a computer processor which will operate to communicate movement instructions to the robotic arm.
As to electronic memory or computer readable media for the system herein, any combination of one or more computer-usable or computer-readable media, be it transitory or non-transitory, may be employed for operation of the software and assessment system herein. Such, for example and in no way limiting, can include computer-readable media and may include one or more of a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory device, a read-only memory device, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) device, a portable compact disc read-only memory device, an optical storage device, and other electronic memory magnetic storage devices. Software or computer program code for carrying out the individual and sequential operations and airflow assessments of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages.
Where image discerning is required, for one or a plurality of knives for the robotic arm to grasp, imaging components, such as cameras, are employed to render images of the knives which can be correlated with stored images of knives whereby the system can determine the knife size, blade material and other pertinent structures to ascertain or determine an identified knife. Using the information concerning an identified knife, software operating to the task of operating the robotic arm will control it to cause the robotic arm to grip a chosen knife and thereafter cause the blade to be drawn through the sharpener at a determined speed and for a determined time at an optimum angle to the sharpening wheels. In this fashion, employing software operating to the specific tasks and functions noted, the robotic arm may pick up a knife to be sharpened, draw it in the calculated fashion through the sharpening component, and thereafter deposit in a position for sharpened knives before repeating the process.
In some modes of the knife sharpening system herein, the head unit which is operatively engaged to the grinding wheels and translating components, may be cooled. In such a configuration coolant lines will be coupled to supply machine coolant to the grinding wheels, such as water soluble oil, and sheet metal may be positioned to shroud and protect operators and components.
With respect to the above summary description, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the knife sharpening device system herein, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of operation nor the arrangement of the components or the steps set forth in the following description or illustrations in the drawings. The various methods of implementation and operation of the knife sharpening device and method herein, are capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways which will be obvious to those skilled in the art upon their review this disclosure. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis by others for designing of other modes for carrying out the several purposes of the present knife sharpening device and system. Therefore, the objects and claims herein should be regarded as including such equivalent construction, steps, and methodology insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. As used in the claims to describe the various inventive aspects and embodiments, “comprising” means including, but not limited to, whatever follows the word “comprising”. Thus, use of the term “comprising” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present. By “consisting of” is meant including, and limited to, whatever follows the phrase “consisting of”. Thus, the phrase “consisting of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, and that no other elements may be present. By “consisting essentially of” is meant including any elements listed after the phrase, and limited to other elements that do not interfere with or contribute to the activity or action specified in the disclosure for the listed elements. Thus, the phrase “consisting essentially of” indicates that the listed elements are required or mandatory, but that other elements are optional and may or may not be present depending upon whether or not they affect the activity or action of the listed elements. Where used herein, if not otherwise defined, the term “substantially” means plus or minus five percent.
It is an object of this invention to provide a knife sharpening system which will enhance the cutting edge of knife blades as well as increase the durability of such sharpened edges.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a knife sharpening device and system which will deliver a burr-less sharpened edge in a single pass to thereby lengthen the life span of such knives by minimizing the time and number of sharpenings they endure.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a knife sharpening apparatus which delivers a sharp knife edge to straight-edged as well as micro-serrated knives without the need for subsequent use of belts or the like conventionally employed for a deburring step.
These together with other objects and advantages, which become subsequently apparent, reside in the details of the construction and operation of the disclosed knife sharpening device and system herein as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.
Further objectives of this invention may be ascertained by those skilled in the art as brought out in the following part of the specification wherein detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing the invention without placing any limitations thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate some but not the only or exclusive examples of embodiments and/or features of the disclosed knife sharpening device and method herein. It is intended that the embodiments and figures disclosed herein are to be considered illustrative of the invention herein, rather than limiting in any fashion.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the sharpening assembly of the system herein.

FIG. 2 shows an overhead perspective view of the knife sharpening assembly of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the system herein wherein a computer and software operating to the stated tasks and functions operate a robotic arm to grip and sharpen a knife using the sharpening assembly herein.

FIG. 4 shows an overhead view of the sharpening assembly.

FIG. 5 depicts an enlarged side view of the knife engaged within the handle gripper which draws the knife along the sharpening pathway.

FIG. 6 shows a frontal view of a blade support which can be included upon the gripper to hold the blade steady.

FIG. 7 shows an overhead view of the assembly where guide rails have been included thereon to hold the knife blade from bending during travel through the sharpening pathway.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

In this description, the directional prepositions of up, upwardly, down, downwardly, front, back, top, upper, bottom, lower, left, right, first, second, and other such terms refer to the knife sharpening device and components thereof as they are oriented and appear in the drawings and all such terms are used for convenience only and such are not intended to be limiting or to imply that the knife sharpening device and system has to be used or positioned in any particular orientation.
Now referring to drawings in FIGS. 1-7 there is seen in FIGS. 1 and 2 views of the sharpening assembly 12 of the knife sharpening system 10 herein. As shown, a first spindle 14 upon which a first grinding wheel 16 is operatively positioned and a second spindle 18 upon which the second grinding wheel 20 is operatively coupled. A sharpening pathway 22 is positioned between the grinding wheels and rearward thereof for drawing of a knife 24 (FIG. 3 ) therethrough.
As noted, the spindles are operatively positioned in respective housings 26 which are engaged upon a mount 28. Drive gears 30 are coupled to motors 33 which provide rotation to the spindles 14 and 18 which rotate the grinding wheels 18 and 20. The computer 32, in addition to operating software to control the robotic arm 34, may also control the speed and torque of the motors 33 to thereby control the speed and operation of the sharpening assembly 12. This speed and torque control may be determined by software operating to the task of correlating the identified knife 24 from the digital photo thereof taken by the camera 31, with a matching knife in memory and using associated speed and torque values for the motors which are related to the identified knife from the database of knifes having photos and related motor settings in memory.
In the preferred mode of the system 10, the housing mount 28 is coupled to and supported by a linear bearing 36 which will provide micro translation to the housing mount 28 and components atop it. Springs 38 impart opposing biased contacts to the linear bearing 36 to allow more or less translation of the linear bearing 36. The force of the springs 38 against either side of the mount 28 is adjustable using the tension adjusters 40 or electronic tension mounters controlled by the computer 32. The linear bearing 36 is in a sandwiched position between a mounting plate 42 and the housing mount 28.
Operation of the system 10, as described above, is shown in a graphic depiction in FIG. 3 . As noted, a computer 32 running software operating in memory in communication with the computer 32 to calculate and perform each required task, noted herein, is operatively connected to the robotic arm 34. The robotic arm 34 operates to employ a gripper to pick up and draw the knife 24 to be sharpened along the sharpening pathway 22 and to draw it through the pathway 22 at the correct angle and speed and duration to sharpen the determined knife 24 in the best determined fashion.
The robotic arm 34 is operatively engaged to a mechanized connection to a translating mount such as with a rail 35 or similar mount which is configured to translate the robotic arm 34, such as at the base 37 end toward and away from the sharpening assembly 12. By operatively engaged is meant that the robotic arm 34 is connected mechanically to a mount in a manner where translation of the robotic arm 34 toward and away from the sharpening assembly 12 is provided and may be controllable for speed. Such may be, for example, an engagement of the base 37 in a geared connection, such as with a worm gear 39 on the rail 35 to a gear or projection on the base 37 whereby software operating to control the speed of translation of the robotic arm 34 will control an electric motor 31 rotating the geared connection to thereby move the arm toward and away from the sharpening assembly 12 at a speed controlled by the computer 32. Of course, other operative engagements of the robotic arm 34 to a mount which will provide controllable translation of the robotic arm 34 are considered within the scope of this patent.
The translation speed may be a default speed where none is determined for the knife 24 being sharpened. Alternatively, the translation speed may be a predetermined speed where the knife 24 has been identified by a match to a knife in a database of knives in computer memory and where that match has a correlating predetermined translation speed for the optimum translation of the robotic arm toward and away from the sharpening assembly 12.
Shown in FIG. 4 is an overhead view of the sharpening assembly of FIGS. 1 and 2 . As shown, the gear drives will, as noted, be operatively coupled to one or a plurality of electric motors which may also be controlled by the computer 32 according to software running thereon operating to that task.
In a method for sharpening knives using the device 10 herein, in a first step, the knife 24 is removably engaged with a robotic arm. Next, the knife 24 may be digitally imaged by a camera 31. In a next step, a digital image from the camera 31 of the knife 24 may be communicated to a computer 32 operatively engaged to the camera 31. In a next step in the method herein, the digital image, using software operating to the task of knife image comparison to stored images in the database, is compared to digital images in a database of knives to ascertain if a match to a knife in the database is determined. If a match is determined, control information, if stored in the database in correlation to the matching image, is sent by the computer 32 to the motors 33 or a controller therefor as to a predetermined speed and/or for translation of the robotic arm and speed of rotation and torque communicated to the grinding wheels 16 and 20. If no match is determined then the computer 32 will communicate a default speed and/or torque to the motor 31 or controller therefor.
In a subsequent step, with the knife 24 engaged to the robotic arm 34 by the gripper 41 (FIG. 5 ), the computer 32 will command the robotic arm 34 to align the knife 24 with a sharpening pathway 22 running between two opposing grinding wheels 18 and 20. Once aligned, in a next step, the computer 32 using software operating to the task will cause the robotic arm 34 to be moved to draw the knife blade 25 along the sharpening pathway 22 at a controlled speed. As shown in FIG. 5 , the gripper 41 will grasp the handle 27 to allow the robotic arm 34 to move the knife 24 along the sharpening pathway 22. The gripper 41 is configured to removably grasp the handle 27, such as with opposing compressive members 43 which are mechanically actuated by the gripper 41 to compressively engage against or around the handle 27. Optionally, as shown in FIG. 6 , the gripper 41 may also include a blade support 45 which will hold the blade 25 while it is drawn along the sharpening pathway 22.
If the knife 24 being sharpened has been identified and matched to a digital image of a knife in an electronic database which has a correlating determined optimum speed for the controlled speed, the robotic arm 34 will draw the blade 25 along the pathway 22 at the determined speed. If the knife 24 is not identified or a discerned match to a knife in the database has no correlating preferred speed, then the computer employing software operating to the task will cause the robotic arm 34 to be drawn along the pathway 22 at a default speed. Upon completion of drawing the length of the blade 25 of the knife along the pathway 22, the knife 24 is disengaged from the grasp of the gripper 41 of the robotic arm 34.
As noted above, FIG. 7 shows an overhead view of the assembly 12 herein, where guide rails 49 and 51 have been included thereon to hold the knife blade 25 from bending during travel through the sharpening pathway 22. The guide rails 49 and 51 may be formed into a first rail formed of one or, as shown, two sections where the two sections are on opposing sides of the first grinding wheels 16 and 22.
While all of the fundamental characteristics and features of the disclosed knife sharpening system herein, have been shown herein, with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure. It will be apparent that in some instances, some features of the knife sharpening invention may be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth.
It should also be understood that various substitutions, modifications, and variations May be made by those skilled in the art, upon viewing this disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Consequently, all such modifications and variations and substitutions are considered included within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A knife sharpening apparatus comprising:

a knife sharpening assembly, said knife sharpening assembly having a first grinding wheel and having a second grinding wheel;

a first electric motor powering a first rotation of said first grinding wheel and a second motor powering a second rotation of said second grinding wheel;

a sharpening pathway running between said first grinding wheel and said second grinding wheel;

a robotic arm having a gripper on a first end and having a base on a second end thereof;

said gripper for removably holding a knife handle therein;

said robotic arm actuable to draw a knife blade extending from said knife handle of a knife to be sharpened through said sharpening pathway, whereby said knife blade is sharpened by contact against said first grinding wheel and said second grinding wheel.

2. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising:

a blade support extending from a first end thereof engaged to said gripper, to a second end thereof; and

said second end of said blade support contacting both sides of said blade while said blade is drawn along said sharpening pathway.

3. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising:

said assembly being positioned upon a linear bearing;

said linear bearing in a sliding engagement with a mounting plate;

said linear bearing having biasing components on opposing sides thereof, each imparting biased contact against one of said opposing sides; and

translation of said linear bearing upon said mounting plate as said knife blade is drawn along said sharpening pathway moving said sharpening pathway, whereby burrs on a sharpened edge of said knife blade are prevented.

4. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 2 additionally comprising:

said assembly being positioned upon a linear bearing;

said linear bearing in a sliding engagement with a mounting plate;

said linear bearing having biasing components on opposing sides thereof each imparting biased contact against one of said opposing sides; and

5. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 3 additionally comprising:

tension adjustors for adjusting a force of said biased contact exerted by said biasing components.

6. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 4 additionally comprising:

7. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 5 additionally comprising:

a computer, said computer running software in electronic memory accessible by said computer operating to determine an optimum said force of said biased contact; and

said tensioning adjusters in electronic communication with said computer wherein said force of said biased contact exerted therefrom is adjusted by said computer.

8. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 6 additionally comprising:

said tensioning adjusters in electronic communication with said computer wherein said force of said biased contact exerted therefrom is adjusted by said computer controlled by signals.

9. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising:

said base of said robotic arm slidably engaged on a rail;

a geared engagement of said base with said rail imparting translation to said base along a length of said rail; and

said translation moving said robotic arm to draw said blade through said sharpening pathway.

10. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 1 additionally comprising:

a camera for capturing a digital image of said knife to be sharpened;

a computer having software running in electronic memory operating to the task of comparing said digital image to a database of electronic images of knives for a match of said digital image to an electronic image in said database; and

upon determination of a match, said computer adjusting a speed of said first motor and said second motor to a predetermined speed which is optimum to sharpen the knife to be sharpened.

11. The knife sharpening apparatus of claim 2 additionally comprising:

a camera for capturing a digital image of said knife to be sharpened;