Knife sharpener

Traditionally, knives such as butcher\'s knives and chefs knives were sharpened or honed using a honing steel and/or whetstone. However, as many people did not have the necessary skill to use such steels to produce good cutting edges on their knives, many different types of knife sharpeners have been developed over the years. While these knife sharpeners are easier to use for the average person, they generally have one or more practical limitations and so there is still a quest to develop an improved knife sharpener. Accordingly, there is a need for a knife sharpener that replicates the honing action of a traditional chef/butcher steel, but with more speed, efficiency and accuracy.

Provided herein is a blade sharpening apparatus comprising a rotor, including a plurality of interleaved fingers, operative to interface with the cutting edge of a blade. The rotor is coupled to a rotary drive, such as an electric motor, thereby automating the sharpening process. Preferably, each of the fingers is flexible and includes a lead-in in the form of a radius or chamfer to prevent kick back from the heel of the blade or knife being sharpened. It is also preferable that the sharpening fingers include a portion of abrasive material or surface treatment.

The rotor may be formed of a unitary casting or stamping or may be an assembly including first and second rotors. Each rotor could include a hub with a plurality of fingers extending radially therefrom. Each of the rotors is disposed about a rotor shaft such that respective fingers of the first and second rotors are interleaved with one another.

The foregoing and other features, utilities, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of the embodiment of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an embodiment of the present invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles thereof. Like items in the drawings are referred to using the same numerical reference.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the blade sharpening apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment shown here with a transparent housing in order to illustrate selected internal components;

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation of the blade sharpening apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front view in elevation of the blade sharpening apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a representative rotor assembly interfacing with the cutting edge of a knife;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the rotor assembly shown in FIGS. 1-3;

FIG. 6 is a front view in elevation of the rotor assembly shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the rotor assembly shown in FIGS. 5-6;

FIG. 8 is a front view in elevation of a preferred sharpening finger construction;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a sharpening finger taken about line 9-9 of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the rotor assembly shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 is a front view in elevation of the rotor assembly shown in FIGS. 4 and 10;

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the rotor assembly shown in FIGS. 4, 10-11;

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Industry Class:
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