Knife sharpener

Abstract

A knife sharpener comprising a housing plate supporting a pair of special treated sharpening rods that are curved to a specified dimension for maximizing the knife sharpener's ability to utilize and engage adjustable flexible bumper arms mounted on a positive stop that provides the sharpener's rods best angles and pressure for obtaining an even, consistent edge realignment, no matter what sharpening technique is used. Adjustable spring and cam mechanisms enable easy positioning of the initial, crossing-point of the sharpening rods over the center of a sharpening slot. A stop member and resilient device are used as a single integral stop unit vertically moveable and mounted on the rear face of the housing plate.

1 . A blade sharpening apparatus, comprising: 
 a housing plate having components attached to the rear.    a pivoting mechanism for the rods, biasing the cross-over point toward the top end of the housing plate mounted on the rear;    a resilient device and stop member located adjacent the bottom end of the slot and positioned to be engaged by free ends of the rods when the cross-over point of the rods reaches toward a bottom end of the slot, the resilient device exerting a force on the rods which resists the force applied to the rods by a knife blade being sharpened.    a adjustment mechanism, offset cams, for the pivoting mechanism, enabling the cross-over point to coincide with the slot.    a tip enhancer mounted on the front of the housing plate which sharpens the tip of the knife blade as it is withdrawn from the slot. Can be mounted on to housing plate or inserted in the base of the slot.    a first and second sharpening rod in which are tumbled to raise indentions, then heat treating the sharpening rods to prevent the sharpening rods from flattening and mounted on the rear of the housing plate.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the resilient device and stop member are formed as a single integral stop unit vertically moveable and mounted on the rear face of the housing plate.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the single integrated stop unit comprises a center block which forms the stop member and upwardly protruding left and right bumper arms which constitute the resilient device.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the single integrated stop unit is made of a material selected from the group consisting of: a solid UHMW material and a high density polyethylene material.  
   
   
       5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , in which the first and second sharpening rods, the pivoting mechanism, are mounted on the rear face of the housing plate.  
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , in which the pivoting mechanism includes cams that enable adjusting an initial position of the cross-over point of the rods.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , in which the cams include for each sharpening rod first and second cams which hold tightly the free end of the spring.  
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , including a marking that indicate a correct initial location of the cross-over point.  
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , in which the marking comprises first and second windows which straddle the slot and are located toward the top end of the housing plate.  
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , including a marking that indicates the position of a sweet spot of the apparatus.  
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 10 , in which the marking comprises windows that straddle the slot and are located adjacent a bottom end of the slot.  
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a tip enhancer.  
   
   
       13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , in which the tip enhancer comprises a cover plate and two steel rods that are attached to the cover plate, with the steel rods crossing each other to form an approximate “X” shape.  
   
   
       14 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the tip enhancer is located on the face of the housing plate.  
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further including a channel defined on a front face of the housing plate and straddling the slot.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , a sharpening channel runs along the total distance of the slot on the front.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , tumbled to raise indentions, then heat treating the sharpening rods to prevent the sharpening rods from flattening.