Automatic knife sharpening machine with sharpness detection

US11850698B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• THE HILLMAN GROUP, INC. · US

Inventors

• Whitfield Janes Fowler · San Francisco, US
• Sean Stone · Las Vegas, US
• Ari Bennett · Nikiski, US
• Jeffrey Kastenbaum · Mamaroneck, US
• David Frederick Lyons · Owosso, US
• Dmitriy Kolchin · Orange, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 29, 2020
• Grant date: Dec 26, 2023
• Expiry date: Sep 24, 2041

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B24B49/12
• WIPO field: Machine tools
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An automatic knife sharpening machine may include a vice to grip a blade of a knife and a pair of grind wheels to grind material from the blade. The machine may include a scanner to determine a profile of an edge of the blade, and a sharpness sensor to determine a sharpness level of the edge. The machine may include a controller. The controller may perform a first sharpening pass on the knife by moving the grind wheels into contact with the blade, and advancing the grind wheels longitudinally along the blade from adjacent the vice towards a tip of the blade with the grind wheels in contact with the blade. The controller may determine, using the sharpness sensor, the sharpness level of the edge after the first sharpening pass and perform at least one second sharpening pass when the determined sharpness level is less than a threshold sharpness level.