Knife Sharpener with Intermediary Sleeve for Position Repeatability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing knife sharpeners fail to consistently maintain the same position and angle of the knife blade during sharpening, leading to inefficient sharpening processes and reduced blade life due to the need for frequent repositioning and different sharpening angles.
Innovation Solution
A knife sharpener design featuring a knife clamp with adjustable clamping members, a guide member, and a base that ensures the knife blade is held firmly and reproducibly in the same position, using apertures and protrusions to secure the blade and maintain a consistent sharpening angle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a knife blade is clamped between two clamp members in existing sharpeners, then the blade can be held for sharpening, but the blade cannot be clamped in the same position consistently, leading to different sharpening angles and positions
Solution Approach 1:
A sleeve member is introduced as an intermediary component between the clamp members and the knife blade. The sleeve member includes a slot that receives the blade and features protrusions that mate with apertures in the clamp members. This intermediary ensures consistent positioning of the blade relative to the sharpening stone, eliminating position variability between sharpening sessions.
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve member creates a reproducible template or copy of the correct blade position. By featuring protrusions at specific locations that correspond to apertures in the clamp members, the sleeve member ensures that the blade is positioned identically each time it is inserted into the slot, copying the optimal sharpening position consistently.
2Productivity
If the knife blade is held in different positions during sharpening, then various sharpening angles are created, but this requires removing more blade material and increases sharpening time
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve member with its precisely positioned protrusions performs the preliminary action of establishing the correct blade position and angle before sharpening begins. This pre-positioning ensures that the blade is oriented correctly relative to the sharpening stone from the start, eliminating the need for repeated adjustments and material removal to achieve the desired angle.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If the knife blade is not held firmly in a reproducible position, then frequent repositioning is required, but this reduces blade life and increases sharpening time
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve member acts as a positioning intermediary that firmly secures the blade in the correct position through the interaction between its protrusions and the apertures in the clamp members. This firm, reproducible positioning eliminates the need for frequent repositioning, thereby extending blade life and reducing sharpening time.
Data Source
AI summary
A knife sharpener for the manual sharpening of knives that includes a knife clamp, a honing bar extending in a first direction, an upright support, a base, and a sleeve that is configured to receive a knife having a blade. The knife clamp is configured such that the sleeve is selectively mated within the knife clamp to fixedly secure the knife blade therein along a second direction when the knife clamp is closed.