Knife Cleaner
Kent's Knife Cleaner
Name/Title
Knife CleanerEntry/Object ID
2025.1.361Description
Machine with a number of internal brushes and leather straps and a series of external slots for different knifes. When the handle is turned the internal wheel of brushes and straps turns and cleans the knives. Emery powder was poured into the body to aid the cleaning process.Context
George Kent was born in 1806 and apprenticed to the wire-work trade in Chelsea ( a borough of London known for its upper class citizens and high end shops). He worked as a window blind maker for a time while he worked on inventing his knife cleaner. He was given a patent on June 12, 1844 for the knife cleaning machine, when he set up shop at 329 Strand, 218 Regent St and 101 Holborn, until 1854, and at 199 High Holborn from 1854 to his death. While the knife cleaner was his claim to fame and his most prominent piece of invention, he also manufactured other domestic time-saving machines, including whisks, strainers, sifters, and washing machines. He died on May 23, 1890. By the end of the nineteenth century, Kent's patented rotary knife-cleaning machines were used in British colonies, the Americas, had won international exhibition prize medals, and had sold over 100,000 machines. The cleaners came in eight different sizes, ranging in price from £3 and 18 shillings to £14 and 14 shillings. The largest size could clean nine table or dessert knives and the smallest versions cleaned 3-5 knives. (ref: The Art of Antiquing - Kents, London, England Knife Cleaner).Category
Tools