Patent Sheep-shears.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 114, 18 April 1885, Page 4

Patent Sheep-shears.

[Hawke's Bay Herald,'] Mr Roland Danvers, of Rangitikei, brother to* Mr A T Danvers, of Hastings, has invented an ingenious improvement m sheep-shears, designed to protect the skin of the sheep from cutting, to give ease m sharpening, and to prolong the life of the shears. In the ordinary shears there is only a small shoulder on each blade to prevent the skin of the sheep being cut, and if the shears are held a little on one side a cut is the result. This shoulder causes the blade to thicken rapidly from the edge backward, so that as the shears are worn the labor of grinding them becomes greater, and when the shoulder is reached the shears are practically dene for. Mr Danvers proposes to make all the blade, except a ridge at the back, of thin steel. A moveable shoulder, going right down the blade almost to the cutting edge, fits into the ridge left at the back. This gives a bearing all over the blade, and it would be almost an impossibility for the shearer to cut the sheep. As the cutting edge is worn, the shoulder (which is to be made of soft steel) is removed and quickly gronnd. . There is also provision made for the replacement of the steel " knockers " by vulcanite or indiarubber balls, which would prevent jarring, and they could be easily cut or filed as the shears wear, so allowing the points tq come well together. Mr Danvers is m communication with leading English shear makers, with a view to the introduction to the colonies of his improved shears, and he has taken the necessary steps to protect his invention. In England, -where flocks are small and labor cheap, and shearing is done slowly, the ordinary shears do the work well enough, but out here, with our large flocks, and shearers who are not content unless they can approach a tally of 100 sheep a day, an improvement suchflas that invented by Mr Danvers would be widely appreciated.