Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/769

Rh present century one of our most renowned seamen was Cuthbert Collingwood, the friend and colleague of Nelson.

1em  CUTLERY (French, coutillerie, from the Latin culter, a knife) is a branch of industry which originally embraced the manufacture of all cutting implements of whatever form or material. The progress of manufacturing industry has, however, detached from it the fabrication of several kinds of edge-tools, saws, and similar implements, the manufacture of which is now regarded as distinct branches of trade. On the other hand modern cutlery includes a great number of articles which are not strictly cutting implements, but which, owing to their more or less intimate relation to table or pocket cutlery, are classed with such articles for convenience sake. A fork, for example, is an important article of cutlery, although it is not a cutting tool, and silver or German silver forks in no way answer to the common definition of cutlery, as &quot; cutting implements made of steel.&quot; The original cutting instruments used by the human race consisted of fragments of flint, obsidian, or similar stones, rudely flaked or chipped to a cutting edge ; and of these tools numerous remains yet exist. Stone knives and other tools must have been employed for a long period by the prehistoric races of mankind, as their later productions show great perfection of form and finish. In the Bronze period, which succeeded the Stone age, the cutlery of our ancestors was fabricated of that alloy. The use of iron was introduced at a later but still remote period; and it now, in the form of steel, is the staple article fiom which cutlery is manufactured. From the earliest period in English history the manu facture of cutlery has been peculiarly associated with the town of Sheffield, and at the present day that town not only practically monopolizes the ordinary cutlery trade of Great Britain, but undoubtedly remains the chief centre of the industry for the whole world. The prominence of the manufacture in his own age is attested by Chaucer, who says of the whittler of Trompington—

&quot;A Shefeld thwytel bare he in his hose.&quot;

The thwytel or whittle of that period was a very poor rude implement, consisting of a blade of bar steel fastened into a wooden or horn handle. It was used for cutting food as well as for the numerous miscellaneous duties which now fall to the pocket knife. To the whittle succeeded the Jack knife, the Jacques-de-Li6ge, or Jock-te-leg of the Scottish James VI., which formed the prototype of the modern clasp knife, inasmuch as the blade closed into a groove in the handle. This improved form was probably introduced to Sheffield by Protestant refugees from the Low Countries who came to England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Shortly thereafter, about the beginning of the 17th century, the pocket knife with spring back was intro duced, and no marked improvement thereafter took place till the early part of the present century. Tn 1624, two centuries after the incorporation of the Cutlers Company of London, the cutlers of Hallamshire the name of the dis trict of which Sheffield is the centre were formed into a body corporate for the protection of the &quot; industry, labour, and reputation &quot; of the trade, which was being disgraced by the &quot;deceitful and unworkmanlike wares of various persons.&quot; The Act of incorporation specifies the manufacture of &quot; knives, scissors, shears, sickles, and other cutlety,&quot; and provides that all persons engaged in the business shall &quot; make the edge of all steel implements manufactured by them of steel, and steel only, and shall strike on their wares such mark, and such only, as should be assigned to them by the officers of the said company.&quot; Notwithstand ing these regulations, and the pains and penalties attached to their infringement, the corporation was not very successful in maintaining the high character of Sheffield wares. Most manufacturers made cutlery to the order of their customers, on which the name of the retailer was stamped, and very inferior malleable or cast iron blades went forth to the public with &quot; London made,&quot; &quot; best steel,&quot; and other falsehoods stamped on them to order. The corporate mark and name of a few firms, among which Joseph Rodgers &, Sons stand foremost, are a guarantee of the very highest excellence of material and finish ; and such firms decline to stamp any name or mark other than their own on their manufactures. In foreign markets, however, the reputation of such firms is much injured by impudent forgeries ; and so far was this system of fraud carried that inferior foreign work was forwarded to London to be transshipped and sent abroad ostensibly as English cutlery. To protect the trade against frauds of this class the Trades Mark Act of 1862 was passed chiefly on the instigation of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce. Sword cutlery, which embraces the manufacture of all military cutting weapons, has always been a distinct branch of trade; and it attained great perfection long before much attention was bestowed upon the tools appertaining to the arts of peace. Damascus blades, with their peculiar variegated watered appearance and their unequalled excellence of metal, have possessed -from an early period the highest reputation ; and the method by which its structure was produced was long a matter of speculation. The following remarks by Dr Percy (Metallurgy Iron and Steel) explain the method of which Damascus or damask work is produced:—

1em

The sword blades of Toledo, and the workmanship of Andrea de Ferrara in the 1 6th century, were also triumphs of metal-work. While Sheffield is now the great centre of the manufacture of ordinary cutlery, Birmingham occupies the leading place in the sword cutlery department ; but the sword and its congeners do not now hold the important position either in civil or in military life which they occupied in earlier ages. The variety of materials which go to complete any single article of cutlery is very considerable ; and as the stock list of a cutler embraces a vast number of articles different in form, properties, and uses, the master cutler must have a practical knowledge of a wide range of -substances. The leading articles of the trade may be classed under 1st, domestic cutlery, which includes carving and table knives and forks, pocket or clasp knives, razors, scissors, and similar articles ; and 2d, tool cutlery, under which head may be arranged surgical knives and lancets, butchers- and shoemakers knives, gardeners pruning-knives, &c., sickles, scythes, and a vast number of other allied cutting imple ments. The blades or cutting portions of a certain number of these articles are made of shear steel, and for others cast steel only is employed. Sometimes the cutting edge alone s of steel, backed or strengthened with malleable iron, to which it is welded. Tangs on which handles are fastened, and other non-cutting portions, are also very often of malleable iron. Brass, German silver, silver, horn, tortoise-