US 11,850,698 B2
Automatic knife sharpening machine with sharpness detection
Whitfield Janes Fowler, Santa Clara, CA (US); Sean Stone, Santa Clara, CA (US); Ari Bennett, San Francisco, CA (US); Jeffrey Kastenbaum, Mamaroneck, NY (US); David Frederick Lyons, Palo Alto, CA (US); and Dmitriy Kolchin, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to The Hillman Group, Inc., Forest Park, OH (US)
Filed by THE HILLMAN GROUP, INC., Cincinnati, OH (US)
Filed on Jan. 29, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/775,551.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/824,818, filed on Mar. 27, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/799,694, filed on Jan. 31, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2020/0246933 A1, Aug. 6, 2020
Int. Cl. B24B 3/54 (2006.01); B24B 49/12 (2006.01)
CPC B24B 3/54 (2013.01) [B24B 49/12 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An automatic knife sharpening machine, comprising:
a vice configured to grip a blade of a knife;
a pair of grind wheels configured to grind material from the blade;
a scanner configured to determine a profile of an edge of the blade;
a sharpness sensor configured to determine a sharpness level of the edge; and
a controller configured to:
perform a first sharpening pass on the knife by:
vertically moving the grind wheels into contact with the blade at a position adjacent the vice; and
advancing the grind wheels longitudinally along the blade from the position adjacent the vice towards a tip of the blade with the grind wheels in contact with the blade;
determine, using the sharpness sensor, the sharpness level of the edge after the first sharpening pass; and
when the determined sharpness level is less than a threshold sharpness level, adjust a grind parameter based on the determined sharpness level and perform at least one second sharpening pass on the knife.