ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER (Feb, 1946)
ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER
Get a point on your pencils the easy way—-by motorizing your sharpener.
WHY not add an electric motor to your hand driven pencil sharpener in your home or office and make the chore of putting a point on your pencils a real pleasure? The arrangement outlined in this article does not call for mutilating or altering your present sharpener; merely remove the handle and proceed to mount the unit in the manner shown below. In converting your sharpener, choosing the correct motor is very important. Your motor should be quite powerful, of at least one-sixteenth horse power and oper- ate in the neighborhood of 1150 r.p.m.
For transmitting the power a worm gear unit, having a ratio of approximately twelve to one, is used. These gears can be purchased from any gear company at the cost of only a fraction of a dollar. Mount the 1 in. diameter worm wheel to the sharpener shaft by first turning an adapter, one end of which is pressed into the wheel and the other screwed directly on the sharpener shaft. A cotter pin through the worm wheel hub and a set screw through tapped end of the adapter will insure the gear from slipping when the sharpener is in operation.
Next obtain a wooden base of the general dimensions shown and mount the sharpener in place. Block motor so worm meshes with wheel.