Scis′sors.
A cutting instrument consisting of two portions pivoted together and having blades which cut from opposite sides against an object placed between them.
The
shears is on a larger scale, but the action is similar.
The scissors of
Atropos were made like sheepshears, the bowspring at the junction of the bladed handles.
Fosbroke says that “
forfices were thus made,” and were common among the Britons and Anglo-Saxons.
The blades with loops for the fingers and pivoted together by a rivet is of later date.
Isidore, in the fifth century, refers to them as the tools of the barber and tailor.
A pair of bronze scissors, lying in a lady's workbasket, were found in an ancient tomb lately opened in
Egypt.
The handles were formed in the shape of a sphinx.
The basket contained many articles of the toilet and work-basket, — needles, pins, combs, false hair, etc.
Scissors (
forfex, axicia) and knives were used by the
Roman cutlers.
In order to cut effectually, the blades, instead of being perfectly plain, as shown at
l, and parallel to each other, are bowed and touch at two points, — the
cutting part, which moves from hilt to point as the blades close, and the
riding part m, a protuberance behind the screw-pin.
The blades have a certain elasticity and touch at the shifting and constant parts as the rivet draws the two portions toward each other with a certain degree of strain.
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Scissors. |
Wilkinson's patent (
English)
n, instead of a
riding part, has a spring pin, which bears upon the shank of the blade, near the rivet, with sufficient power to force the edges into cutting contact.
Common scissors are made of shear-steel, with the blades hardened.
Tailors' shears have the blades only of steel: the remainder is iron.
Formerly only the edge was steel.
Some scissors are made of good cast-iron, called run or virgin steel.
Of these many are sold at seven cents a dozen.
There are some, on the other hand, made with bows or shanks of gold, that sell for fifty dollars a pair.
The screw which unites the two blades has a
head, neck, and
thread. The bottom of the countersink, which receives the head, is called the shelf or
twitter-bit.
The cutting-edges of scissors for ordinary purposes slope at an angle of about 40°; those of finer scissors are thinner, having an angle of about 30°; in most garden scissors the angle is from 40° to 50°.
Scissors are made from a bar of flat steel; the end for the bow is flattened, and punched with a small, round hole, which is gradually opened upon the
beak-iron of the anvil.
A shallow groove around the beak-iron serves to round the inside of the bows.
The blade and joint of the scissors are made upon the flat of the anvil by means of the hammer, punch, and swages.
After softening, the shank and bow are improved by filing, the joint is squared, and the hole bored and fitted for the rivet.
The blades are then ground, smooth-filed, burnished, matched in pairs, screwed together, and made to
walk and
talk well, as it is called.
The blades are bound together with wire, the rivet is removed, and the blades are hardened and tempered.
The wire is removed, and the blades are ground into shape and fitted together.
The bows and shanks are rubbed with fine emery and oil, the blades and shanks are fine ground, and the instrument is glazed
[
2054]
and polished.
The blades are whetted, and certain parts are burnished.
Scissors embrace a number of varieties of construction, specially adapted for cutting fabrics, trimming plants, and for surgical and anatomical purposes.
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Scissors. |
Flower and grape scissors have one of the blades made in two parts riveted together, so that after the stem is divided, it is held as in a pair of pliers.
The edges are also rounded, to prevent injury to the plant.
a shows a section of the scissors as closed, when not in use, and
b, closed with the stem of a plant between the blades.
c. Button-hole shears are notched out near the jointscrew to enable the blades to cut at a little distance from the edge of the material.
Lamp-scissors have one blade very broad, and provided with a rim to prevent the snuff of the wick falling on the carpet.
Nail-scissors have short blades, and are made in pairs, one adapted for the left, and the other for the right hand.
d. Pocket-scissors have blades which may be locked by the point of one engaging a spring catch near the bow of the other; it is released by pressure with the nail, and turned into the position shown by the dotted lines for use.
e. The pruning scissors or shears have one broad hooked edge, which is often roughened, to prevent the twig from slipping; or they are made as at
f, where the cutting-blade is slotted, so as to slide on the joint, moving forward as the blades are opened, and retracting so as to give a draw cut when they close.
The handles, being unprovided with bows, are separated by a spring.
In
g h i the blades have notches
o, by which a wire or cord may be severed, and one or more (
p) back of the joint for holding or pulling needles, wires, etc.
The scissors
k have a knife
r at the back of the blade, which is covered when not in use by a pivoted guard.
Surgical scissors are used in dividing soft parts which it is difficult to reach with a bistoury; also for renewing the edges of parts to be united by suture, removing excrescences, etc. They are made straight or curved, long or short, heavy or slender, to suit the form of the part to be used upon.
They generally have long slender handles, and the blades are frequently curved or twisted.
g,
Dr. Emmett's double-curved scissors for operations on vesico-vaginal fistula and cleft palate.
See also Sta-Phylloraphy.
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Surgical scissors. |
h i are dissecting-scissors.
j, flower and fruit scissors.
k, roweling-scissors for veterinary uses.
Fig. 4672 shows a group of
Tiemann's surgical scissors.
a, Maunoir's canalicula scissors.
b, angular strabismus scissors.
c, conjunctiva scissors, curved on the flat.
d, Althof's iridectomy scissors.
e, Simrock's scissors for operating on the tympanum and bones of the ear.
f, harelip scissors.
g,
Chadwick's pterigium scissors.
h, strabismus scissors.
Of the numerous varieties of scissors and shears, some have peculiarities of structure, others merely differ in size and purpose.
Button-hole scissors.
Cutting-out scissors.
Dissecting-scissors.
Draper's scissors.
Flower-scissors.
Garden-scissors.
Grape-scissors.
Hair-scissors.
Horse-trimming scissors.
Lace-scissors.
Lamp-scissors.
Nail-scissors.
Paper-scissors.
Pocket-scissors.
Pruning-scissors.
Stationer's scissors.
Surgical scissors.
Tailor's scissors.
