The Clamp-Frame Lemon Squeezer: A Screw Press That Clamps to the Table

"A is the frame of the implement. It is of cast-iron, and has formed on its lower portion a cup, B, in which a half lemon to be squeezed is placed. This cup is perforated in the bottom to provide for the escape of juice expressed from the lemon. Over this cup is a socket, c, for the reception of the operating-screw C, and the portions f f of the frame between the socket and the cup B form guides along which the follower D works." "The lemons to be squeezed are cut in halves and inserted piece by piece into the cup B. The handle of the screw is then turned to bring down the follower D, and thereby squeeze the lemon between it and the cup. The juice escapes through the perforations in the bottom of the cup B, into a bowl or other receptacle placed to receive it."

**Frame.** Cut two 16 cm lengths of 25 × 5 mm mild steel flat bar as the top and bottom. Drill each near both ends for M8 threaded rod, and drill the top's centre for a 10 mm rod. Join them 14 cm apart with two lengths of M8 rod and nuts: the rods are the guides f f. **Nut and screw.** Silver-solder an M10 nut over the top's centre hole. Bend the top of a 25 cm length of M10 threaded rod into a crank with a hardwood knob on a bolt, and run it through the nut. **Cup and follower.** Cut the bottom 3 cm off a tin can, punch its base, and rivet it over a large hole in the bottom bar. Rasp a hardwood follower to the cup's inside shape, drill its sides for the two guides and its top for the screw's end, fixed with a nut each side so it can turn freely. **Clamp.** Bend a flat-bar bracket down from one end of the bottom bar and clamp it to the bench edge with a clamp, as the Whitneys' clamp E. **Test.** Put a half lemon in the cup over a bowl and turn the screw down. Count the turns and weigh the juice for six halves in a row, and time the run.

**William A. Whitney and John W. Whitney** of Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, received US 133,511, dated 26 November 1872. The follower D had lugs on its upper edge that embraced the guides f f, the screw C worked through a nut in the socket c and was secured to the follower so it could turn without it, and a clamp E on the frame's lower part beside the cup held it to a table or bench. Their claim is the cup, frame, guides, clamp, follower and screw combined. **Honest limits.** Flat bar, threaded rod, a tin cup and a hardwood follower stand in for their cast-iron frame. The notebook ignores friction; its forces and lengths are examples. Your run of lemons is the result.