The Lemon Squeezer: Two Hinged Jaws Over a Cup

"In the drawings the letter A represents a holder of any convenient size and shape, having the bore a." "Within the bore a' is placed a removable receptacle B, having a handle b, which is hinged at b' to the receptacle, so it may be turned down". "Fitting the seat a2 is the lower jaw C of the squeezer." In it is "a depression c2, and perforations c3 pass through the jaw from the depression to the under side of the jaw." The upper jaw D, hinged to the holder, has "the handle d and a projection d', corresponding to the depression c2. The two jaws are so arranged that the handles C' and d come together." "With such a device the lemons, after being halved, are squeezed between the projection d' and depression c2, the juice passing through the holes c3 and being caught in the receptacle B. After the lemons are squeezed the lower jaw is lifted from the holder and the receptacle withdrawn by pulling on the handle b."

Take six lemons of about the same size. Roll each on the board, halve it, and weigh the halves. Squeeze three by hand over a bowl, as hard as you comfortably can, and weigh the juice. Squeeze the other three in a hinged lemon squeezer over a glass and weigh that juice. Work out juice per 100 g of fruit for each method, and count the pips that got through. Wash your hands afterwards: lemon juice stings cuts.

**John T. White** of New York filed US 572,849 on 21 March 1896; it is dated 8 December 1896. The lower jaw may be "sheathed with metal on top and bottom". **Honest limits.** The patent gives no sizes. The hand force, lever lengths and lemon size in the notebook are examples; your juice weights are the measurement.