Single-Wire Potato Masher: One Length of Wire, No Solder

Wire mashers were made of many pieces soldered together, costly and weak where they joined. Alanson Brown of Rochester, New York, received US 178,228, dated 6 June 1876, for a potato masher "from a single piece of wire": the middle of the length bent into longitudinal coils that form the bed, its ends crossed under them as transverse lengths, then brought up and twisted together into a shank set in a handle. "These coils and cross-lengths mutually brace and support each other," and "no soldering or other attachment is required." This rung works out the wire needed, then bends the masher from one length of stainless wire, prints the handle, and mashes a pan of potatoes.