Yielding-Disk Potato Masher: A Perforated Disk That Rocks to the Mash

A rigid masher meets lumpy potatoes with its flat face tilted, and mashes only what it touches. Alfred H. Lorton of New York received US 33,654, dated 5 November 1861, for a mashing utensil "comprised, practically, in a perforated disk provided with a suitable handle," best joined to the handle by an elastic or yielding medium — a core and sleeve of india-rubber — "so that the disk will be permitted to oscillate on the end of the handle in any direction, and thus accommodate itself to the inequalities of surface" of the mass. This rung works out the disk's open area, then prints the disk and handle, joins them with a silicone core and sleeve, and mashes a pan of potatoes with the joint and without it.