The Radial Masher: A Disk Cut Into Narrow Arms

"The object of my invention is to construct a cheap and convenient implement with which boiled potatoes, turnips, and like vegetables may be readily and quickly prepared for table use." The masher "consists of a round disk, B, corresponding in size to the butt-end of the handle, to which it is secured, and having narrow radiating arms a a, by which the vegetables are cut or mashed. I prefer to construct this mashing-disk of a circular disk of sheet metal of considerable thickness, cutting from the same a series of triangular pieces, and thus leaving the disk ready to be attached to the handle or holder." "In operation, the vegetables that are to be mashed are placed in a dish, and the masher forced down against them in the usual manner, the disk B and radiating arms a a crushing and cutting the vegetables to the desired consistency."

Boil a kilogram of floury potatoes until a knife slides in, drain them and let them steam dry for a minute. Split them between two bowls. Stand one bowl on the kitchen scale, zero it, and mash. The scale reading while you press is your push, in grams: divide by about 100 for newtons. Count the presses until no lumps are left. Mash the second bowl with a fork, counting the same way, and compare the push and the count.

**Eliza S. Leslie** of Saxonville, Massachusetts, filed US 188,383 on 22 November 1876; it is dated 13 March 1877. She claims the disk cut from one piece of sheet metal, with narrow radiating arms and a central perforation. **Honest limits.** The notebook treats the arms as straight strips of even width and the force as shared evenly across them; real pressure depends on how the potato gives way. Sizes and force are examples. Your scale readings and counts are the measurement.