The Apple Parer: A Crank, a Fork and a Knife on a Spring

"My invention relates to certain improvements in that class of apple-paring machines in which the frame is so arranged that the parings from the apple fall clear of the gearing, as illustrated in the machine for which Letters Patent were granted to my assignees February 22, 1876, No. 173,942". "The machine proper is precisely the same as those in common use" — the turntable type — and "consists of a frame, A, carrying the driving-shaft a, fork-shaft b, and their gearing, and the rotating table B, which carries the spring-arm d and its paring-knife." The clamping-frame D "is not secured to that portion of the frame A adjacent to the operating-shaft a, as usual, but to the opposite end of the frame, adjacent to the fork-shaft b." So "the end of the machine which carries the apple is directly adjacent to the clamp, and is thus held more firmly than usual, all shaking of the apple, or displacement of the machine when putting the apple on the fork, being prevented."

Clamp an apple parer to a sturdy table edge. Weigh six apples of about the same size one by one and note each weight. Pare three on the parer and time each from fork to finished. Pare the other three with a vegetable peeler and time them too. Weigh every pared apple and the peel from it. Work out the fraction of each apple that went into the peel, and the average time for each method. Measure a few peel strips with a caliper for width and thickness and compare them with the notebook. Keep the fingers clear of the fork and blade while the crank turns.

**William M. Griscom** of Reading, Pennsylvania, filed US 191,138 on 4 April 1877; it is dated 22 May 1877. It improves the machine patented to his assignees on 22 February 1876, No. 173,942, and describes the parer itself as the common turntable type. **Honest limits.** The patent gives no gear ratios, speeds or sizes. The apple radius, turn counts and lumpy shape in the notebook are examples. Your own weighings are the result.