The Doughnut Cutter: A Spring That Pushes the Hole Back Out

"My invention has for its object to furnish an improved device for removing the dough from the cutter-tube automatically, and which shall be simple in construction and convenient in use; and it consists in the combination of a spring and follower with the center-tube". "By this construction, when the cutter is forced through the dough, the follower D is forced inward, compressing the spring C. As the cutter is raised from the dough, the spring C pushes the dough out of the center tube B, leaving said center tube free for making another cut." "The cutter A may be made plain or scalloped, according to the kind of cake to be cut."

Make a soft dough from flour, sugar, egg and a little water, rest it, and roll it to about 12 mm. Cut doughnuts with a plain two-ring cutter and count how many cuts it takes before the centre tube jams with plugs. Then push each plug out as you go, as a follower would, and count how many you can cut from the sheet. Weigh the rings and the holes separately and compare the share with the notebook.

**John F. Blondel** of Thomaston, Knox County, Maine, received US 128,783, dated 9 July 1872. He notes a second cutter may be formed on the other end of the tube. **Honest limits.** The notebook treats the dough as a flat sheet of even thickness and the plugs as stacking neatly; real dough squashes and sticks. Sizes are examples. Your counts and weights are the measurement.