The Lemon Squeezer and Shaker: Squeeze, Then Shake, in One Hinged Vessel

"In the figures, A represents a cup, which is made of metal, and which is provided with a hinged cup-top, B. The vessel or cup A is provided upon one side, and near its top, with a flaring-mouthed, open-bottomed cup, in which the lemon to be squeezed is placed." "The cup B is provided upon its inside with a metallic plate, D, one end of which projects downward, so that when one cup is closed over the other this projecting end will enter the inside cup C, for the purpose of pressing the piece of lemon which is placed in said cup."

**Cups.** Take two clean tin cans, one slightly narrower than the other so its mouth fits inside the other's. Join their rims on one side with a small butt hinge and pop rivets, so the narrow can closes into the wide one. **Lemon cup.** Cut a small open-bottomed cup from a third can's side, flaring at the top, and rivet it inside the wide can near its rim, opposite the hinge. **Plate.** Cut a plate from the can's lid, bend its end down, and rivet it inside the narrow can so that its end enters the lemon cup as the cans close. **Test.** Put a quarter lemon in the lemon cup, close the cans and press, reading your push on the narrow can's far edge with the spring scale. Open, add a spoon of sugar, 250 ml of water and some ice, close and shake, then pour into a glass. Compare with a lemon squeezed by hand and stirred.

**Horace L. Heaton** of West Jefferson, Madison County, Ohio, filed US 204,325 on 15 May 1878; it is dated 28 May 1878. Strengthening plates on the outsides of the cups formed the hinge, and the lemon cup could be riveted in or formed on a plate. His claims cover two hinged metal cups whose mouths nest to form a shaker, and their combination with the lemon cup and plate as a squeezer. **Honest limits.** Tin cans, a butt hinge and pop rivets stand in for his made-up cups and hinge plates. The notebook ignores friction; its force and lengths are examples. Your squeeze and shake are the result.