- the Apple Paring Machine -
No, no - not that Apple - but a lathe that peels, cores and slices apples in one simple operation. First sold during the early 19th century - patents date back to the 1850s - and still widely and cheaply available, this really is a most ingenious contraption. By the late 1800 the design appears to have stabilised around the type shown below, but many other versions have also been made, a few shown below and here.
America appears to be the home of these ingenious little machines with, according to Lambert's book (1991) over 100 apple parer patents granted between 1850 to 1890. Consequently, a large number of makers and brands competed on the market including Carter, Whittemore, Bay State, Bergner, Penn, Lockey & Howland, Sargent & Foster, Thompson, S.S. Hersey, F.W.Hudson, Triumph, Lightening, Advance, Oriole, White, Peck, Stow & Wilcox, Wiggins, Whittemore's Little Favorite, Jersey and Little Star.
The definitive book on apple paring machines is "Apple Parers" by Don Thornton
Continued on Page 2 Mike Viney's Apple Parer Musem
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