AN IMPROVED TABLE-FORK
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Aug., 886.
Complete Left, 10th May, 1887.
Complete Accepted, 1st July, 1887.
I FREDERICK EATON OLIVER of No. 32 Steade road Sheffield Law Clerk do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for AN IMPROVED TABLE-FORK to be as follows:-
The shortening of the prongs of the present fork and the insertion between such
shortened prongs and the handle, in the space now occupied by the upper portion of
the prongs, of something in bowl, spoon, or scoop shape, or such variation thereof
as may be found inost convenient, thereby producing an instrument much more
serviceable than the present fork for general table purposes, and particularly
for the consumption of stewed meats, made dishes, peas, sauces and gravy, and
of the miscellaneous morsels of any dinner plate which are at present wasted in all
respectable society because of the impossibility of conveying them to the month except
with the knife.

page_text: I FREDERICK EATON OLIVER of Number 32 Steade Road Sheffield, in the County
of York Law Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
I propose to produce an instrument which will take up food with much greater ease
and convenience to the eater than the present table-fork, by placing in my proposed
improved table-fork, between shorter prongs and the shaft or handle, that is to
say, in the space occupied in the present table-fork by the upper and useless portion
of the prongs, a form in spoon, bowl, or scoop shape, or such variation of any of such
shapes as may be found most convenient for the purpose of taking up and conveying
to the mouth, food, which form I call henceforward the food-holder. Or to explain
in other words, a simple form of my proposed instrument would be made by cutting
straight the end of an ordinary spoon, and adding to such end short prongs, the spoon
remaining being what I call the food-holder-I would make such food-holder either
(A) oval or in spoon-shape, (B) circular or in bowl-shape, (C) with a flattened
lip for the mouth on one side and a retaining edge on the other, which I call scoop-
shape, or in any variety or combination of such shapes, and would indent such food-
holder in any manner most convenient, or perforate the same if the public fancy
should require. And I would dispose the shortened prongs of my proposed instrument
on the end of such food-holder, either parallel by bringing such end to a plane, or in
accordance with whatever configuration such end might take, and would make such
prongs either curved or straight. And I would place the prongs and the shaft at
whatever angle to such food-holder might be found convenient.
From the foregoing description my proposed instrument in any of its patterns or
varieties can be made in any of the ordinary modes of constructing the present
table-fork in any metal or material in which the same is made.
I had thought that my specification was of the character which "need not be
accompanied by drawings" but being required I furnish an outline drawing of a
simple form of my proposed instrument, which will probably be its most usual,
because most convenient, form. The drawing is of the proper size of the instrument
or thereabouts. The part marked a represents the prongs b the food holder, c the
shaft or handle. I do not limit the size or precise shape by the drawing, and it is
not necessary for me to repeat what I have said in my specifn. as to the numerous
variations in detail to which the instrument may be subject and which I do not
attempt to draw or even imagine.

page_text: Having now particularly described and (caused to be) ascertained the nature of
my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that
what I claim is :-
I. That I have invented a new instrument of eating which will be of great public
service. As I assert that with the present fork many dishes which it is unnecessary
to particularize are eaten with great inconvenience, the more digestible the food the
greater being the difficulty of getting it to the mouth. And that in the aggregate
an enormous quantity of food, and that the most nutritious and digestible, is left on
the plate and wasted because of such difficulty, which amounts in some cases to
impossibility. And that my proposed instrument will save all such inconvenience
and waste, by my invention of a food-holder which will take up and hold liquid,
semi-solid, and small matter, and all the miscellaneous morsels of a dinner-plate, and
enable them to be conveyed to the mouth without difficulty.
II. That such food-holder being the main feature of my invention, all variations
in its shape, its indentation, or, if found advisable, its perforation, in the disposal of
the prongs at the end of such food-holder, in the number, shape, or size of such prongs,
and in the angle at which such prongs and the shaft are disposed with relation to the
food-holder, are details covered by my application, and which I claim to secure by
letters patent for the invention I have called an improved table-fork.