A NEW OR IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR PARING AND SLICING APPLES, POTATOES, AND OTHER FRUITS AND ROOTS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Maschwitz, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Merchant, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
INSTRUMENT FOR PARING AND SLICING APPLES, POTATOES, AND OTHER FRUITS
AND ROOTS "A communication.
Sealed the 17th November 1854, and dated the 2nd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Maschwitz at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
June 1854.
I, CHARLES MASCHWITZ, of Birmingham, in tne County of Warwick, Mer-
chant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR PARING AND SLICING APPLES, POTATOES, AND OTHER
FRUITS AND ROOTS," (communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) to be
as follows:-
The said machine consists of the following parts:-A horizontal axis turned
by a handle carries at its ends a fork, on which the apple or potatoe is placed,
and to which a rotatory motion is communicated when the said handle is
turned. A second axis, at right angles to the former, and the end of which
is opposite to the centre, of the apple, carries a knife-like cutter, the said
cutter being attached to an arm, jointed to the distant end of the second axis.
By means of suitable gearing, the rotation of the first axis is accompanied by
a slow rotation of the second axis, so that the apple is made to rotate under
the knife, and the knife at the same time made to perform a semi-revolution

page_text: about the apple, that is to say, pass from one end of its axis of rotation
to the other end of the said axis, so that every portion of the apple is
brought under the action of the knife. When the knife has performed the
motion described, it becomes disengaged from the first axis, and is brought
back by a spring to its first position. By continuing to work the machine, the
apple may be pared or sliced away, or nearly so.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Maschwitz in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
25th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
MASCHWITZ, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Maschwitz, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Maschwitz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles Maschwitz, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
INSTRUMENT FOR PARING AND SLICING APPLES, POTATOES, AND OTHER FRUITS AND
RooTs," (communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, upon the cou-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Maschwitz, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Maschwitz, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof (that is to say) :-

page_text: The said Invention consists of an instrument or machine constructed in
the manner herein-after explained, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawing:
Figure 1 represents the said instrument in plan; Figure 2. represents
the same in. side. elevation; and Figure 3 represents an end view of the
same. The same letters indicate the same parts in the several Figures. a is
a horizontal axis, turned by the winch or handle b. The said axis carries at
its ends a series of points or fork c, on which the apple, potatoe, or other
fruit or root to be pared, cut, or sliced is placed, as indicated by the
dotted line d, in Figure 3, which said dotted line indicates the position of
an apple. while being pared. e is an axis, situated. horizontally, but in a
direction at right angles to the axis a; the said-axis e is in a. line, or nearly
so, with the centre of the apple d. f is an arm jointed to the axis e
at g; the said arın f. is drawn into a position parallel to the axis e by the
spring h. i is a knife or cutter carried on the end of the arm f. When
the winch or handle is turned, the worm k on the axis a, engaging
in the toothed wheel 1, communicates thereto a rotary motion, which said
rotary motion, through the axis m, is transmitted to the toothed wheel n;
which said toothed wheel is provided with teeth at two opposite points, the
said teeth occupying about two-thirds of the whole circumference, while the
intermediate portions of the circumference of the said wheel are plain, as
will be seen by inspection of the said wheel in Figure 3. On the rotation
of the said wheel n, it engages in the teeth of the semicircle o, fixed on the
end of the axis e, by the rotation of which semicircle the arm f, working in
the guide g, on the said semicircle o, is made to describe a semicircle upon
the axis e. When by the rotation of the wheel n and semicircle o the tooth
o' of the semicircle o escapes from the tooth n¹ of the wheel n, the axis c,
semicircle o, and knife or cutter i, are brought into the position represented in
Figure 3 by the coiled spring p on the axis e; and when the other toothed
portion of the wheel n engages in the teeth of the semicircle o, the knife or
cutter i is made to perform another semi-revolution upon the axis e; the apple
d on the fork c is made to rotate under the knife or cutter i, while the said
knife is carried around the apple in the manner described. During the time
that the knife i is making its semi-revolution, or passing from one pole to the
other of the rotating apple, the said apple makes about ten revolutions under
the said knife. By continuing to work the handle b, the action of the knife i
may be continued until nearly the whole of the apple has been pared or sliced
away. The knife i is pressed upon the apple by the spring h. The said
instrument or machine is applicable to the paring or slicing of apples,

page_text: potatoes, and such other fruits and roots as have a spherical or nearly spherical
figure.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of the said Invention; but I claim as the
said Invention, the constructing of an instrument or machine for paring and
slicing apples, potatoes, and such other fruits and roots as the same is or may
be applicable to, as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Maschwitz, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
CHARLES MASCHWITZ: (L.S.)