Year: 1886

page_text: I EMERY J. AVERILL of Bangor in the County of Penobscot, and State of
Maine, one of the United States of America 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 :-
My invention consists of a combined spoon and Scraper being substantially an
improvement upon the common spoons or ladles and is chiefly applicable to the
forms of these utensils used for cooking purposes. It is illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my spoon and
scraper. Figure 2 is a front view of the same in position for scraping the bottom
and side of a pan or kettle. Figure 3 is a cross section of the same on line m m.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same on the line o o. Figure 5 is
a cross section on the line nn. Figure 6 is a perspective view of a modified form
of my spoon and scraper. Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of said modified
form on the line o o.
Similar letters refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.
The configuration of the common spoon is designed chiefly to facilitate the
dipping of small quantities of liquids & incidentally for stirring them. Dipping
being its chief function the elliptical outline of the lips of the bowl is so contrived
throughout its whole extent as to preserve the same altitude above the bottom of
the bowl & to be in the same plane. But this regular elliptical outline renders
the spoon inapplicable to some common uses & it is to remedy this defect that
I have invented my improvement. In stirring thick liquids & mushy substances
in the common forms of cooking vessels the convexed point of the common spoon
can operate only upon an insignificant space, scarcely more than a point in fact,
upon the bottom of the vessel, while it is frequently necessary or desirable that
such substance be scraped clean from the flat or curved bottom. The same
difficulty also occurs when the convexed sides of the spoon are drawn across the
various shaped walls or sides of the cooking vessels. These walls or sides of pots,
pans & kettles are sometimes perpendicular & cylindrical & sometimes of the shape
of an inverted cone with or without an outward curve at the top.
My object is to provide an utensil which while answering substantially all the
purposes served by the common spoon, such as dipping & stirring, may also serve
as a scraper to clean the inner surfaces of almost any shape of hollow ware and
prevent the contents from adhering to the bottom or sides thereof.

page_text: I form my spoon & scraper with a bowl A & shank or handle B substantially
like the common spoon. The only changes I make are in the configuration or
outline of the lips of the bowl. The outline of the butt-end f of the bowl I form
like the common spoon up to about the points a a where the curve of the lips
suddenly diminishes. From the points a a in prolonging the outline of the lips or
sides of the spoon I abandon the plane used in forming the lips as far as a a
& slightly concave the outline of the lips until the greatest width of the bowl is
reached at bb forming the concavities x a. From the points bb to the extremities c c
of the point of the spoon I concave the outlines of the sides much more sharply than
from a a to bb forming the concavities y y which are carried to the extremities c c
of the tip or point of the bowl.
I form the tip by cutting the bowl off square leaving the tip of any convenient
width & in practice I find that a width of about three quarters of an inch gives
favorable results. The curve of the concavities y y is such that when the spoon is
rested upon one of its side edges upon a horizontal surface & canted backwards
until it forms an angle of from 65° to 75° with the horizontal plane, every point of
the concavity y upon that edge will bear upon the flat surface & the whole of that
concavity will describe an arc of a true circle. If the spoon then be tilted further
backwards the extremities b & c of the concavity y gradually rise leaving more or
less of the middle of the concavity bearing upon the flat surface according to the
amount of the tilt. If the spoon be tilted forwards the middle of the concavity y
rises from the surface on which the 'spoon bears & only the extremities b & c of the
concavity y remain in contact with the flat surface.
It follows from the foregoing that the spoon being held with one side upwards
and tilted at about the angle before stated the flat bottom of a cooking vessel may
be scraped clean by the concavity undermost at the time every point of which will
bear upon the flat bottom, while the point c c of the spoon being a straight line or
edge will fit into & fill the angle formed by the bottom & side walls of the vessel
& bear upon the side wall thus affording a means of scraping portions of the
bottom & sides of the vessel & the corners formed by their junction simultaneously.
It is apparent that when the spoon is held perpendicularly & point downwards the
bottom of the vessel may be scraped by the wide flat point.
Another most useful purpose served by the concavities y y is that by varying
the cant at which the spoon is held according to the magnitude of the curve of the
cylindrical or conical vessel operated upon the concavities y y may be made to bear
upon every portion of both the interior & exterior surfaces of hollow cylindrical or
conical bodies & even upon hollow inverted conical bodies with outwardly curved
rims, and all this whether the spoon be held in a nearly perpendicular or horizontal
position.
The concavities xx near the butt-end of the bowl are of considerably less curve
than the concavities y y & are designed as scrapers for flat surfaces not in hollow
ware, such as bread boards, the curve of these concavities being determined by the
amount of cant most conveniently given the spoon when applied to this use.
The spoon & scraper if desired may be formed as shown in Figs. 6 & 7 without
the concavities xx as the concavities y y will perform the same function but the
latter are more especially designed for the bottoms & sides of kettles & I prefer to
form my device with both sets of concavities x x & y y.
The edges of the concavities may if desired be bevelled off inwardly to facilitate
the operation of scraping.
Having now particularly described & ascertained the nature of my said
invention & in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. A spoon bowl formed with a truncated point & having its side edges con-
caved from the extremities of the point to points at or near the line of greatest

page_text: 2. A spoon bowl formed with a truncated point & having its side edges concaved
from the extremities of the point to points at or near the line of greatest width of
the bowl & thence again concaved towards the butt-end of the bowl, substantially
as described.
3. The combination with a shank or handle, of a spoon bowl formed with a
truncated point & having its side edges concaved from the extremities of the
point to points at or near the line of greatest width of the bowl substantially as
described.
Dated this 6th day of April 1886.
Witnesses,
GEO. G. BARKER.
J. R. MASON.
EMERY J. AVERILL,