US1136772A - Pickling-weight. - Google Patents

Description

S. BUFFENBARGER.

PICKLING WEIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED APR.2I, 1914.

1,136,772, Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

SANFORD BUFFENBARGER, 0F TITUSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

PICKLINGr-WEIGI-II.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2Q, 1915.

Application filed. April 21, 1914. Serial No. 833,520.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SANFORD BUFFEN- BARGER, citizen of the United States, residing at Titusville, in the county of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in PicklingWeights; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eXact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in preserving apparatus, and more particularly as to do with weights for pickling various substances, such as sauer-kraut and the like.

The main and primary object of the invention is to provide a weight of the character referred to the construction of which is such as to render the same impervious to the action of the brine, fruit juices, etc., in which the device may be immersed, and thus to prevent disintegrating or crumbling because of the corrosion incidentto such immersion. This also provides a weight which may be readily maintained in a sanitary con dition both when in and out of use.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a weight of the character mentioned embodying in its construction simple and eflicient means for concentrating the mass weighted down by the device in such relation to the under side of the weight as to preclude the mass rising upwardly beyond the sides of the weight, thereby insuring the proper holding of the mass within the pickling agent.

Having these general objects in view, and others which will appear as the nature of the improvements is better understood, the invention consists substantially in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings-Figure l is a vertical transverse sectional view of a pickling weight constructed in accordance with the present invention, and illustrating its use in conjunction with a pickling receptacle. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the weight removed from the container. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan view thereof.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings, the numeral 10 designates the body of the herein described weight. This is preferably cylindrical in horizontal cross section, as clearly seen in Fig. 3, and its vertical dimension is somewhat more than one half of its diameter, so that the body may be comparatively heavy, and thus capable of serving its purposes as a weight. The ma terial of which the body 10 is formed is preferably clay, so that it may be burned to the required degree of hardness, and at the same time be provided with a vitreous surface to render the body impervious to the action of the pickling agent, or the, liquid in which the body may be immersed when the weight is in use.

At the upper end of the body 10 is formed a transversely-extending handle 11 to facilitate moving the body, and this is spaced a sutlicient distance above the top of the body 10 to provide a clearance space between the body and said handle, and at the same time to expose the upper end of the verticallyextending air passage 12 formed in the body 10 and affording communication between the bottom and the top of said body. As illustrated in Fig. 3, this passage is at the center of the body 10, and its lower end communicates with a concave pocket 18 formed at the under face or side of the body 10. This pocket 13 is comparatively deep, and its purpose is to concentrate, at the bottom of the weight, the mass which is being pickled or preserved, and upon which the weight is seated in a pickling container, such as 14. By reason of this concentration of the material under treatment, the weight forces the same into the concave pocket 13, and this precludes the mass rising upwardly beyond the sides of the weight, so that the proper holding of the mass within the pickling agent is insured.

By the provision of the passage 12, it will be obvious that suction or compression in raising or lowering the weight from or into the pickling container is prevented, the passage 12 allowing the air to freely circulate from the under side of the weight to the top thereof.

In using the hereindescribed device, the material to be pickled or preserved, such as sauer kraut and the like, is placed within the container 14;, and the proper pickling agent, such as brine, introduced thereto. The weight is then placed upon the mass, the latter entering the concave pocket 13, and the air escaping through passage 12, and when so positioned the weight effectually holds the mass to be pickled beneath the surface of the pickling agent. a To remove the weight, it is simply necessary to grasp the handle 11, and to exert upward pressure thereon, and by reason of the passage 12, it is evident no suction will be created beneath the underside of the weight.

Because of the formation of the weight ofa vitrified substance, the same is impervious to the disintegrating action of the pickling agent, or the fruit juices, it being obvious that the weight may be used with berries and the like for expressing the juices therefrom, the vitreous character of the body caved face and the atmosphere.

2. A pickling weight, comprising a vitreous body having a concaved face for contact with the material to be pickled, the con- 7 cavity of said face concentrating the material toward the center of the body, and a vent passage extending from said face to the exposed portion of the body.

3. A pickling weight, comprising a body,

material to be pickled, whereby the latter is concentratedtoward the'center of the body and means for venting the recess in said face;

4. A pickling weight, comprising a body, and a handle associated therewith, the under face of said body having an inwardly-extending pocket for concentratingthe mass weighted down by the device in such'relation to the under side of the device as to preclude the mass rising upwardly beyond the sides of the weight, said body havingfan air passage extending therethrough and in communication with said pocket. j

5. A pickling weight, comprisinga body, and a handle associated therewith, the under side of said body-having a concave pocket formed therein, whereby to concentrate the mass weighted down by the device in such relation to the under side of the device'as to preclude the mass rising upwardly beyond the sides of the weight, said body being also provided with a vertically-extending air passage in communication with said concave pocket to permit circulation of the air to and from the pocket.

In testimony whereof I affix my' signature, in the presence of two Witnesses.

SANFORD BUFFENBA-RGER. Witnesses:

R0131. A. KERR, HELEN DARRAH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the commissionr'of Patents, Washington, I). 0'.

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