US1300566A - Berry-picker. - Google Patents

Description

E. C. BREWER.

BERRY PICKER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1B. 1918.

' 1,300,566, Patented Apr. 15,1919.

anew/n m EDWARD C. BREWER, 0F SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

BERRY-PICKER.

Application filed July 18. 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD G. BREWER, a citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of Seattle, county of King, and State of Washington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Berry-Pickers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to berry pickers and consists of a cup-like body provided with means for conveniently securing it to the hand and so shaped that the upper marginal edge of the cup may be used in conjunction with the thumb and the fore-finger of the hand to which it is secured, for removing the berries.

The object of my invention is to provide a device which may be secured to the hand and which will facilitate picking the berries and in addition serve .as a-holder for a limited number of the berries thus avoiding the necessity for holding a number of the berries in the hand and the danger of the berries being thus crushed.

My invention comprises certain constructions and combinations of parts which will be herein described and then particularly pointed in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, I have shown my invention in its preferred form of construction.

Figure 1 is an elevation of the device, showing clearly the manner in which one side thereof is cut down.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the device taken from a point of View 90 removed from that of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of the device.

The body of my device consists of a cuplike construction 1,- which is provided with a handle 2, adapted to receive one finger of the hand. This should preferably be the second finger. This handle is secured to the cup a short distance below the upper or mar ginal edge of the cup, such distance being sufficient to provide room for the first or fore-finger of the hand against the side of the cup.

I prefer to so construct the cup and the handle that the handle may be readily detached from the cup and shifted to the opposite side of the cup so that the device may be used either with the right or with the left hand. A convenient manner of doing this is shown in the drawings and consists in out ting a strip 3 from the body of the cup and pressing the same out so as to form a strip Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

Serial No. 245,553.

beneath which the end of the handle '2 may be inserted, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1. By this construction it is easy to shift the handle to whichever side of the cup is desired.

The top of the cup, at one side, extending from a point not far from where the handle is secured, is cut downward in a curve, as is clearly shown at 4 in Figs. 1 and 2. The position of this cut is such as to accommodate the ball or base of the thumb so that the thumb may be extended over the opening in the cup, after the manner indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

This device may be made to include a bottom, like an ordinary cup or it may be made without a bottom and have secured thereto a sack or a tube, so that berries or fruit, as soon as picked, may pass downward into a receptacle. Such a construction is shown in Fig. 2. In such a case, I prefer to form a slight outwardly projecting flange 5, around the base of the device, over which the sack or tube 6 is drawn and then secured by a cord or wire as 7.

In using the device, the hand would ocupy aposition with relation to the cup suchas indicated in Fig. 3. The size of the cup should be such that the thumb may reach across the opening in the cup and act in conjunction with the upper edge of .the cup to remove the berries and at the same time, the fore-finger of the hand is free, so that it may be used with the thumb to pick the berries after which it is only necessary to release them and they will fall into the cup.

When the cup is filled, it may be emptied into any convenient receptacle. In using this device, there is no possible danger of crushing the berries by reason of holding a number in the hand after picking. They are dropped into the cup where there is no danger of their being crushed. The use of the device will enable a person to pick a great many more berries in the same time and will also contribute to the safety of the berries.

I prefer that the upper portion of the cup be not provided with a wire or other stiffening means around its margin, but may be left of the thickness of the material from which it is made. In such conditionit is possible to bend or form the upper edge of the cup to such a shape as will suit the hand of the user. The shape of the top of the cup shown in Fig. 3 represents the shape for the reception of a finger of the hand positioned to bring the cut away portion of the out top under the ball ofthe thumb and the opposite edge in position to be used with the thumb to pick the berries.

2. A berry picker comprising a cup having its top edge out down at one side and means for detachably securing a finger receiving handle thereto at opposite sides and approximately ninety degrees from said cut away portion. I

3. A berry picker comprising a cup-like metal body having a handle secured thereto a short distance below its upper edge and adapted to receive a finger of the hand, the top edge of said cup being cut down substantially to the level of the top of said han- V dle in a segment located at little to one side of said handle.

4:. A berry picker comprising a cup having a peripherally extending strip raised therefrom at opposite sides and a short distance below its upper edge, a handle adapted to receive a finger of the hand and having an end adapted to be inserted beneath said strip, the top of the cup being cut down at one side between said strips.

Signed at Seattle, Washington, this 10th day of July 1918.

EDWARD C. BREWER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. v

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