US497199A - Apparatus for stemming and cleaning raisins - Google Patents

Description

,E. NIGHOPF. A APPARATUS FOR STEMMING AND CLEANING RAISINS, 8m.

(No Model.)

Patented May 9, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST NICl-IOFF, OF TACOMA, WVASHINGTON.

APPARATUS FOR STEMMING AND CLEANING RAISINS, 80C.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 497,199, dated May 9, 1893.

Application filed July 9, 1892. Serial No. 439,495. (No model.) A

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST NIOHOFF, a citizen of the United States, residingat Tacoma, in the county of Pierce and State of \Vashington, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Stemming and Cleaning Raisins and Currants; 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 e ppertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a portable household machine for removing stems from raisins, currants and other similar fruits and cleaning the same, and it consists in certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter described and claimed, whereby stems can be rapidly and completely removed, and the stemmed raisins and currants thoroughly cleansed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of myimproved apparatus showing means for holding the stemming slats or boards in position and also for adjusting the same and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same.

A in the drawings represents an outer inclosing and containing case or box, preferably made of wood and of any suitable dimensions, though the following are dimensions often adoptedz eighteen inches long,

five inches high and fourteen inches wide. The box is provided on the inner surface of its walls'with a groove a and in this groove a stemming device is fitted. y

In the drawings the stemmer is constructed of a series of boards or slats I) made of hard wood or metal and formed with sharp or square upper edges, said slats being fitted into the side grooves a and connected together by rods D which are secured at their upper ends in the head board of the machine, and the lower ends of said rods are screw threaded and provided with thumb nuts d, whereby the slats can be moved farther from and nearer to each other accordingly as it is desired to stem small or large fruit. Rubber washers d are placed on the rodsD intermediate each slat or board so that when the slats are adjusted to the desired position they will be held firmly in position and prevented from wabbling. The lowest slatb is made higher than the other slats and is provided with journal ends which fitin the side grooves a so that raisins or currants will be held on the stemmer during the stemming operation. To guard against any accidental movement of the slats or boards, the same are held down by a clamping device E as shown.

When the raisins or currants are moved over the surface of the stemming device B by the hand, the stems will be thoroughly and rapidly removed from the fruit, and as the passages F extend nearly the entire width of the machine, the stems are free to drop through these passages into the body of the box while the raisins or currants remain on the stemmer. These passages F are preferably outwardly and downwardly divergent as shown in Fig. 4, which are formed by beveling the sides of the slats or boards as shown. By this construction there will be less liability of the stems removed. from the fruit, forming a wedge and clogging up the passages.

The operation of using my invention is as follows: A baker or other person places three or four pounds of raisins or currants on the stemming device and rubs and rolls them over the same. The stems of the raisins are caught by the sharp edges of the slats and are torn off from the fruit and fall through the passages between the slats into the body of the box below. When the raisins are freed from their stems they may be washed by pouring water over them and allowing the water to pass off through the spaces of the stemmer.

hat I claim as my invention is In a portable household apparatus for removing stems from raisins the combination with an outer containing stationary frame having grooves on its inner sides to receive and hold a stemming device in place, a stemming device formed of a series of spaced portions connected by rods having screw threaded ends, nuts on said rods, washers interposed between the spaced portions and arranged on the rods, and the clamping device E, substantial] y as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ERNEST NIOHOFF.

Witnesses:

B. B. GATTEL, W. A. STERNBERG.

It is hereby certified that the name of the patentee in Letters Patent N 0. 497,199,

granted May 9, 1893, for an improvement in Apparatus for Stemming and Cleaning Raisins, ete., was erroneously written and printed Ernest Niehoff, Whereas said name should have been Written and printed Ernest .Nt'ehofi, and that the seid Letters Patent should be read with thiscorrection therein that the same may conform to the record of the ease in the Patent Office. Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 13th day of June, A. D. 1893.

[SEAL] JNO. M. REYNOLDS,

Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Gountersigned:

J OHN S. SEYMOUR,

Commissioner of Patents.

Images