US749573A - Lemon-squeezer - Google Patents

Description

No. 749,573. Patented January 12, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DOSIER MOSTELLER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO CLAY PETERS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

LEMON-SQUEEER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 749,573, dated. January 12, 1904.

Application filed August 17, 1903.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DOSIER H. MosTELLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lemon-Squeezers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved lemon' squeezer, the object of my invention being to provide an apparatus of this character which will first cut and then sqeeze a lemon or lime easily and rapidly and without the exercise of care or dexterity on the part of the operator.

A further object of my invention is to provide an article of this character which can be used profitably for the purpose of displaying various advertisements, this article being es pecially intended for places where drinks containing lemon or lime juice are prepared and sold as ordered.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a broken horizontalsection thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan View thereof. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the tray upon which the lemon is deposited. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the apparatus. Fig. 6 is a side view of the apparatus, the casing being broken away. Fig. 7 is a front view of the apparatus, the casing being removed. Fig. 8 is a vertical section of the apparatus on the line A A of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a casting which forms the main portion of my the wall 8.

Serial No. 169,727. (No model.)

and said top 10 is slit, as shown at 12, to receive the upper end of a knife 13, the lower end of which is slotted, as shown at 14, to take over a stud or extension 15 from a lug 16, extending forwardly from the lower portion of After said slotted end has been so placed over said stud 15 and the upper end shaft 19 at its ends, but approaches close thereto at the middle, as shown, so that the end portions are higher than the middle. This has the effect of directing the lemon or lime which is thrown onto the tray into a central position opposite to the knife 13. Said tray has at one end a forwardly-extending arm 22, which extends underneath the lower edge of the presserplate 23 and before the commencement of the operation is held down thereby, so that the tray slopes upward from said presser-plate, so as to direct the lemon or lime against the face of the presser-plate as well as centrally in front of the knife 13. Said presser-plate 23 is attached, as shown at 24, to a pitman 25, pivoted at 26 to a crank-arm 27, the shaft apparatus. Said casting has at its lower end of which has abearing 28 in a boss or projeca forwardly-extending lug 2, having a screwtion 29 of the main casting and the outer end threaded bearing 3 for a screw 4, which carof which carries a crank-handle 30. Said 5 rice at its upper end a disk 5 to rest against the under side of the counter, table, or other support upon which the article is secured and at its lower end carries a hand-wheel 6 for screwing said disk up against said support. The casting has also at its side forwardlyextending ears 7, which rest upon the upper surface of the other support. By this means the device is firmly secured in place. The rear wall 8 of the casting has at the top a forwardlyprojecting flange 9, which is continued at one side to form a partial top 10, integrally supported by a side extension 11 from saidwall,

presser-plate has a wide top, which extends underneath the flange 9, formed upon the casting, and in addition to said top is secured by the screws 31 a guide-piece 32, which has a downwardly-extending tongue 33, which extends into a groove 34, formed in said flange 9 in a the direction of motion of the presser plate. It will readily be seen that with this construction when the crank-handle is turned the presser-plate is moved toward the knife, its motion in that direction being accurately guided by said tongue and groove. In so moving the presser-plate will release the arm 22 of the inclined tray, so that said tray drops toward the knife. At the same time the presser-plate pushes the lemon or lime toward,

Wall 36, which has a flange 37 at the top and also one 38 at the front, so as to entirely inclose the fruit except at the bottom, and thus to prevent the juice from squirting out when the lemon is being compressed. The face of this wall 36 is preferably lined with wood, and in the center opposite to the knife is secured a prism-shaped piece of rubber 39, having one edge in the center and the opposite face secured to the wall. The object of this piece of rubber is to squeeze the cut edge of the lemon or lime thoroughly, so as to extract the juice fully therefrom. A further object is by its resiliency to throw the squeezed halves of the lemon back after the juice has been extracted, so as to prevent them from sticking to the face of the wall. The juice so extracted falls upon an inclined plate 40, having a series of horizontal slots 41 therein, through which the juice passes and falls onto the face of a chute 42, supported in an opening of the rear wall 8 of the casting, and also having a curved upper edge 43, which hangs over a wire yoke 44, having its ends secured to the casting. By this means the pips or seeds of the fruit are separated from the juice, which runs into a trough 45, formed in the lower edge of said chute 42, which trough again discharges the juice into the tumbler 46,held in a wire support 47, secured upon the lower lug of the casting. Upon a return movement of the crank-handle when the presser-plate is withdrawn the squeezed halves of the lemonfall upon the slotted plate 40 and roll down the same and are discharged into any suitable receptacle. Said slotted plate has where it extends to the rear of the hopper a raised wall 48 on the side to which the juice is discharged to prevent the lemon falling into the tumbler. It will thus be seen that in the operation of this device nothing more is necessary than to drop the lemon or lime into the receptacle and then turn the handle. In order to adjust the apparatus for limes or lemons or for different sizes of lemons, there is provided a wedge-shaped block 49, which extends between the back of the wall 36 and the side extension 11 of the casting and is moved in and out by means of a stem 50 and knob 51. When the wedge-shaped block is moved rearward, it forces the wall farther from the extension and reduces the distance through which the presser-plate has to travel to squeeze the fruit, and is therefore suitable for limes or small lemons. When it is moved forward, it permits the wall to approach nearer to said extension, and thus enlarges the distance and is suitable for lemons.

The wall is movably held in place by means of an inwardly-extending flange 52 therefrom being held behind a plate 53, secured by screws 54 to the casting.

To limit the movement of the crank-handle 30, there is provided a rubber disk 55, secured upon the rear wall of the casting in the path of said handle.

In use the'above apparatus is inclosed on three sides and at the top by a casing 56, which is formed at the top with a suitable hole 57 through which to drop the lime or lemon in the proper place to be cut and squeezed, and I utilize this casing as an advertising medium by dividing it into spaces 58, on which various advertising-cards may be secured, the whole being covered by a sheet 59 of transparent celluloid and then covered by a frame 60, having strips 61.

In order to prevent the crank-arm 27 going too far beyond the dead-center when squeezing the lemon, there is provided a stop-pin 62, arresting said crank-arm. When so arrested, the crank-arm and presser-plate remain stationary for a sufficient time for the juice to run out from the lemon compressed by the presser-plate.

I claim 1. An article of the character described comprising a knife, a suitable support upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided with means for centering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate for pushing the fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind said knife between which and the presser-plate the fruitis squeezed, a suitable discharging device for receiving the fruit and juice and discharging them, and means for separating the fruit from the juice, substantially as described.

2. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be de posited, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presserplate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presserplate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

3. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presserplate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presserplate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, means for shifting the support to permit the fruit to be pressed against said wall, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said Wall and presser plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

4. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, said support being provided with means for centering the fruit opposite to the knife, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

5. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, a presser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, a wall on the opposite side ofthe knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

6. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, a presser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, means for shifting the support to permit the fruit to be presseragainst said wall, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

7. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, said support being provided with means for centering the fruit opposite to the knife, a presser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

8. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, asupport in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, the face of said wall having thereon a piece of rubber substantially parallel with the knife, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

9. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife, a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, a chute for receiving the juice and a slotted inclined plate over said chute for receiving the pulp and seeds, substantially as described.

10. An article of the character described comprising aknife, a suitable support upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided with means for centering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate for pushing the fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind said knife between which and the presser-plate the fruit is squeezed, means for adjusting the position of said wall relative to said presserplate for various sizes of fruits, a suitable discharging device for receiving the fruit and juice and discharging them, and means for separating the fruit from the juice, substantially as described.

11. An article of the character described comprising a knife, a suitable support upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided with means for centering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate for pushing the fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind said knife between which and the presserplate the fruit is squeezed, a suitable discharging device for receiving the fruit and juice and discharging them, means for separating the fruit from the juice, and a suitable casing having a hole through the top through which to drop the fruit provided with means for'displaying advertising matter, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DOSIER H. MOSTELLER. Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, BESSIE GORFINKEL.

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