Gorham Mystery Device

[admin]

Hi,
Everybody loves a mystery, but I've about had it with this one, it's been driving me crazy for a couple of months and is one of the reasons why this part of the forum was created.
Made by Gorham, date marked for 1911 and patent in application.
The lid swivels open and when closed it locks on a track. The two pincers are spring mounted, so when not squeezed together, they spring back from center to sides.
Obviously, one was meant to open it, put something in it, lock the cover closed and then squeeze the pincers...and voila! you get...what?
My best guess was a cigarette roller, I even mashed some tobacco & papers in it, but the shape of the pincer interior is wrong and the resulting mess was...a mess.
I put a lump of clay in and got out a 2 1/8 inch long x 1/4 inch square clay ingot with deep grooves down two sides, a sort of hourglass in profile.
The resulting product didn't help, I'm still clueless to its purpose.
Please help, I need to get on with my life.
Regards, Tom

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[SusanWhite]

Dear Tom,

I don't have a clue what it is, but thanks a bunch for giving me a good laugh with your story! How delightful ... this is probably something really practical but what that practical use would be....

Sincerely,
Susan
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[SusanWhite]

Hi, me again...

We were sitting around giggling and making up hypotheses about what this could be used for when I remembered an exhibit at the Getty [museum] that showed artists' pigments ... is it possible that this is used to mold raw pigments or graphite for artists' chalks?

It looks like it would form something long and rectangular, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in diameter [about the right size] and both raw pigments and graphite are powdery and would make a lock on the lid necessary to keep them from spilling out and making a mess. In addition, pigments have historically been a fairly expensive commodity, so an additional reason for a locked lid to avoid spills. It looks like it would be a fairly light accessory that could be taken out into the field for plen aire painting/drawing, giving an artist the ability to mix their own pigments on site.

Just a suggestion....

:0)
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[Kit]

Tom, could this be a tool kit of sorts? The locked case would hold several small tools, say jeweler's screwdrivers. To use a tool, one would hold the case in the palm - broad side up toward the thumb and forefinger - insert the tool, and keep it tight by gripping the pincers. Admitedly this sounds awkward, but I think it's better than my idea that the object was a vanilla bean stripper.

Kit
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[2209patrick]

Hello Tom.
We need to know how big it is.
If it's not more than a few inches long, my guess is a snuff dispenser or box.
While I have not seen one like this, this would be perfect for snuff.

Pat.
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[admin]

Hi Patrick,
Right, should have mentioned, the triangular portion is about 2 3/4 inches from top to bottom and the whole device is about 1/2 inch thick. It is not all that evident in the photos, but the pincer handles protrude through open slots. Snuff or any other powdery substance would tend to leak through these.
Regards, Tom

ps. I been messing around at the US Patent database "advanced search" page
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
trying to get it to return all patents - by or assigned to - Gorham, from 1910 thru 1914. I'm having no luck with it, but I'm sure the fault lies in my lack of boolean search skills. Does anyone out there have some facility in using their search function?
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[Granmaa]

Hi Tom,

I tried that patent search, and found every patent containing the name "Gorham"; it came up with about 1000 entries. I scanned through all of these, but didn't find anything that it could be. Some of the entries were clearly by a different Gorham such as:
Antibodies to a YYX epitope of a mammalian prion protein

I'm not familiar with the patenting system; would Gorham have to patent a device to produce it or just pay the patenter a commission?

Miles
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[admin]

Hi Miles,
Thanks for trying. I get about the same number of returns, they are listed sequentially from newest to oldest, but the earliest is for 1920, about 10 years too late for this piece.
If Gorham made the patent application, they would be listed as the inventor. If they bought the patent from another inventor, they would be the assignor. I'm not sure of the case for just buying a license to produce from the inventor. I'm assuming Gorham owned the patent, by Gorham having produced it and further stamping it with a "patent applied for" stamp. Of course, there is no way of knowing from this example if the patent was granted.

Regards, Tom

ps. If any of you out there have enough dogged determination to actually track down the patent info and get it to me, you'll have my undying gratitude. To sweeten the pot, I'll send you this fine vintage Gorham Sterling mystery gadget as a thank you gift...really, no joke...I can (almost) guarantee you'll be the first one on your block to own one.
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[SusanWhite]

Okay everyone, I am admitting up front that I "cheated" ... the following information is courtesy of Owl at the Bridge, in an email to me:

"Your B3972 mystery Gorham item is a lemon squeezer."

So ... mystery solved. I liked my wild and imaginative response and think someone should invent it, but this explanation actually makes more sense. ;0)

Sincerely,
Susan
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[2209patrick]

Great work Susan!!

I think we're batting a 1.000 as a group for our mystery items.

Pat.
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[admin]

Susan,
Well done, you have no idea how thrilled I am to finally know this. My thanks to you and the folks at Owl at the Bridge who know all things Gorham.
Don't forget to send me your shipping address, glad to know the mystery piece will be going to a good cause.

Regards, Tom

ps. with your info, was able to find another on the web -> Google Search
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[Granmaa]

Good stuff Susan.


I managed, with your help, to track down the patent info. Even with the name it was a lengthy process. I think I now know every way there is of squeezing lemons, from centrifugal force to high pressure containers.

It was patented in 1911 by a Mr. J. E. P. Pender.

Here is the link :
Patent Images
If the pictures don't show up, click the forward button on the left of the page and then press the back button on your computer; this seems to work for me.

Here is a bit of the blurb which I thought was nice:

Be it known that J. Pender has invented a new and useful improvement in individual orange and lemon squeezers. This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in individual lemon or orange sqeezers intended for serving slices of the fruit.

Miles
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[admin]

...and good stuff Miles,
I also tried again with the new info and failed as miserably as the first time. Thanks for tracking this down for us. I hope you'll write a tutorial on your search method.

Regards, Tom
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[Kit]

And now Tom can, as he said, get on with his life. :) Great job Susan!
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[SusanWhite]

Thanks Everyone for the kudos, however undeserved they may be! I really did just want to contribute something ... I so appreciate you all for all the help I've been given... This is a really great thing going here and I appreciate it!

On to the next mystery item! Thanks also to Patrick for giving us these new and interesting challenges!

Sincerely,
Susan
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