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I find this forum highly informative, thanks to you all! However, I failed to find any information whatsoever on the internet regarding the improvements Charles Hull made on the nutcracker. He proudly called himself the patentee of the improved nutcracker, yet what exactly did he improve and patented? I hope to those who are interested in nutcrackers my question will be easy to handle!
In case it helps your research, here's an advertisement for Edwin Cotterill, likely the same person whom Charles Hull claimed he was the successor of, from 1858:
It is only lately that Birmingham has started into prominence as a producer of locks. A few years ago Mr. Edwin Cotterill, who had succeeded in improving many other articles appertaining to the business he was brought up to, turned his attention to lock-making, which appeared to him to have scarcely kept pace with the times, seeing that almost every newspaper announced some new triumph of the burglar. The result of his repeated and anxious experiments was, the perfecting of the most secure lock that has been known, so that we are now placed in a position, in the production of this as well as many other articles, to outvie even the great metropolis.
Much has been said about this very ingenious invention, and although it is sad to reflect that it is even more necessary in the present enlightened and christian age to be on our guard against the depredations of our neighbour, when even the rude barbarian, we are told, enjoys a security, not in locks and bolts, but in the goodwill of his brother savage, to which we are strangers—still, so long as the stern necessity exists— and exist it will as long as the institution of private property— such men as Mr. Cotterill are undoubtedly entitled to the grateful recognition of their countrymen. He has supplied the public with a lock which may challenge the most skilful burglar to violate. In fact it may be said now to take its stand as unequalled in its pretensions as a security against the "picking and stealing" propensities of that socially demoralised class, who are unhappily ever seeking to prey upon the more industrious and prosperous part of the community. We say this because the other celebrated locks have been found to be vulnerable to the attempts of Mr. Hobbs, the ingenious American mechanic. This, however, though repeatedly challenged by Mr. C, who offered strong pecuniary and other inducements, he would not undertake to pick, and therefore we may fairly conclude it was beyond his power. Independently of this fact, there are numerous testimonials from the most proficient and distinguished individuals, all pointing to the same conclusion, viz., that this is the only secure lock extant. It is of course impossible here to give a detailed exposition of its principles, or of their simple and beautiful adaptation to the single purpose of its construction. Like all productions of true merit, it is rapidly advancing in the estimation of the public, and its inventor will no doubt be speedily rewarded and appreciated.
In consequence of the great success of his lock, Mr. C. has disposed of his other patent rights, together with the old-established corkscrew business, to Mr. Charles Hull, who now occupies the premises in Henry Street, Ashted. This gentleman appears to have succeeded not only to the trade, but to the ingenuity so long peculiar to the spot, for he has lately patented an improved nutcracker, which has a most extensive sale. Mr. Cotterill has been for some time established in New Street.
Source: Birmingham - A Poem - Harry Howells Horton - 1853
many thanks for your reply, it was indeed helpful! We own a nutcracker bearing a mark "C HULL REG D APRIL 17 1856", so I mistakenly thought 1856 must be the year Hull patented his nutcracker. Yet the publication date of Birmingham: A Poem proves it to have been patented even earlier!
