99
Corn Screws
On August 29, 1977, Larry Riedinger and
George Spector filed for a U. S. Patent on their
―
Cornscrew
‖
invention. These two guys
decided that
―
corn on the cob
‖
holders with a
spike or blade existing at the time were
difficult to use particularly on a hot ear of
corn. Their corkscrew like ends on their
holder would not require great force to mount
―
by persons who do not have great strength,
such as children, women, and those who are older.
‖
They also claimed their screw in
holders were less likely to accidently fall out.
They snuck something funny into this sentence:
―
Other objects are to provide big Larry's cornscrew
which is simple in design, inexpensive to
manufacture, rugged in construction, easy to use
and efficient in operation.
‖
There is nothing further
mentioned about
―
big Larry
‖
. So we guess one of the inventors (Larry) was a big guy.
Patent No. 4,163,575 was issued August 7, 1979.
Bladed corn holders had been around many years
before the Reidinger / Spector patent. The
―
Corn
Holder
‖
above is Carl Bomeisler U. S. Design
Patent No. 39,815 of February 9, 1909.
The Bomeisler corn holder was manufactured by
Simeon L. & George H. Rogers Company of
Hartford, Connecticut and marked PAT. FEBRUARY 9 '09.
So Big Larry and George were making
a claim in 1977 that their screw in corn
holder was something new. Hold
everything! Take a look at Bert Berry's
1931 patent. Sure enough, Bert uses a
screw type mechanism to hold and
secure the ear of corn. He applied
for his patent in 1929 almost a half
century before
―
Big Larry's invention.
‖
U. S. Patent No. 1,801,653 was issued April 21,
1931.
