93

Potatoes

John Forster's U. S. Patent No. 1,172,695 for a

―

Vegetable-Slicer

‖

issued February 22,

1916. John's drawing shows a potato being cut into an ornamental corkscrew like

garnishing slice. He wrote

―

The cutter is illustrated in operation ... the unsliced portion

of the potato, the spiral or

cork-screw

like slice produced by the progressive movement

of the improved slicing device.

‖

A more recent patent has suggested variations of a holding tool. One is

―

a

cork screw

member. In use, the potato, for example, is rotated while inserting the

corkscrew

member. This secures the potato in position while peeling it.

‖

U. S. Patent No. 6,659,522

was issued December 9, 2003 to Halle Anne Byth for her

―

Fruit and Vegetable Holding

Utensil

‖

(for peeling).

Now let us suppose your bull, Ferdinand, attempts to swallow a potato or an apple and

it gets stuck in his throat. What do you do? Samuel Cochrane of Arlington, Virginia

came up with the answer more than a century ago with his

―

Veterinary Surgical

Instrument

.‖

Samuel's patent is interesting food for the voracious reading appetite:

―

The special object of the invention is to withdraw, without injury to the animal, a

vegetable or fruit which may have become lodged in his throat below the muscles with