Horatio Keyes (1830-1904) of Leominster, Massachusetts was the first person to be granted a U.S. patent for a turntable apple parer on December 16, 1856. Keyes inventive claim was, "Giving the knife a circular movement entirely around the fork G, and apple thereon, by means of the wheel K with the arm M and the knife head P, attached, and the cam O, arranged as herein shown or in any equivanlent way to effect the purpose desired."

This was the first patented turntable. The paring arm in turntables revolves 360 degrees around the apple. The apple is pared in the first 180 degrees after which the paring arm is pushed away from the apple but continues to revolve until it is back in starting position. Other parers at the time reversed the motion of the knife to reset the machine to starting position. Keyes turntable is emobssed with two patent dates, one for an earlier return design and one for the turntable. The earlier patent was used to protect the cutter head on the turntable parer.

References

Keyes, H., inventor; 1856 June 17. Machine for Paring Apples. US15133.

Keyes, H., inventor; 1856 Dec. 16. Machine for Paring Apples. US16240.