The Penn-Perfect apple parer is identical to the more common '78 made by Reading Hardware Company. In fact, parts from the parers are interchangeable. The '78 was named for the year it was introduced by the Reading Manufacturing Company and was their most popular parer. The '78 eventually carried six patent dates, four granted to William Morris Griscom (1823-1919) of the Reading Hardware company and two to Frederick Willard Hudson (1818-1897) who had his own manufacturing business. The Penn Hardware Company also made parers similar to the Reading '72 sold as "The Expert" and the Reading '75 sold as the "Twentieth Century."

Penn Hardware Company was founded in 1877 by Charles Raymond Heizmann (1835-1923) and his brother Albert Aloysius Heizmann (1848-1909). The company was incorporated in 1896 and continued to be a family buisness until the 1950's (Thornton, 1997). Charles was granted four patents for apple parers, three for lathe types and one for a return. The Penn Hardware Company manufactured several lathe parers based on Heizmann's patents.

References

Griscom, W. M., inventor, Apple-Parer Machine, 1875 Oct. 19. US168985.

Griscom, W. M., inventor, Apple-Parer, 1876 Feb. 22. US173942.

Griscom, W. M., inventor, Combined Apple Parers, Corers, and Slicers, 1876 Nov. 14. US184371.

Griscom, W. M., inventor, Apple-Parer, 1877 May 22. US191138.

Hudson, F. W., inventor, Improvement in Apple Parers, 1872 March 5. US124272.

Hudson, F. W., inventor, Apple-Parers, 1874 Feb. 17. US147559.

Thornton, D. 1997. Apple Parers. Sunnyvale, California: Off Beat Books, p. 173.