S.S. Hersey

S.S. Hersey
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Samuel S. Hersey (1831-1912) of Farmington, Maine was granted letters patent for his Improved Apple-Parer on August 30, 1864. Hersey's slow return parer, sold as Hersey's Double Action Apple Parer, was the first parer to be patented that could pare an apple in both the forward and reverse directions. The parer typically carries two patent dates, one for Hersey's earlier quick return parer and the second for his slow return parer, although there is an unmarked version (Hersey, 1861 & 1864).

Hersey Double Action Parer

S.S. HERSEY PATD JUNE 18 '61 & June 17 '64

An early version of Hersey's Double Action Apple Parer, pictured above, is embossed with his patent date of June 18, 1861 and June 17, 1864, which was a Friday. Today, U. S. patents are issued exclusively on Tuesdays. The practice of publishing issued letters patent on Tuesdays started with Starr Fairchild's patent of January 18, 1848 for an Improvement in Hanging Carriage-Bodies (Fairchild, 1848). Before this time issued letters patent could be published on any day.

An examination of the patent file for Hersey's slow return parer reveals that his patent was approved for issue on June 17, 1864 (Patent File 43,990). The patent date is when the issued letters patent is published, in this case August 30, 1864. It is unknown if Hersey's approved date was used on purpose before publication of the patent or if it was a mistake. In any event, the embossing on Hersey's parer was changed to the patent date of Tuesday August 30, 1864, see below.

S. S. Hersey Apple Parer

S.S. HERSEY PATD JUNE 18 '61 & AUG 30 '64

Figure 1 for Hersey's 1864 apple parer patent application, National Archives at College Park, Cartographic Branch, 241-PATENTUT-43990

References

Fairchild, S., inventor; 1848 January 18. Improvement in Hanging Carriage-Bodies. US5413.

Hersey, S. S., inventor; 1861 June 18. Apple Parer. US32561.

Hersey, S. S., inventor; 1864 Aug. 30. Improved Apple-Parer. US43990.

Lambert, J. (2014). The Three Marvelously-Designed Herseys. See article section of this website.

National Archives at College Park, Cartographic Branch, 241-PATENTUT-43990.

Patent File 43,990, Hersey 30 Aug. 1864, National Archives Kansas City, Missouri.