Henry Clay Wilder (1833-1919) of Ashby, Massachusetts was granted letters patent for an "Apple Parer, Corer, and Slicer on November 14, 1882 (Wilder, 1882). Wilder is listed as assignor to Joel G. Willard of New York. Wilder describes the purpose of his invention in his letters patent,

"The object of my invention is to rapidly pare, core, and slice apples to a proper uniform thickness. It is well known that in the process of "evaporating" apples by artificial heat it is important that the slices should be of nearly uniform thickness, for the reason that a degree of heat to readily dry the thick slices would injure the thin ones."

Some of Wilder's parers are embossed PAT.NOV.14.82, while most are not; even so, all have his distinctive thick bronze corer/slicer (Thornton, 1997). In fact, Wilder's slicing blade design was a central part of his inventive claim. Interestingly, his design included a geared crank and shaft; however, the only known examples of his parer are simple lathes equipped with a threadless shaft. Lathe parers with simple rods require the user to apply the correct pressure as the apple is rotated for paring, coring and slicing.

Wilder Lathe Parer embossed PAT. NOV. 14. 82

References

Wilder, H. C., inventor, Apple Parer, Corer, and Slicer, 1882 Nov. 14. US267475.

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