From Eyeglasses to a Mechanical Potato Masher

WILLIAM ALLAN JACKSON of Binghamton, New York, applied for and was granted one patent during his lifetime – but it was a doozy.

Jackson, 1874-1968, was granted Pat. No. 1,023,317 on April 16, 1912 for an “implement for mashing potatoes, &c.” This was no ordinary potato masher, it was spring loaded, one of the first mechanical mashers to be patented.

The invention had two mashers, the bottom one stationary, the upper one spring-loaded so it could be pushed down and then spring up.

Jackson assigned the patent to the A&J Manufacturing Company, headquartered in his hometown. In fact, one of the witnesses on the patent was Edward H. Johnson, co-founder of A&J. Over the years the masher became a mainstay product for A&J (see The Eggbeater Chronicles, Page 96).

Jackson was a respected and popular optician in Binghamton and it is not known how he went from examining eyes and selling glasses to inventing a clever potato masher.

In addition to Jackson’s invention, potato masher patents dating back to the early 20^th Century included some extraordinary mechanical, combination kitchen tool devices. It is almost certain none of the following devices made it to market, but their originality merits a closer look:

–May 19, 1908, No. 887,790, Harry J. Griswold of Eureka, California, “combined potato masher and spoon.” His invention, Griswold said, “consists of a rotating beating or mashing element in combination with a spoon. Means is provided for reciprocating and rotating the beating element simultaneously.”

–January 30, 1917, No. 1,214,010, May Conner of Garden Grove, Iowa, “combined egg-beater and potato-masher.” Conner said the device had adjustable blades when locked “in their horizontal position for whipping eggs,” and when unlocked and pushed up and down as “a potato chopper or cutter or masher.”

–November 20, 1951, No. 2,575,978, Wayne C. Scheidecker of Lake View, Iowa, “potato masher and whipper.”   Scheidecker said his device “has the handiness of a potato or like masher, and may be used as a whipper separately or in conjunction with the masher means, thereby saving much time and effort.”

–March 19, 1957, No. 2,785,718, Amanda C. Moos of Chicago, “potato masher and beater.” The flat circular base of her invention, she said “is used for mashing potatoes or other vegetables while the blades are used to beat or whip the mashed potatoes.”

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(c) 2020, Donald Thornton. All rights reserved.