The Virtual Apple Parer Museum.  Dedicated to the exhibition and educational study of antique apple parers which have both historic and artistic value.

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History

Little Did He Know

Little did he know the winning bid on a parer for his Keen Kutter collection one hot July day would mark the beginning of a journey to explore a great American phenomenon.

Jersey Apple Parer
Maxam Apple Parer
Apples Introduced to America

Colonists launched the apple as a key agricultural product when they introduced apple trees and, as Stradley (2004) points out, honeybees to America during the 17th century.

Thornton (1997) indicates the 18th and 19th century saw a growing need for apples as a winter staple for both food and drink. Apples needed to be processed for winter storage. Paring, coring, and cutting enough apples for winter was difficult and time consuming (p. xiii).

Apple Bees

Apple bees brought farming families together for socializing and winter apple preparation. Farmers used their creative skills to make wooden machines that made the process quick and efficient.

Industrialization and the use of iron during the 19th century witnessed an explosion of patented creativity. Lambert (1991) notes over 100 apple parer patents were granted from 1850 to 1890 (p. 44). How does this line of history connect to me?

Union Apple Parer
Sargent & Foster Apple Parer
Why Apple Parers?

I enjoy collecting apple parers (today, commonly referred to as apple peelers) because they are a testament to human ingenuity. Apple paring was a singular problem solved in so many different ways and undoubtedly catalyzed by a free market system. I hope you are filled with the same wonder as you explore the creative engineering of the apple parer.

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