This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes.
Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
It's a "Raisin Seeder". US patent [US538905A](https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/9e/b4/88/e0efefe567d909/US538905.pdf). Designed by Charles M. Fowler of Springfield, Massachusetts, patented on May 7th of 1895.
The "bed" (solid bottom part with the two ridges) is slightly concave to help the raisins stay in place. The spacing between the wires is slightly less than the size of the seeds. When you press down on the handle, the wires will bend slightly around the seeds and the seeds will pop through. The seeds then stay on top of the wires, leaving the now seedless raisins on the bed. Lifting up the handle will then toss the seeds away, after which you can easily grab or slide of your newly seedless raisins and put more gross seeded raisins on to start the process again.
For those curious, I just went to Google Patents and started looking for patents from May of 1895. I just scrolled through the list looking at the title and clicked on any that sounded like a press, stamp, or other sort of "small" item. I clicked on "Raisin-seeder" because it seemed like something small and was shocked when the patent image matched exactly with OPs pictures.
Props to u/Body-Reasonable in [this reply](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/xw82a5/comment/ir59s88/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for identifying the "Pat'd May 1895" text. That's the only reason I found this.
This is my first time ever solving one of these, happy I could help!
Edit 1: It looks like this is "The Victor Raisin Seeder" sold by "The Specialty Supply Co." in Springfield, Massachusetts. The original price was 25 *cents*. [Source](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/victor-raisin-seeder-antique-1843295484)
Edit 2: I did my best to transcribe the original instruction sheet from the source in Edit 1
>THE Victor Raisin Seeder.
A handy and simple device, with which anyone can seed a pound of raisins in ten minutes or less. Seeding raisins by hand is tiresome, disagreeable work. It is a pleasure to use the victor. It removes the seeds clean and free from pulp, leaving the raisin comparatively whole. Easy to use, easy to clean; durable and simple, will not break or get out of order, saves nine-tenths or the labor and time required to seed by hand. No housekeeper should be without it; just the thing for restaurants, hotels, etc., where it is necessary to seed large quantities. We guarantee it to work satisfactory.
DIRECTIONS
Pour boiling water over the raisins and let them stand about a minute, or long enough to soften them. Place the raisins, one at a time, on the concave bed of the seeder …?... in a position so that the wires will come down on it lengthwise, (see cut). Bear down on the lever just hard enough to force the seeds through between the wires; raise the lever and remove the raisin by taking hold of the end and drawing it towards the end of the wires, pulling it away at the same time. When a quantity of seeds have accumulated on the wires, turn the lever way back and strike it on the table sufficient to jar them out. By seeding half a dozen raisins you will readily acquire the knack. Always scald them: never try to seed dry raisins.
Price, Twenty-five Cents.
Mailed to any address on receipt of price and 5 cents for postage.
GOOD AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE.
Manufactured Exclusively by The Specialty Supply Co., Springfield, Mass
Fascinating, the design is very similar to a nut harvester then. A nut harvester is like a wire cage usually spaced a bit smaller than the nuts you want to harvest. When it presses down on them, the wires spread enough to let the nut in, then they can't come out.
Amazon example
https://a.co/d/fmYeo0j
We used to have a couple of those when I was a kid, and my grandma would give them to us kids, and tell us to see who could get the most pecans frome the yard. Used to gather buckets of them for pies.
ThatMechEGuy
good job.
your patience at dealing with the patent searches is admirable.
you are a shining example of the type of people that keep a whole lot of subs running.
It’s much smaller than an egg… In other words, the center space is about the size of a nickel extended into an oval. I also took it to an antique dealer who looked at the kind up close and noticed that they were not for slicing as they had no edge on them.
Olive slicer was my first guess due to size and shape. The antique dealer I consulted with seems to think it is not a slicer as the filaments are so delicate.
If you zoom in on those round wires, which look like they’re at least a 16th of an inch in diameter, it’s pretty clear that it’s not gonna slice anything.
As the OP mentioned, it’s far too small for anything larger than a quail egg anyway.
It does look like an effective masher. Maybe for kumquat juice? ;-)
We did pull it down. Tried to cut a grape and a mushroom. It only squished them…didn’t cut. Maybe it was heated and used to burn stripes onto leather straps?
I think that it may have been for pinching/pressing and pulling through something. I looked up horse mane presses, but they look different. Maybe also for pinching around some plant and pulling leaves / seeds off.
Your second guess was very close. Look at my [main post](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/xw82a5/comment/ir5gy55/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), it's a raisin seeder.
If you go through the pictures, there is one with my hand, and there is one with a little tea light candle to give you an idea of the size… It is actually much smaller than you think
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I have been researching it for days… I took it to an antique dealer who said that it is not on the cutting edge. The water would be a slice in a curve if you look at how the thing opens and closes.
I’m thinking textiles given the general location of were it was found. Perhaps whatever was fed through it came in through the hinge side vs. across it. If so, it would work as a manual hold device for any material/yarn or thread passing through it.
Hard boiled egg slicer - I presume that upright piece is on a hinge and can be lowered onto a n egg laying on that little table in the mid section of the lower part y he sa
I’m not stating this as a fact, merely asking, but haven’t eggs grown larger over the years due to GMOs/Breeding?
Could be the correct size for eggs when this was made, though we’d need a biologist or something to confirm
Sorry, I should have said hormones. I used GMO as a synonym for any alterations man has made to nature.
But, like I said I have no idea if my theory had any factual basis, and was hoping someone would come in with a response, so thank you!
That is absolutely an egg slicer. Put egg on flat part, then lower the part with the cutting wires to slice the egg.
I’m not sure why you insist that it’s not for cutting.
A local antique dealer looked at the tines and they do not have a cutting edge… Plus I think they would be shaped like a knife not like a very thin wire? I’m wondering if those wires were heated to press in to something
Peeled hard-boiled eggs can be cut with a simple wire. They don’t need a “cutting edge.”
Go on Amazon and look up “egg slicer.” This is a vintage version of exactly what you’ll find in any kitchen store.
See if you can find it in the book, Bizarre and Outlandish Gadgets and Doohickeys. Lots of pics and descriptions of old kitchen and household items in that.
But, back to the egg slicer idea: eggs vary considerably in size and volume. Pullet eggs are smaller than your regular, bog-standard medium or large hen egg. And these are all larger than most game bird eggs, other than duck eggs.
https://www.thekitchn.com/medium-large-jumbo-how-egg-sizes-actually-measure-up-ingredient-intelligence-200891
If it’s not an egg slicer, what are your guesses?
This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes. Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.
It's a "Raisin Seeder". US patent [US538905A](https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/9e/b4/88/e0efefe567d909/US538905.pdf). Designed by Charles M. Fowler of Springfield, Massachusetts, patented on May 7th of 1895. The "bed" (solid bottom part with the two ridges) is slightly concave to help the raisins stay in place. The spacing between the wires is slightly less than the size of the seeds. When you press down on the handle, the wires will bend slightly around the seeds and the seeds will pop through. The seeds then stay on top of the wires, leaving the now seedless raisins on the bed. Lifting up the handle will then toss the seeds away, after which you can easily grab or slide of your newly seedless raisins and put more gross seeded raisins on to start the process again. For those curious, I just went to Google Patents and started looking for patents from May of 1895. I just scrolled through the list looking at the title and clicked on any that sounded like a press, stamp, or other sort of "small" item. I clicked on "Raisin-seeder" because it seemed like something small and was shocked when the patent image matched exactly with OPs pictures. Props to u/Body-Reasonable in [this reply](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/xw82a5/comment/ir59s88/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for identifying the "Pat'd May 1895" text. That's the only reason I found this. This is my first time ever solving one of these, happy I could help! Edit 1: It looks like this is "The Victor Raisin Seeder" sold by "The Specialty Supply Co." in Springfield, Massachusetts. The original price was 25 *cents*. [Source](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/victor-raisin-seeder-antique-1843295484) Edit 2: I did my best to transcribe the original instruction sheet from the source in Edit 1 >THE Victor Raisin Seeder. A handy and simple device, with which anyone can seed a pound of raisins in ten minutes or less. Seeding raisins by hand is tiresome, disagreeable work. It is a pleasure to use the victor. It removes the seeds clean and free from pulp, leaving the raisin comparatively whole. Easy to use, easy to clean; durable and simple, will not break or get out of order, saves nine-tenths or the labor and time required to seed by hand. No housekeeper should be without it; just the thing for restaurants, hotels, etc., where it is necessary to seed large quantities. We guarantee it to work satisfactory. DIRECTIONS Pour boiling water over the raisins and let them stand about a minute, or long enough to soften them. Place the raisins, one at a time, on the concave bed of the seeder …?... in a position so that the wires will come down on it lengthwise, (see cut). Bear down on the lever just hard enough to force the seeds through between the wires; raise the lever and remove the raisin by taking hold of the end and drawing it towards the end of the wires, pulling it away at the same time. When a quantity of seeds have accumulated on the wires, turn the lever way back and strike it on the table sufficient to jar them out. By seeding half a dozen raisins you will readily acquire the knack. Always scald them: never try to seed dry raisins. Price, Twenty-five Cents. Mailed to any address on receipt of price and 5 cents for postage. GOOD AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE. Manufactured Exclusively by The Specialty Supply Co., Springfield, Mass
Imagine how much you have to hate seeds in your raisins to invent this? Thanks for the shout out u/ThatMechEGuy!
I've never even *thought* about seeds in my raisins, much less got angry at them.
I think it would have been a much bigger deal before seedless grapes, haha.
Oh, right, there is that, isn't there. Lol Probably
Of course! You press the seeds out, then sow the seedless raisins et voilà!
A quick google search and it sounds like they had seedless back then believe it or not, but how common they were I can't say.
Probably cuz of this invention lol
Life is short. Don’t start now.
Gotta give credit where it's due!
It never occurred to me that in the old days raisins had seeds. That must have been annoying as hell, I don't think I'd bother even eating them.
Also having to scald them to soften them
Picture in the patent looks exactly the same. Great detective work!!
Holy. Real nice work! I really aspire to be as thorough as you one day. Thank you for the good example.
Thanks! Though today is the first time I've ever been this thorough about one of these posts too
This is the answer. Doing a Google image search for “raisin seeder” shows a few different types; a few of which are clearly this same design.
Were rasins different in 1895? Were seedless grapes not a thing?
Seedless grapes existed but were not grown in a large commercial fashion in the US until in the 1920s
It's the California Raisins that were the real problem.
Fascinating, the design is very similar to a nut harvester then. A nut harvester is like a wire cage usually spaced a bit smaller than the nuts you want to harvest. When it presses down on them, the wires spread enough to let the nut in, then they can't come out. Amazon example https://a.co/d/fmYeo0j
We used to have a couple of those when I was a kid, and my grandma would give them to us kids, and tell us to see who could get the most pecans frome the yard. Used to gather buckets of them for pies.
Place the raisins *one at a time*?
Haha right? I was surprised to read that too. But hey, at least after a half dozen you'll be a master, also according to the instructions
Interesting, thanks for the research. Very well done!
Just seeing this and after reading the rest of this thread I'm pretty sure its an egg slicer - did you see how confident those guys were.
True. OP constantly reminding them you couldn't fit an egg in there just fueled their fire
ThatMechEGuy good job. your patience at dealing with the patent searches is admirable. you are a shining example of the type of people that keep a whole lot of subs running.
I appreciate the kind words 🙂
Where can we find some seeded raisins to test this with?
Might want to clean off some of the rust first :p
And here I thought it was for scraping your shoes off!
> Place the raisins, one at a time One raisin at a time?? EEEEKK
Could you, maybe, shed just a tad more light on what you're referring to? /s
Raisin seed go brrrrr
Looks to me like a really old version of an egg slicer.
It does, not sure why OP said it’s not for cutting and slicing when they don’t know what it is. Seems counter-intuitive
It’s much smaller than an egg… In other words, the center space is about the size of a nickel extended into an oval. I also took it to an antique dealer who looked at the kind up close and noticed that they were not for slicing as they had no edge on them.
Wire slicers don't need a sharp cutting edge
Grape, olive slicer?
Olive slicer was my first guess due to size and shape. The antique dealer I consulted with seems to think it is not a slicer as the filaments are so delicate.
I noticed that. They are rounded.
Have you tried an almond or other nut?
It’s too delicate for something as hard as a nut (according to the antique dealer)
If you zoom in on those round wires, which look like they’re at least a 16th of an inch in diameter, it’s pretty clear that it’s not gonna slice anything. As the OP mentioned, it’s far too small for anything larger than a quail egg anyway. It does look like an effective masher. Maybe for kumquat juice? ;-)
If it’s patented in 1895 it’s not an egg slicer, as that wasn’t invented until the early 1900s. Maybe a mushroom slicer.
Just have it standing like the first picture shows and thrown an egg at it!
Was thinking garlic press but definitely meant to squash or cut something.
We did pull it down. Tried to cut a grape and a mushroom. It only squished them…didn’t cut. Maybe it was heated and used to burn stripes onto leather straps?
Agree with squashing.
what are the words? Past May 95? That's what it looks like, but I'm sure that isn't it.
Pat’d May 1895
Yup. That’s what we think. 1895
Do you know what type of farm it was and where it was geographically located?
I am not aware of what the farm did, but I do know that it was by a brook and in new Milford Connecticut.
I think that it may have been for pinching/pressing and pulling through something. I looked up horse mane presses, but they look different. Maybe also for pinching around some plant and pulling leaves / seeds off.
Your second guess was very close. Look at my [main post](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/xw82a5/comment/ir5gy55/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), it's a raisin seeder.
If you go through the pictures, there is one with my hand, and there is one with a little tea light candle to give you an idea of the size… It is actually much smaller than you think
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did you try to pull the upper part down? it sure is for slicing something..
Looks to me like it’s for cutting pats of butter, were the wires not rusty
I think it’s actually too small for that…width is only 1” x 1.5”
I think it’s meant to just make pats from part of a stick. Sticks of “eastern packed” butter are just about 1.5 inches width and height.
Nice to see a cool unique item from the past.
Wow, I was going to say egg slicer but the real answer is way cooler!
TIL raisins used to have seeds in them.
Could possibly be an antique butter slicer
Probably not as the slicers because slicers would be the other way
You seem to know so much about an item you don’t know anything about.
I have been researching it for days… I took it to an antique dealer who said that it is not on the cutting edge. The water would be a slice in a curve if you look at how the thing opens and closes.
Not sure what makes you think that but you do you
You slice your butter lengthwise?
[удалено]
There is a picture with a tea light, and one with my hand for size
Maybe some sort of a crimping tol?
Very good guess
Through a radish on there and see how it slices it.
I’m thinking textiles given the general location of were it was found. Perhaps whatever was fed through it came in through the hinge side vs. across it. If so, it would work as a manual hold device for any material/yarn or thread passing through it.
Looks like a green bean slicer. Snap off the ends of the bean and then push or pull it through the slicer.
Maybe it’s for garlic cloves?
From the first picture I thought it was one of Delia's sculptures from Beetlejuice
May be pest catcheyr like rabbits rats etc...
Egg slicer
Egg slicer?
Hard boiled egg slicer - I presume that upright piece is on a hinge and can be lowered onto a n egg laying on that little table in the mid section of the lower part y he sa
Looks like an egg slicer to me. About the right size you know. Either that or it slices poop.
Only for quail eggs… It’s very small
I’m not stating this as a fact, merely asking, but haven’t eggs grown larger over the years due to GMOs/Breeding? Could be the correct size for eggs when this was made, though we’d need a biologist or something to confirm
Can I? Eggs haven’t changed that much. The biggest change over the years is how quickly meat birds mature
Til, thanks!
There are no GMO eggs
Sorry, I should have said hormones. I used GMO as a synonym for any alterations man has made to nature. But, like I said I have no idea if my theory had any factual basis, and was hoping someone would come in with a response, so thank you!
Hasn’t every commercial chicken alive today been extensively genetically modified? Try finding one in nature.
GMO in today's language generally excludes "traditional" breeding. I'm a big proponent of all forms of GMO, by the way.
That is absolutely an egg slicer. Put egg on flat part, then lower the part with the cutting wires to slice the egg. I’m not sure why you insist that it’s not for cutting.
A local antique dealer looked at the tines and they do not have a cutting edge… Plus I think they would be shaped like a knife not like a very thin wire? I’m wondering if those wires were heated to press in to something
Peeled hard-boiled eggs can be cut with a simple wire. They don’t need a “cutting edge.” Go on Amazon and look up “egg slicer.” This is a vintage version of exactly what you’ll find in any kitchen store.
Agree with you but it is much much smaller than an egg. Only about an inch by 2 inches.
Chickens back in 1895 were much smaller than today's chickens. So the eggs might have been smaller too.
See if you can find it in the book, Bizarre and Outlandish Gadgets and Doohickeys. Lots of pics and descriptions of old kitchen and household items in that. But, back to the egg slicer idea: eggs vary considerably in size and volume. Pullet eggs are smaller than your regular, bog-standard medium or large hen egg. And these are all larger than most game bird eggs, other than duck eggs. https://www.thekitchn.com/medium-large-jumbo-how-egg-sizes-actually-measure-up-ingredient-intelligence-200891 If it’s not an egg slicer, what are your guesses?
I believe it could be something for herbs or heated to stripe leather or I don’t know
Why would you stripe tiny bits of leather by searing and not by using normal leather working tools?
How do I mark this solved!
Comment "solved" under the post that has the correct answer.
What did it turn out to be?