Iron Pie Lifter May also be Warmer or Cooler? Need Patent Help

[talesofthesevenseas]

I just won this neat iron "whatzit" that I believe is a pie lifter, designed for pulling a pie dish out of a hot oven. It says "PAT'D MAY 10 1875"  in the dark, closeup photos, but so far I've been unable to locate it by searching for the patent issue date. Maybe someone else can help find the patent?

In the seller's photos it looks like they have it upside down, that the holding handles should curve downward, not upward. This would position the straight bars supporting the underside of the pie plate and the curved bars cradling the sides of the pie dish. I think they are right, that this iss it's primary purpose. The hooks that curve in the opposite direction from the handles look very much like those on hearth trivets that are designed to hook onto the front of a hearth (can't think of the name of the thing that stops logs from rolling out of the front of the fireplace) and allows you to keep things warm, so I suspect that this lifter has at least two purposes, maybe more. Here are the photos and a link to the auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&rt=nc&nma=true&item=170640154502&si=tXs%252B9%252BB7EGQm6YvtH6rrHAytOE8%253D&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

[fancypants]

Very cool little do-dad , talesof !

( I think 'andirons' is the term you're brain-scanning for)

[talesofthesevenseas]

Andirons are the uprights, and it is not the grate which holds the logs, but the "fence" at the mouth of the hearth. Like the one in this drawing:



Here's a hanging hearth trivet although this one goes over the fireplace "fence" and mine looks like it would poke through the holes in the fence, or maybe it would be for cooling on a window sill or other ledge. I'm not sure, which is why I am hoping we can locate the original patent.

[mart]

Odd little critter isn`t it ??  I have never seen one before !! But I hesitate to say its a pie lifter !! You would think the handle would be longer for that and shaped differently !!

[talesofthesevenseas]

It could be something else who knows! It looks to me like it would work for lifting a pie dish and I'll give it a try as soon as i get it. If you had the pie too far from your hand it would be heavier the further out it gets. Some pies like apple pies or meat pies can be very heavy, especially in a deep dish. This does look different from other pie lifters I've seen that are like large, wooden handled pronged forks. This is too big to be for lifting hot canning jars like some other lifters I'll be really interested to see if we can track down a patent. Wayward is really good at that and I can't seem to find this one.

The hearth fence is called a fender. That's the word I was looking for.

[fancypants]

Yup , fender is the term (but sometimes called an 'apron' by some ... usually the apron is a front piece on a andiron/grate combo-deal thingie) .
Ya beat me to it .

[talesofthesevenseas]

Antique canning jar lifters:





Pie lifter:

[waywardangler]

Tales, are you 100% sure that it is marked "Pat'D May 10 1875"? I cannot read the photos and that date appears to be no good. Maybe a pencil rubbing or a loupe would help read the letters/numbers.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I don't have it in-hand yet, I'm having to go off what the seller said. They did say it was hard to read, so it may quite likely be incorrect. I've tried adjusting the two photos but they aren't showing much. Maybe a rubbing will help when it arrives.

[talesofthesevenseas]

and the other...

[waywardangler]

Totally unreadable to me. I think it says something other than May 10, 1875. When I have time I will try Mar, May, 10, 18, 19, and some different years.

[talesofthesevenseas]

I think you are right, none of the things patented on May 10 1875 look like this. I tried running searches for a pie lifter and went through some of the ones made in the 1800's but didn't find this one. (some pretty interesting contraptions though!) Wayward, don't spend too much time searching until I get it home and can try to decipher the date. I hope I'll be able to get a better fix on it in person.

...and of course I'm going to try lifting a pie with it too, to see what happens!

[waywardangler]

Tales, I would not need one of those. I just lifted a piece of apple pie with a fork. Worked real good too.

[talesofthesevenseas]

LOL yeah, it's a lot of iron just to replace a couple of pot holders, but I thought it was cool nonetheless!

[waywardangler]

I am not so sure it is a pie lifter. Just seems odd for that purpose.

With the curved handles down as you suggest, I think this would be very unwieldy and unstable if lifting something. The one photo you have that shows the two curved ends locked together appears to be a stove lid lifter. The hinged end with that long end out there makes no sense, unless that end fits into a hole or fitting so the "lifter" rotates on that hinged point. I see no reason for the hinge to be extended out so far. It would be in the way of any and everything, especially the back of a fireplace. It would be nice to have a clear patent date. I did search all of 1875 with restrictions (incl. lifter, stove implement, etc.) with no results even close. I also searched Mar-May 1876 with same results. Another conundrum.