NOTEWORTHY INVENTORS:
THE ICE CREAM SCOOP • Alfred Cralle was born in Virginia in 1866, just after the Civil War ended. He was black, so his options were limited but he never let that stop him. • He learned carpentry from his father, attended local schools, and became interested in mechanics. Because he excelled at school, his father sent him to Washington, D.C. to attend Wayland Seminary. This was one of several schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to educate African-Americans after the Civil War. • Later he settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He got a job working as a porter in the Markell Brothers drug store and St. Charles Hotel. While working at the drug store, he noticed how popular ice cream had become, and he also noticed how difficult it was to serve. It consistently stuck to the spoon or ladle that was being used to scoop it, and required either two hands or two people to get it into the dish. He was determined to solve the problem. • Being mechanically inclined, he set to work on the problem. The first prototype he showed to the Markell Brothers was a simple stick with a coneshaped object mounted on the end. The Markell Brothers didn't think it would work, until Cralle took a container of ice cream and demonstrated it for them, easily plopping a perfectly-shaped mound of ice cream into a dish. • On February 2, 1897, Cralle was granted a patent for what he called an "ice cream mold and disher" now known as the ice cream scoop. It was designed to keep ice cream as well as other foods from sticking to the utensil, and it was easy to operate with one hand.
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• Cralle's design was strong, durable, effective, and inexpensive. It could be constructed in a variety of shapes depending on whether a cone or a mound was desired. It could be constructed out of a variety of materials. There were no delicate parts that could malfunction. This simple device allowed ice cream to be served faster, with less effort and more hygienically. • Cralle never received much in the way of financial success from his invention, nor did he receive any wide-spread acclaim. However, when the AfroAmerican Financial, Accumulating, Merchandise and Business Association was organized in Pittsburgh, he was named Assistant Manager. • Cralle was 30 years old when he was granted his patent, married with two daughters and a son. His wife and one daughter died in 1918, possibly due to the flu epidemic. His son died of disease in 1918, and Cralle himself was killed in an automobile accident in 1920. But his daughter Anna lived to the age of 98 and died in 2009. By then her father's invention had become standard issue in households around the world. • Next time you bend your spoon in half for lack of an ice cream scoop, think of Alfred Cralle, and say a word of thanks. • When choosing an ice cream scoop, pick one with a good grip on the handle so it won't slip if your hands are wet. Be sure it has sharp edges so it will cut easily into the ice cream. Get one with a big wide scoop to provide maximum ice cream retrieval. Dunk the scoop in hot water for a few minutes to facilitate scooping. Drag the scoop in an S-shape across the surface of the ice cream. If you are scooping multiple dishes, keep the hot water handy and dip the scoop in between.
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