Veeder Ice Cream Scoop
ca.1899
Veeder Mfg. Co.
Hartford, CT, U.S.
Every truly successful company sometimes makes truly bad decisions and develops truly bad products. For the Veeder Manufacturing Company, which was the predecessor to the Veeder-Root Manufacturing Company, it was this ice cream scoop with a built in mechanical counter. Veeder built a reputation for providing quality mechanical counters for nearly every industry, but one has to wonder why the company's founder and namesake, Curtis Hussey Veeder (1862 - 1943) felt that there was a need in 1899 for an ice cream scoop counter. (patent no.634,073). Was there a lot of theft at the local ice cream parlors? Was inventory control really so poor that each scoop had to be accounted for?
Actually, the patent just covers the 5-digit counter that's housed within the nickel-plated brass handle. I'm not completely sure if Veeder made the entire apparatus or just the counter. There is the possibility that the scoop was produced by another company with Veeder parts. Either way, other than it being such an odd item, the Veeder Mfg. Co. was located in my hometown of Hartford which is all the more reason to collect these. Part of the old factory on Sargent Street has been converted to multi-use office space, aptly named Veeder Place.
Have more information about these ice cream scoops? Have one for sale? Please email me at Antikey.Chop@gmail.com