Monday, July 11, 2011

Get a Grip!

Whenever I go to estate sales, I always take a moment to look through the kitchen utensils bin.  They generally sell from a dime to a dollar per piece.  I'm always keeping an eye out for the unusual ones.  I came across this last week:





It's called Top-Off and was manufactured by the Edlund company of Burlington, Vermont.  It was patented in 1933.  It's purpose is to remove those stubburn jar lids.  The diameter of jar lid it can open is somewhat limited, so don't expect it to work on that vat of mayonaisse you bought at Sam's (trust me, I tried it).  I can see it working well for those screw-off soda caps.  The next stubborn lid I have, I'm going to give it a shot.

The patent can be viewed here.

3 comments:

  1. this looks like a pain to use, in my opinion. don't you have one of those rubber pancakes that every insurance agent i've ever met hands out, with their company info on it? those things are fantastic. : )

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  2. My grandmother (who incidentally lives about 60 miles from Burlington, VT) had one of these in her kitchen "gadget" drawer when I was growing up (late 1970's-80's). They actually work pretty well on really stubborn lids, like those found on Mason-style jars. Although over the years, the gear that adjusts the "grippers" loosens up and renders the gadget practically useless, unfortunately.
    I find them from time to time at garage & (increasingly so) estate sales and always pick them up if they're in working order. I've also seen them with red painted handles.

    Great blog, Tom. I've been binge-reading your past posts over the last week or so and was going to wait until I'd read everything to comment, but I saw the jar opener and couldn't resist adding what little additional info I could. Keep up the good work and good luck on your future garage saling exploits.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Trent! Glad you're enjoying. Since finding this one, I've seen them quite a bit at estate sales as well. They consistently sell on eBay for $5 to $20.

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