Cralle, Alfred L.

1866-1920 · Contribution: 1897

Mechanical ice cream scoop ('ice cream mold and disher')

Business & Misc. — collage image
Business & Misc.

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.

Impact on the world

His ice cream scoop design solved a common problem of ice cream sticking to serving spoons, and the basic mechanism remains the standard design used in scoops worldwide today.

Life & background

A businessman, Cralle worked in hotel management when he noticed how often ice cream stuck to serving utensils. He patented a one-handed mechanical scoop design that remains essentially unchanged in ice cream scoops used today.

Sources

  1. Smithsonian Lemelson Center; U.S. Patent 576395; History.com; BlackPast.org