The Erie Specialty Co.
Edwin Walker of the Erie Specialty Co. patented his first ice cream scoop in 1905. He was a very prolific inventor and was credited with nine scoop patents over the next ten years.
From this beginning to the company’s closure in the mid- 1920’s the Erie Specialty Co. was a major contributor to the ice cream scoop industry and likely offered more models than any other manufacturer.
Erie adopted the logo “Quick and Easy” for its scoops around 1908, and this designation was applied to almost every model from that time on.
While multiple scoop models offered by one company were common and necessary to be competitive, Erie produced many variations to the specifications of a given model. This added a multiplying effect to the number of scoop designs from the collector’s perspective. Design variations within these models were one of the big differences between the Erie Specialty Co. and their largest rival of the time the Gilchrist Co. The Gilchrist Co. scoop models were consistent within their design with a few exceptions. For example, the Gilchrist model 33 would all have the same shape to the handles, the same alloys were used to form the scoop, the wiper mechanisms all worked the same way, and the general shape and feel were maintained. For Gilchrist, deviations from their design would warrant a new model designation. Things were quite different at Erie. Erie might have incorporated a range of specifications within a given model. e.g.
Alloys……They mostly used either aluminum or brass plated with nickel. Some models used copper and or bronze. The thumb operator might be nickel-plated brass or a cast aluminum piece. Some seemed to come as polished metal while others seem quite rough.
Model 486 Nicely polished and finished aluminum body
Model 277-A Also available in an E model (Erie Nickle Silver)
Model 284-E Also available in a A model (Aluminum)
Model 186 Bronze body and copper bowl
Model 486 Rough porous aluminum
Sizes……The scoop industry of the time had established a range of bowl sizes that most manufacturers seemed to recognize. Erie, however, offered almost all of the standard sizes plus one model in a size 7, two models with a size 14, and one with a size 32. To my knowledge, these are the only scoops made with these bowl sizes. While not unique in the industry, Erie made one model in a size 100. This was certainly not a common standard.
Size examples
Handles….several wooden handle shapes.
Thumb operator shape…..At least three shapes might be used.
Wiper removal…..the wiper removal scheme utilized 5 methods that I have identified.
Bowl shape….The bowl itself could be of course round or conical. Erie expanded that grouping by adding tapered or pear-shaped bowls. The wipers could vary in that Erie would sell as an accessory replacement wiper that included a bulge in the middle that would impress a dimple into the top of the serving to facilitate a cherry or the like. I call them the dimpler models.
Shaft design….The shaft between the handle and bowl varied between round and straight to flat-sided and tapering.
I have no way of knowing to what extent these variations were offered at any given time. It is most likely that these variations were the result of ongoing design evolution. I would not suggest that a customer could choose from a list of options to make their purchase, but with the range of changes that occurred in such a short period of time, it would likely be that multiple design details might have been available for a given model on the retailer’s shelf.
The following images are from Erie Specialty Co. catalogs. The first group of pictures is from a 1909 catalog and the second is from a 1914 catalog with a 1916 insert.
Erie Specialty Co. scoops patented before this date and not shown must have been out of production. Scoops shown with other than Erie origins must have been purchased by Erie or possibility a joint venture of some sort was in place.
Erie Specialty Co. scoops. These are just a few of the ones I have been able to catalog.
Erie Specialty Company
Milk Shake Recipe Book
