Is this an invalid spoon and mark question

[susiemcq]

Is this an invalid feeding spoon? Item is 7 inches long. The bowl is 3 inches long by 1 3/4 inches across.
The 3 marks on the back of handle are EP S Lomas's Paten. I can't find info on Lomas's Paten so any info would be great. Sorry I could not get a good scan of the markings.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7164/6461 ... 9c8e_z.jpg

[dragonflywink]

Looks like a moustache-spoon to me.....

~Cheryl

[susiemcq]

I have a moustache spoon and it is more like a regular spoon with a cover and smaller hole. The shield on this one is only 3/4 inch wide. In front of the shield the space is 1 1/4 inches by 1 3/4 inches. It's a lot to stick in your mouth for your moustache to be protected. (so says my husband :-) This piece has always been a mystery to me.

[susiemcq]

I meant to say another spoon I have that I know for sure is a moustache spoon and the way it is shaped is so different. This spoon confuses me! :-)

[dragonflywink]

Eh, hard to say, sometimes manufacturers would market the same or similar items under different names - whatever would make a sale (frankly, a good number of the medicine, invalid, pap, and medicine spoons strike me as somewhat awkward). Without seeing the marks, am only making an educated guess that it says "Patent" rather than "Paten", but here's a similar moustache-spoon patent that I already had noted in my files (the description also notes it as, "a convenient and practical spoon for eating soup, taking medicine, and for other purposes furnished, which may be used by persons with or without mustaches"):

http://www.google.com/patents?id=HSZvAA ... &q&f=false

~Cheryl

[susiemcq]

Thanks so much for the link. That's great!

[dragonflywink]

Had a few minutes to look into the patent on your spoon, had little luck finding it, but suspect that it's British, #3574, applied for September 5th, 1879, by Thomas Paul Lomas, of 155 Moor Street, Birmingham, county of Warwick, and of 141 Bridge Road, Battersea, county of Surrey, for an invention of ' ' Improvements in spoons.". Apparently, the original application is available for sale, but I can't seem to locate it in any public records, so can't say what the purpose of the "improvement" was - an excerpt from an 1879 publication, noting the application, is posted below.

Though you didn't ask about it, from a partial view, the other item in your pic looks like it might be one of Paye & Baker's tea strainers - though often misidentified as an invalid or infant feeder (and often missing the interior screen), the May 22, 1917 U.S. Patent #1,226,691 shows it as "Dripless Strainer" for tea and coffee. I've seen it in several variations, plain and decorated, with both wood and metal handles, and one charming example with the bowl formed as a little bird, the beak being the spout.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=MLdoAA ... 91&f=false



~Cheryl

[susiemcq]

Thanks so much for that info! And yes, you're correct, that is a Paye & Baker tea strainer. I have 2 - one marked, one unmarked tho identical. Does anyone ever find the screens for those? I've never seen one with the screen. One came from my grandmother's estate along with the tea cups and pots. Never saw her use it in my lifetime probably because the screen fell in the garbage with the tea leaves :-)
Thanks again!