What Is It? – The Answer

To solve the mystery of what this old-time contraption is,

I need to show you its inside.

Does this help?  Any ideas?  As you can see, there is a tray that slides in and out.  There are also six round spaces in the tray.  If you are ready for the answer, it’s the Applebaum Suppository Machine manufactured by the Druggists Appliance Mfg. Co. in Port Richmond, New York.

Here is your trivia lesson of the day.  Samuel K. Applebaum, a pharmacist, applied for a preliminary patent on the device in 1923 with another patent granted in 1924.  On his application, he stated that he knew of others who had already received a patent on a similar device, but that his model would allow for more than one suppository to be made at the same time.  He implied that pharmacists found it difficult to attain consistency in product and that the suppositories took too long to make individually.  Made by hand, one by one, with some breaking, they were simply too expensive to make.  You can read more about Mr. Applebaum and his patent here.

In terms of what happened to him after he moved to Los Angeles in later years, it’s hard to say.  The only mention of the Samuel K. Applebaum family is in an L.A. Times article, dated June 10, 1937.  His son accidentally shot and killed a high school friend as the son was playing with a gun.  The high school friend’s family sued the Applebaum family for $2 million.

Here is another “What Is It?”  This again is something my father-in-law purchased from a yard sale.  See if you can figure this one out.

This is what it looks like from a distance.  Here is another picture of it closer up.

The attachment on the end of the arm looks like a pair of shears, doesn’t it?  This is, in fact, a hand cranked sheep-shearer.  I don’t know any details about it except that it stands about four feet tall.

Both the suppository device and the sheep-shearer will be finding their way to eBay one of these days.  Thanks for your guesses.  Have a wonderful day!