Fruit Picking Pail - Object of the Week

John S. Barnett of Central Point, OR patented this fruit pail design in December 1910 [1]. A 1916 advertisement for the "Barnett Fruit Picking Pail" claimed "No Bruised Fruit if you use the Famous Barnett Pan," due to its canvas-lined bottom inside the galvanized iron pail [2]. Northwest Fence and Iron Works of Portland, OR sold them for $1.50 each [3]. How does this compare with fruit picking systems today?

Fruit Picking Pail, c. 1915

Galvanized iron, canvas

Donated by C. B. Corby

1965.118.5

[1] John S. Barnett, "Fruit Pickers Receptacle," US Patent 978,429. Filed February 16, 1910, and issued December 13, 1910. Google Patents, http://www.google.com/patents?id=1a9OAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed August 30, 2011.

[2] "Barnett Fruit Picking" in Better Fruit XI, no. 3 (September 1916), 30. http://www.archive.org/stream/betterfruit11wash/betterfruit11wash_djvu.txt, accessed August 30, 2011.

[3] Ibid.

Advertisement from The Oregon Grower 3-5 (1921). http://books.google.com/books?id=HclNAAAAYAAJ, accessed August 30, 2011.