This artifact is a common household apple parer, or peeler as they are known today. This simple mechanism had a very simple function: to peel the skin off apples. While such a device might easily be taken for granted today, before the 1860s this had to be done manually with a knife.
While numerous patents for similar devices began appearing as early as 1803, David Harvey Goodell of New Hampshire invented the first mechanical apple parer that we would recognize today in 1864, which he called the “the Lightning apple parer.” Goodell took to the road as a travelling salesman to promote his new product, which was extremely successful and served as the foundation for the Goodell Company, which produced a number of labour-saving kitchen devices.
This design would also serve as the foundation for commercial apple parers which began to appear on the market beginning in the 1870s. The household apple parer could be found in most Canadian and American kitchens well into the 1970s.