Alfred L. Cralle

Alfred L. Cralle (born September 4, 1866) was an African-American from Virginia who became an inventor and businessman in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is best remembered for inventing the lever-operated ice cream scoop in 1897, a practical design still in wide use over 100 years later.

Youth, education

Alfred L. Cralle was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia in Southside Virginia the year after the American Civil War had ended. He attended local schools and worked with his father in the carpentry trade as a young man, becoming interested in mechanics.

He was sent to Washington, D.C. where he attended Wayland Seminary, one of a number of schools founded by the American Baptist Home Mission Society to help educate African Americans after the Civil War. Later, he settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he first served as a porter in a drug store and at a hotel.

Inventor, businessman

It was while working in Pittsburgh as a porter that Cralle noticed that ice cream, which had become a popular confection, was difficult to dispense. It tended to stick to spoons and ladles, usually requiring use of two hands and at least two implements to serve.

To overcome this, he invented a mechanical device now known as the ice cream scoop and applied for a patent. On February 2, 1897, the 30-year old was granted U.S. Patent #576395. Cralle’s ingenious invention, originally called an “Ice Cream Mold and Disher” was designed to be able to keep ice cream and other foods from sticking, and easy to operate with one hand. Strong and durable, effective, inexpensive, it could be constructed in almost any desired shape, such as a cone or a mound, with no delicate parts that could break or malfunction.

Alfred L. Cralle went on to become a successful businessman as well. He was named assistant manager when the Afro-American Financial, Accumulating, Merchandise and Business Association in Pittsburgh was organized.

Legacy

Cralle's basic design is so efficient that the now-familiar lever-operated ice cream scoop was still seen in wide use over 100 years later.

Sources

* [http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IceCream/IceCreamHistory.htm Ice Cream History]
* [http://www.swagga.com/inventors.htm Black Inventors]
* [http://www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/reference/ptdl/pgh/cralle.html Carnegie Library]