1882 Lunch Muff
by Sarah Cuningham
About the Patent
- NAMESarah A. Cuningham
- PATENTUS255420A
- DATEMarch 28, 1882
- LOCATIONPatented in the United States – inventor residing in New York, US
- INVENTION“Lunch Receptacle and Muff”
- THEMEWorking [more about our themes]
About the Inventor
Sarah Cuningham (previously Moody), held four different patents: two for corsets, one for a water-heated muff, and also the one we have researched here. We don’t have many details to work with (as yet), but we think she was a corset manufacturer based in New York City.
About the Invention
PROBLEM
Cuningham addresses a small, mundane, and yet common problem for many working women at the turn of the century. “In large cities and manufacturing towns where ladies are employed as shop-girls, sewing-girls, sales-women, and the like,” she explains, “it is an important desideratum to carry a noonday-lunch with them to their places of business, and to afford means to do this most conveniently and with the greatest amount of comfort is the object of my invention.” These kinds of jobs were likely lowly paid and involved long hours. Some workers may have been required to open a shop at dawn and work until it closed at night. They would have had little time to themselves in between. Carrying their own lunch to work would have been convenient and perhaps economically necessary.
SOLUTION
Food, drink and hands can all be placed inside Cuningham’s lunch receptacle and muff. The front compartment holds a receptacle for liquids such as tea or coffee, which can be removed and placed on a heater to warm the contents. When placed back into the muff it keeps the wearer’s hands warm. Food can be placed in the compartment on the other side of the muff. Both parts are covered and lined with a quilted fabric and secured together by a covering or hinges along the top edge. Hands can be be placed inside the muff in the gap between the compartments.
Open Access Patent Document
See the complete US patent.
“In the present device I propose to afford means not only for carrying different articles of food by themselves, but also means for carrying tea or coffee, the heat of which serves to keep the hands of the wearer warm during the passage.”
— Sarah Cuningham, inventor
More Quotes from Sarah Cuningham’s Patent
Speculatively Sewing Sarah Cuningham’s Invention
Learn more about speculative sewing here
Muffs have been popular wearables since the sixteenth century. They are mostly known as hollow cylindrical-shaped objects designed to keep hands warm, however they often contained hidden pockets. Using a cord they could be hung around the neck or, alternatively, from the waist like a conventional chatelaine. An 1882 English newspaper article explained their multi-usability:
“For outdoor wear, nothing seems so safe as the pockets in muffs, which though invisible, hold a great deal – card case, purse, and handkerchief.”
— Feminine Fashions & Fancies, The Newcastle Weekly Courant, 1882.
Cuningham’s invention in the form of a “Lunch Receptacle and Muff” greatly exaggerates the idea of hidden pockets. She explains: “I propose to afford means not only for carrying different articles of food by themselves, but also means for carrying tea or coffee, the heat of which serves to keep the hands of the wearer warm during the passage.” This clever design comes apart to offer even more options. “The receptacle for the liquid may be removable,” writes Cuningham, “in order that it may be placed upon the heater, stove, or the like to heat the contents during the lunching-hour.”
We first made a paper mockup of this invention to ascertain the scale. We sized it according to how two hands would fit into the centre and then added the hidden pockets to the triangular frame. We used a combination of cardboard and thick grey felt for the frame. The inside padded areas were made of calico and cotton stuffing. We covered the entire thing with calico flaps. Apart from the padded interior, the invention was mostly hand-stitched.
We were surprised by how much the invention could hold. It definitely worked as a muff. Two hands could comfortably lie clasped inside. Gathering things in the office we found that one pocket could hold half a packet of biscuits, a muesli bar and an apple. We put a small flask into the other pocket. With the outer flaps in place, there was no indication of the extra capacity of the muff.
Cuningham took an object that was an ordinary part of women’s wear and reworked it to accommodate the needs of women working outside the home. Her invention was for office and factory workers, intending to facilitate their independent working lives. In the process of identifying and responding to their everyday needs, Cuningham’s invention draws attention to and legitimises an important workforce that is rarely discussed or valued.
We made a more brightly coloured version of Cuningham’s invention as part of the collection of patented pockets performed in the “Pockets of Power” theatre piece commissioned by Glastonbury Theatre & Circus 2023, also shown at the 2023 Being Human Festival and Mayven Festival in Cornwall. See below for more links and research.
You can read our open access journal article about speculative sewing here.
More Research Relating to Cuningham’s Invention
Below is a selection of research activities relating to Cuningham’s invention and pockets more generally. Click through to learn more.
The Speculative Sewing Inventory is part of the Politics Of Patents project, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Grant No: 819458. Politics Of Patents is hosted by Goldsmiths College, University of London.
