Key information :
16 Cm (l) X 8 Cm (w), Cast-iron, metal and wood, about 1922
Also called a gnocchi maker, the apparatus was clamped to one corner of a table top.
“The dough forming machine” or, cavatelli maker is the work of Luigi Vitantonio, son of the founder of the famous Vitantonio company, patented in 1922. Download the original patent in PDF here.
Instructions for use :
“With this little machine, simple in construction and easy to operate (can be fastened to one corner of the table), you can easily make the most delicious Gnocchi. Strips of dough are fed into the machine, and by quick turning of the handle you have as many Gnocchi in a few minutes, where it would require a few hours by hand carving” (Extract from the Giunta Brothers Manufacturing Co. Catalog (Philadelphia-USA), No.28 (the 1930s).
About the Vitantonio Company:
Angelo Vitantonio (1849-1917), a native of Ripalimosani (Region of Molise, Italia), patented his first model in 1906 in New York as a citizen of the Kingdom of Italy and American resident in the borough of Manhattan. After a few years, the family moved to Cleve- land (Ohio, USA), in the neighborhood of Little Italy.
Finally, only in 1920, when the second model smaller and more manageable is patented (see the hand-cranked pasta Maker from the 1920s), the family business started to conquer the American market (namely three years after Angelo Vitantonio’ demise). The patent’s inventor, the son Luigi (1887-1967), is also responsible for many other inventions such as this apparatus to make short cut pasta in 1922 (see above the Cavatelli Maker) and others improvements of the pasta maker created by his father in 1929 and in 1930 (see the hand-cranked pasta Maker from the 1930s).
Known today under the name of VillaWare, the Vitantonio company is currently regarded as one of the leaders within the home appliance industry.