Hello from Hazard!
We had several readers respond on Item No. 1196. It is a wine press, glass jug and barrel from the 1920s.
It is a recent gift of Celeste DeSapri to Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland. The wine press and accessories were used by the Tringale family of Little Italy since the 1920s.
Salvatore Tringale immigrated to Cleveland from Sicily in 1912. In the 1920s, his wife Maria and their 9-year-old daughter, Giuseppina, arrived. Shortly after, Salvatore purchased the building at 12401 Mayfield. The family ran a fish market in the front and lived in back. They used the press to make wine in the cellar all through Prohibition and for the next 60 plus years using the pinot grigio and pinot noir grapes they grew in their backyard garden.
Reader guesses included: Ed Steele, Wadsworth, Ohio (wine press); James D. Troxell, Hudson, Ohio (cider press); Larry Broestle, North Royalton, Ohio, (vintage sauerkraut press); Levi Jenkins, St. Louisville, Ohio (wine press); David Hodges (fruit press); John Lasko, Conneautville, Pennsylvania (cider press); Edward Smith (cider press); and Kathy Valent (wine press).
Reid Easton, of Elkin, North Carolina, inherited Item No. 1197 many years ago. The dimensions are 10 by 1 by 3/8 inches. One is steel, and one is aluminum.
If you know what it is and what it was used for, email us at editorial@farmanddairy.com; or by mail to: Hazard a Guess, c/o Farm and Dairy, P.O. Box 38, Salem, OH 44460.
