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Spork
The word spork combines spoon and fork. It appeared in the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, where it was described as a trade name and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a long, slender spoon having, at the end of the bowl, projections resembling the tines of a fork". -
Spork
The word spork combines spoon and fork. It appeared in the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, where it was described as a trade name and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a long, slender spoon having, at the end of the bowl, projections resembling the tines of a fork". -
Different types of sporks
patents for spork-like designs date back to at least 1874, and the word "spork" was registered as a trademark in the US and the UK decades later. They are used by fast food restaurants, schools, prisons, the military, backpackers and in airline meals. -
Creator of the spork
By the 1800s, terrapin forks and ice cream forks featured the typical spork shape — a spoon like bowl that extends into tines. A Rhode Island doctor named Samuel W. Francis filed an early patent for a spork like utensil in 1874. Titled “Combined Knives, Forks and Spoons,” it featured a spoon with tines sticking out the front end and a blade tacked onto one side. Francis wrote, “are thus grouped together most compactly, constituting an article which can be very conveniently used for purposes.” -
Wooden model spork
The word spork combines spoon and fork. It appeared in the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, where it was described as a trade name and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a long, slender spoon having, at the end of the bowl, projections resembling the tines of a fork". -
Stainless steel sporks
In 1951, Hyde W. Ballard of Westtown, Pennsylvania filed an application with the United States Patent Office (USPO; now the United States Patent and Trademark Office) to register "Spork" as a trademark for a combination spoon and fork made of stainless steel. -
Spork combines with knife
The Van Brode Milling Company subsequently registered SPORK for a combination plastic spoon, fork and knife at the USPO on October 27, 1970, but the registration expired 20 years later.[
