Postcard Memories is a weekly series of historic postcard views and photos submitted by Marcel Rousseau.
Some were previously published by the Orillia Museum of Art and History and in the book Postcard Memories Orillia.
Ice cream scoops and dishers have a long history of being manufactured in Orillia. Starting in the 1920s the Fisher Motor Company on West Street South made a varnished wood-handled scoop as well as an all-metal scissor-handled scoop for commercial use, both being made in five sizes.
In 1926, Fisher also patented and sold a scarce “Cold Dog” ice cream scoop with a wood handle.
Fisher was reorganized into the Tudhope Metal Specialties Co. in 1928 and continued to market both types of dishers, changing the wood handles from varnished wood to a painted blue handle in 1940.
In 1950, Tudhope introduced a colour for each size, using black for the largest size (#12), blue for #16 blue, green for #20, red for #24 red, and yellow for the smallest (#30). All of these wooden handles where also made in Orillia at Canada Wood Specialties.
In 1934, Tudhope patented a “No Pac” disher, in a size #30 with varnished wood handle, changing to a red handle in the 1940s. This scoop had a dollar-size hole in the back of the bowl and was nicknamed the “depression scoop.”
The hole allowed the storekeeper to scoop ice cream into a cone without packing the bowl. This would give him several extra cones to sell from each gallon of ice cream, an important feature during tough times.
Lear Seigler continued to sell dishers after the Tudhope plant closed in the 1970s. Hunter Industries also sold wood- and plastic-handled dishers for a few years after Lear Seigler retired the line.
