Another photo in case you eagle-eye types can deduce the name among the paint. The owner of the shop says he can see floral designs of some sort just below the rim, though they elude me. Good view of the runoff spout though!

Solid enough probably for any fruit, but look on the opposite side from the handle... I think I see a grape vine and cluster.

GREAT eyes! Unfortunately, that is a wall hanging of some sort, unattached and behind the press. My bad photography made it look attached, perhaps. Sharp eyes though!

That makes sense. I was trying to be tactful, but I wondered how you didn't notice it lol.

If it is a fruit press, I'm thinking maybe apples. It could also be for oils, like an olive press maybe, even walnuts.

These are complete guesses though.

It's a lard press/sausage stuffer.

Thanks again. Definitely a press of some sort, and it still works. I cranked the press down and then back up again. I felt like I was using something from the Great Depression. The novel "Grapes of Wrath" came to mind, though that is purely a romanticized aesthetic sense. Hoping someone with obscure knowledge sees this post and recognizes the apparatus from someplace.

lindac92 that's very interesting. What gives it away from an apple or grape press?

Hmmm. Never mind. Just looked up "lard press sausage stuffer" on Bing and saw several photos identical to mine. I still would not have guessed why but yeah that is it. Thanks for the info!

I live in Iowa....I have been to many many farm sales. A few years back there was a lard press on every hay rack to be sold. I had a friend who had one and cleaned it up really well and used it for cider, but ti was pretty slow going for cider.
Lots of hogs in Iowa......every farmer needed his own lard press, and kraut stomper etc.

Neat! Any idea how old it is or if they are still using this same type?

Likely 1890 to 1930-ish. I have 2 pints of home rendered lard that was a gift...guessing an old time press was used.

" What gives it away from an apple or grape press?"

Size. That thing would take forever to make a useful amount of cider, but you could squeeze cracklings from an entire hog in it.

I just came from the shop where I saw it yesterday. (I REALLY make my rounds on my days off) The owner was not there, but his partner was and I gave the partner/co-owner the info. Thanks for all help. There isn't much hog farming in Savannah, so this is a rather exotic device. Only one bit of boasting on my part: My gut instinct really did tell me that it was a Depression-era piece of machinery the moment I laid eyes on it. So, the 1890 to 1930-ish assessment was gratifying, lindac92.

I think it is a fruit press. Its main use would have been for making cider (apple pressing) and it could squeeze cherries and grapes as well, however, cherries should be pitted. The press must produce a good squeeze on the fruit to wring out most of the fluid without fracturing the seeds. Apple seeds and several other fruit seeds are not good for humans. We can withstand an occasional apple seed, but these are poison. The better way to make cider is to quarter and core the apple to prevent making a poisonous batch and to eliminate the woody core material. The apple skin can be left on.

I do not think this is a sausage press. Ground meat is very viscous. Sausage presses have the outlet perpendicular to the movement of the ram or auger and the inner diameter of the outlet spigot is equal to the size of the sausage to be made. The only sausage maker that I am familiar with is an auger type. It ground the meat and extruded it into a casing.

This site calls it a sausage lard fruit press, so take your pic.ebay listing

And round and round it goes! You can also look at the "Similar Items" below sam_md's ebay link and see that nearly every one is being called a sausage AND fruit AND lard press, etc.

On the other hand, do a search for "fruit press" and you will find that at least 75 percent of the fruit presses pictured are made primarily of wood and tend to be much larger.You can use it to press anything, but as lindac92 and lazy_gardens said above it would be pretty slow for cider. That said, here is a picture of it beside my foot, for scale. I wear a size 13 which, as luck would have it, makes my shoes precisely one foot long. There may be some depth perception issues with this photo, but my shoe is actually touching the backside of the arch reading "Enterprise."

One of several youtubes can be found hereyoutube link

Very interesting. What about stainless steel?

When we butchered, we never used a 'lard' press. Maybe it because we did not own one. However, farmers in our area did not extract fat by squeezing. Fat (lard) was rendered. Fat chunks were tossed into a cast iron rendering kettle over a hot fire. After the fat melted out, it was poured into containers leaving behind crisp, browned pieces. These pieces were called cracklings or chitlings and were used as a snack. No press was needed.

And you never made sausage?? it is not a fruit press. It's for lard and sausage. If you had ever seen or touched one sitting on a hay rack at a farm sale it would be very clear to you that it was for greasy bits of meat.
You don't render lard over a hot fire....you heat it very slowly. When the lard has rendered out...keep a close watch as you don't want it to burn or scorch, and after any water in the bits of fat has evaporated, and the cracklings have sunk. You carefully ladle out the hot fat into heated cans or jars.....then you put what's left into the lard press to get that last of the fat out.

fruit acid reacts with the iron and imparts a very disagreeable flavor. Good point, I might add that the cider presses that I have seen have slats in between layers of apples. These slats are held together with BRASS nails.

There is a copy of the catalog from Enterprise Mfg. Co on the net.

Cracklins and chitlins are from different places on the pig. "Please pass the chitlins" has never been uttered by me.

Thank you all for all the info. I go to four different antiques assessment sites, but this is the one that generates the best, most complete info, no matter what I post.