The 1970s pineapple peeler became a kitchen staple and a sweet, yet humble success for inventor Ray Ashdown

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It was once a must-have item in any Australian kitchen but, for its inventor, the humble pineapple peeler of the 1970s shows how we all should cherish life's simple pleasures.

Transcript

00:00 This is the sound of a perfectly peeled pineapple.

00:07 And this is the man who invented the peeler.

00:12 I went in there, I got a piece of tin, and I bent it up a bit and I drove a couple of nails through it,

00:18 and I went and got a pineapple and it worked. It worked.

00:23 95-year-old Ray Ashdown was inspired to invent it by his wife's struggle to peel the fruit.

00:30 I'm just a natural born, you know, I want to improve things.

00:34 In 1972, Ray's pineapple peeler was featured on the ABC program The Inventors.

00:42 Good evening, we're only just three more weeks before...

00:44 We got home to thousands of letters, people disappointed they hadn't won.

00:48 And he said to me, "Ray, can I get this made?"

00:51 I said, "Yes, you can." They were selling like hotcakes.

00:54 The pineapple peeler spread almost everywhere, including to some Aussie icons.

00:59 This one is the biggest money spinner of them all.

01:01 But some markets were a step too far.

01:04 They sent a shipment to Hawaii. Hawaii said, "We don't want any more of them."

01:10 You got any idea how big the pineapples were in Hawaii? Eh?

01:15 For Ray's son, Don, the peeler has a mixed legacy.

01:20 He's having to eat pineapples all the time.

01:22 The pineapple peeler became a hallmark of the Ashdown family, but not everybody was a fan.

01:29 I showed my pineapple peeler to the cannery and they said, "Get out of here. Your invention is going to cut across our sales."

01:38 While the peeler's now been catalogued at Queensland Museum, Ray Ashdown remains a humble man who shows that sometimes...

01:45 How do you use this?

01:48 It's the little things we cherish most.

01:51 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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