Some times known as a peeler, these hand held vegetable and fruit parers and corers are still used in today's kitchens.

The curved blade on one end of the parer was used to remove the core from fruits such as apples while the flat blade on the other end can be used to shave off the outer peel.

These hand held parers pictured at left existed at the same time as mechanical ones (examples 1, 2, 3, & 4)