High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A salad spinner, also known as a "salad tosser", is a kitchen tool used to wash and remove excess water from salad greens. It uses centrifugal force to separate the water from the leaves. This is necessary in order to keep the greens from going limp and enable salad dressing and oil to stick to the leaves. Although devices used to wash, dry and spin salad have long been in existence, including one specimen from the 19th century, the modern mechanism-operated spinner originated in the early 1970s. Two patents by French designers, Jean Mantelet and Gilberte Fouineteau, were particularly influential in the early development of the product`s design. In 1974, The Mouli Manufacturing Co. introduced a crank-operated salad spinner to the American market; other companies were not far behind with their own patented variations. The product sold favorably and demand was high, with stores struggling to keep it in stock. Despite the product`s popularity, however, it was not entirely without criticism; some were skeptical about the necessity of "another gourmet gadget".