Slotted-Gate Dash Churn: A Hand Wheel Turns a Crank Pin in the Slot of a Sliding Gate, Which Drives the Dash Up and Down

"Motion is communicated to the wheel G, and through the shaft F to the disk H, the pin c on which as it revolves plays in the slot d, in the gate I, by which means the gate is raised and lowered vertically and with it the rod J, and dash K, which agitates the cream as required."

Glue up a hardwood base A 500 x 460 x 25 mm. Rout an 11 mm groove 11 deep down one face of two hardwood standards C, C' 40 x 40 x 830 mm and screw them upright on the base, grooves facing and their inner faces 320 mm apart, either side of where the churn stands. Screw a standard D 40 x 40 x 575 mm behind the churn, 220 mm from its centre. Screw a platform E 177 x 400 x 20 mm across from two cheek blocks on the backs of C, C' to the top of D, its top 575 mm above the base.

Screw two hardwood bearing blocks a 30 x 50 x 70 mm on the platform, 85 and 170 mm behind the gate's plane, bored 16.6 mm across 45 mm up. Run a 16 mm stainless shaft F 217 mm long through them, held by a shaft collar. Cut a hardwood disk H 180 mm across and 18 thick, fix it on the shaft's front end 40 mm from the gate's plane, and drive a 10 mm stainless pin c 72 mm long through it 60 mm from the centre so 54 mm stands out toward the gate. Cut a hardwood wheel G 240 mm across and 20 thick, fix it on the shaft's back end, and set a hardwood handle b 100 mm from its centre.

Glue up a hardwood gate I 320 x 200 x 22 mm and cut a slot d 10.5 mm wide and 132 mm long across it, its middle 100 mm above the gate's foot. Glue hardwood strips 10 x 10 mm along both upright edges as the tongues e. Glue a hardwood block 50 x 50 x 60 mm under the gate's foot, bored 25.6 mm up 51 mm for the dash rod, and bore it 6 mm across for the pin f. Slide the gate down between the standards, its tongues in the grooves, the crank pin in the slot.

Use a 20-litre food-grade bucket as the body B, standing between the standards. Cut a 12 mm HDPE cover L to its top, 304 mm across, with a 27 mm hole in the middle, saw it in two halves through the hole and screw a hardwood knob g on each. Cut a 220 mm HDPE disk as the dash K and screw it to the foot of a 25 mm hardwood dash rod J 378 mm long. Put the dash in the bucket, the cover halves round the rod, push the rod up into the gate's block and pin it with a 6 mm stainless pin f.

Pour about 10 litres of heavy cream at about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer, into the bucket before fitting the cover. Turn the wheel steadily by its handle, timing it. When the butter comes, lift off the cover halves, pull the pin f, lift out the dash, take out the butter, pour the buttermilk into a bowl, wash the butter in cold water until it runs clear, salt and weigh it.

**Henry A. Nevers** and **Charles Ross** of Claremont, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, US 30,686, 20 November 1860, "Churn". They claimed "the combined arrangement of the driving shaft F, face plate and crank pin H, c, with the vertically reciprocating carriage I, provided with a horizontal slot d, and the rod J, of the dasher". Their wheel was spoked and their gate's top scalloped; ours are plain wooden discs and a plain gate, and our churn body is a bucket. The patent gives no sizes; every size here is ours.