Adjustable-Board Churn: A Perforated Board on a Pin Beside the Wall Is Set to Break the Cream or Gather the Butter

"The board may be placed so as to set at any desired angle, either for gathering the butter between it and the sides of the churn, or for breaking the globules, when the cream is forced against it. As the board is changed so the openings or perforations are changed and their edges and sides are presented differently for assisting in breaking the globules which contain the butter of the cream."

Cut a hardwood board 15 mm thick, 95 wide and 297 tall. Leave its outer 15 mm full height and a foot 40 mm long and 17 high at the bottom; cut the rest away between 20 and 62 mm up so the wings pass under. Bore eight 14 mm holes x in two rows in its face, and glue a 10 mm stainless shaft d along its outer edge, standing 45 mm above it. Screw a hardwood socket block bored 10.6 mm, 8 deep, to the bucket's floor 122 mm from the centre, and a hardwood guide d' bored 10.6 mm inside the wall above it, 325 mm up.

Glue three 10 mm dowel pins 20 mm tall into the floor on a circle 35 mm round the socket, toward the centre and 50 degrees apart, so the board's foot drops between the middle pin and either outer one: 25 degrees one way to break, 25 degrees the other to gather.

Screw a hardwood step 50 x 50 x 8 mm to the floor's centre, bored 12.6 mm, 6 deep. Cut a 25 mm hardwood staff 348 mm long, glue 12 mm stainless spindles into its ends, and fix a hardwood wing 170 x 30 x 15 mm across it 25 mm above the floor. Cut a hardwood cross piece H 350 x 205 x 25 mm to sit on the rim, bored 13 mm over the centre as the guide I; fit the pinion on the staff's top, two chairs with a 12 mm crank shaft and the wheel F, and a hardwood crank with a dowel handle.

Set the board leaning against the swirl, its face meeting the cream, to break. Pour about 8 litres of heavy cream at about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer, into the bucket, put the cross piece and gearing on, and turn the crank steadily, timing it. When the butter comes, lift the board and drop it between the other pair of pins to gather, and turn slowly until the butter collects against the side. Lift off the gearing, take out the butter, pour the buttermilk into a bowl, wash the butter in cold water until it runs clear, salt and weigh it.

**George H. Van Vleck** of Buffalo, New York, US 28,219, 8 May 1860, "Churn". He claimed the box, the dasher and staff, and the adjustable hinged board with its pins and openings. He says the board can be set "at any desired angle"; our three pins give two settings, and which of them breaks best and which gathers best is for the maker to find and note. Every size here is ours, and our gears are printed.