Oblique-Paddle Churn: Turn One Way to Gather the Butter, Back to Spread It

"When formed the butter is successively struck by the paddles 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, (see Figs. 2 and 3) in their revolution and by their oblique position moved toward the center of the churn from G to H. At the same time and by the same operation the paddles 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 sloping in the opposite direction from those first mentioned move the butter in the opposite direction viz. from I to H."

Print two right-hand hubs (/uploads/blueprints/oblique-paddle-churn-hub-right.stl) and two left-hand hubs (/uploads/blueprints/oblique-paddle-churn-hub-left.stl), plus one more of either for the middle. Print in PETG at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.

Cut 180 mm of 120 mm PVC pipe. Close both ends with plywood disks bedded in silicone, each drilled for the shaft. Saw the top quarter off as a lid, and drill a drain hole in the bottom with a plug.

Cut a square hardwood shaft 8 × 8 mm. Slide the hubs on: two right-hand toward one end, two left-hand toward the other, so both sets push toward the middle when turned forward. Fit a crank at one end and set the cylinder on legs.

US 719 drawing sheet, public domain (expired patent).

Let 500 ml of heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour it in, close the lid, and turn the crank steadily; time until the butter comes. Turn on to gather it in the middle, drain the buttermilk, then turn back to spread it. Pour off the buttermilk, add cold water, churn a few turns and pour off again until it runs clear; work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.

**Joshua G. Pike** of Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, New York, received US 719, dated 28 April 1838. The cylinder's upper half is the cover; the whey is drawn off by a spout. After salting, turning the shaft back and forth gives the butter a horizontal and rotary motion that separates the whey and mixes in the salt, "and thus saves the labor of working and salting by any of the modes now in use." He claimed paddles directing cream and butter from each end toward the centre, or from the centre toward each end. **Honest limits.** A PVC cylinder and printed hubs stand in for his wooden churn. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn. Your times and weights are the result.