Churn Families: Every Way to Turn Cream Into Butter, Sorted by How It Works, With a Link to Each Build

Every churn here does the same job: it agitates cream until the butterfat gathers into grains of butter, leaving buttermilk. They differ only in how the agitation is made and driven, how the cream is kept at the right warmth, and how the butter is gathered and worked. This blueprint sorts 52 of the churn builds on Youblob into eight families by how they work, with a link to each, so you can pick one to build from what you have; others join the families as they are sorted.

A dash or a row of dashers is driven back and forth through the cream: by hand on a staff, by a lever, by a wheel and pitman or slotted gate, by racks and a pinion, or lifted by a spring. Valves and holes in the dash decide how the cream passes it on each stroke. In this family: - Star Valve-Dash Churn: A Lever Drives a Close-Fitting Perforated Dash, Its Centre Valve Shuts Going Down and Opens Coming Up - Adjustable-Valve Dash Churn: Hinged Perforated Wings Shut Going Down, Open Coming Up, Slides Set How Big the Holes Are - 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 - Twin Loose-Dasher Churn: A Flywheel and Pitman Plunge a Rod, Two Winged Dashers Riding Loose on It Turn Opposite Ways - Spatter-Guard Spring Dasher Churn: A Funnel-and-Bowl Block on the Lid Keeps the Cream In, a Spring Lifts the Dasher - Spring-Lever Dasher Churn: A Hand Lever and a Faster Bar on a Post Drive the Old Dasher Down, a Rubber Spring Lifts It - Rack-and-Pinion Opposed-Dasher Churn: Two Rows of Hanging Dashers Move Opposite Ways Through Slots in the Lid - Geared Crank-Frame Churn: A Frame Over an Ordinary Churn Gears a Hand Crank Up to Drive a Grated Dasher by Pitman

A crank, usually through gears, spins wings or paddles on an upright shaft in a tub or bucket. Ribs, breakers and fixed paddles stop the cream simply swirling round; two shafts turning through each other, or the same way, add cross-currents. In this family: - Centrifugal-Dasher Churn: Curved Wings on a Hollow Shaft Throw the Cream at the Wall, a Fixed Disk Turns It Back - Spiral-Flange Perforated Dasher Churn: Curved Holed Dashers Fling the Cream Out, a Spiral Flange With Vanes Drives It Back Down - Interlocked-Blade Dasher Churn: Each Blade's Round Shank Is Bored Through by the Next, So They Key Each Other in the Hub - Notched-Rib Churn: A Solid S-Winged Dasher Turns Inside Upright Ribs Whose Notches Alternate, Crossing the Cream's Currents - Opposed Perforated-Paddle Churn: Sloping Holed Paddles on a Geared Shaft Pass Between Paddles Sloping the Other Way on Slide Bars - Set-Wing Dasher Churn: Wings on Two Cross Rods Through the Staff Are Set by Screws to Lift or Press the Cream - Round-Bottom Square Churn: A Geared Dasher Turns in a Vessel Round Up to Its Blades and Square Above, Breakers From the Lid - Twin Inclined-Wing Dasher Churn: Two Geared Dashers With Up- and Down-Sloping Wings Turn Through Each Other, Flat Wings Between - Counter-Turning Hooped Beater Churn: One Bevel Wheel Turns a Spindle and a Hollow Shaft Opposite Ways, Spiral Hoops Sweep the Wall - Interlapping Spiral-Dasher Churn: Two Upright Shafts With Arms Set in Screw Form Interlap, One Turning the Other - Crank-and-Link Double-Dasher Churn: Two Dashers' Cranks Joined by a Curved Link, One Lever Turns or Rocks Both - Hinged-Arm Frame Churn: An Arm That Swings Back Holds the Dasher's Top, Its Forked Brace Holds the Cover Down - Cord-Lever Churn: A Cord Wound Round a Hollow Staff Turns It Back and Forth as a Hinged Lever Swings, a Loose Gatherer Rides Its Ribs

A shaft lies across a box or trough, often one with a rounded bottom fitted to the dasher's sweep, and is cranked round. Many of these also wash and work the butter in the box after churning. In this family: - Pin-Cylinder Box Churn: A Cylinder of Square Pins Turns Through a Row of Pins in the Lid, Then Washes the Butter in the Churn - Oblique Box-Dasher Churn: A Hollow Slanted Dasher, Open on Two Sides, Churns Fast and Gathers the Butter Inside It Turned Slow - Sealed Screw-Axis Drum Churn: The Dasher's Axis Screws Into It Through a Pipe in the Side, a Sprung Washer Keeps It Tight - Double Rotary Crag Churn: Two Shafts of Four-Edged Arms Turn Through Each Other in Twin Half-Cylinders - Rotary-Dasher Box Churn: Float Boards on Crossed Arms in a Curved Box

The tub or box itself is turned, and something fixed inside it, or the cream thrown against the walls, does the work. In this family: - Turning-Tub Churn: A Crank Spins the Tub on a Geared Pedestal Against Two Fixed Triangular Beaters Held From Standards - Rotary-Tub Spout Churn: A Friction Wheel Spins the Tub, a Fixed Spout Catches the Climbing Cream and Jets It Into a Basket - Rotating-Receiver Stationary-Break Churn: The Whole Cream Vessel Turns, a Narrow Fixed Break Churns It - Screw-Piston Box Churn: The Case Turns and a Piston Runs End to End Along a Five-Start Screw

The whole churn is rocked or swung, on rockers, a stool or a hanging frame, so the cream rushes end to end or the dashers ride with the motion. In this family: - Rocking-Stool Churn: Rock the Churn, the Dashers Ride With It - Double-Swing Churn: Swing the Platform, the Toothed Pieces Work Both Dashers - Spring-Return Rocking Churn: Springs Under Each End Lift the Low One Back - Rocking Barrel Brake-Pin Churn: Cream Rushes End to End Through Rows of Pins, a Diagonal Board Gathers the Butter - Rolling-Rocker Churn: A Box on Pegged Rockers Rolls Along Notched Ways So Its Fulcrum Follows the Cream - Rocking-Churns Water-Jacket Churn: Two Small Churns Rock and Their Dashers Plunge, Wings Turn Above

Bellows, fans or a hollow staff drive air down into the cream, or let it in as a dasher rises. In this family: - Bellows Rocking-Dasher Churn: A Hand Bellows Blows Air Down a Knee Nozzle Into the Cream and Rocks a Paddle Dasher Beside It - Tempered-Air Bellows Churn: Bellows Blow Air Past a Can of Water and Up Through the Cream - Bellows-and-Float Atmospheric Churn: Blasts of Air Through a Water-Jointed Pipe, a Float Gathers the Butter - Atmospheric Barrel Churn: Reversed Concave Dashers Close to the Staves, Fresh or Warmed Air Piped to the Middle - Fan-Blown Jet Dasher Churn: A Fan on the Crank Shaft Blows Air Out Through the Dasher Below the Cream - Hollow-Staff Plunger Churn: A Plunger in a Perforated Inner Cylinder Draws Air Down Its Staff on the Up Stroke

The cream is poured or forced through a narrow gap between a turning part and a fixed one: toothed disks, ribbed dishes, rollers against a concave, rings. Several do it in one pass, then gather the butter below. In this family: - Toothed-Disk Pass Churn: Cream Poured In Passes Once Between Fixed Toothed Disks and a Toothed Wheel Spinning Between Them - Adjustable-Dish Churn: Cream Is Poured Between a Fixed Ribbed Dish and a Turning One, Then Beaten by Wings and Dashers - Shifting-Gear Grinding-Disk Churn: One Crank Wheel Is Thrown Into Gear With the Wings Below, the Grinding Disk Above, or Both - Ring-Disk Spiral-Pin Churn: Cream Forced Out Between Corrugated Rings, Then Drawn to the Middle by Spiral Pins - Roller-and-Concave Churn: Cream Falls Between a Turning Roller and an Adjustable Concave, Then Onto a Dasher Below - Hot-Water Cylinder Churn: Cream Is Crushed Between a Warm Turning Cylinder and an Adjustable Plate, Then Falls to a Dasher

Water in a jacket, a hollow dasher, tubes or a water box brings the cream to churning warmth and holds it there. In this family: - Water-Jacketed Churn: Hot or Cold Water Under a Metal Plate Tempers the Cream - Spiral-Corrugated Water-Jacket Churn: A Bevelled Strip Dasher Throws Cream Against Diagonal Corrugations in a Warmed or Cooled Chamber - Water-Dasher Adjustable-Rib Churn: A Hollow Dasher Holds Tempering Water, Ribs Weave the Surface - Water-and-Air Tube Churn: Two Tubes of Warm or Cold Water and an Open Air Tube Stand by the Wall, Blades Sweep Under and Between

Whatever the churn: bring the cream to about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer, fill the churn no more than about half full, and work it steadily, timing it, until the butter comes and the buttermilk separates. Draw off or pour off the buttermilk into a bowl, wash the butter in cold water until it runs clear, salt and weigh it.

Many of the linked churns are built from expired United States patents, up to 1861; each gives its own source and limits, and states which sizes are the source's and which are ours. The families here are our own grouping by working principle; many churns combine two (a turning dasher in a water jacket, a rocking churn with plunging dashers) and are listed under the one that does most of the work. The remaining churn patents of 1861 and later are not built as separate blueprints; this page is where new churn ideas are sorted from now on.