Hooked Breaker-Frame Churn: Breakers Held Still From the Lid, Then Hooked to the Dasher to Gather

"In order to break the cream, the breakers are arrested by depressing the spring hook i, and the dasher is rotated independent from the breaker frame, the hook g, being disconnected from the hole h, in the dasher shaft. After the butter has been separated from the milk, the hook g is pressed into the hole h, in the shaft, thereby connecting the breaker frame and the dasher, and the button k, is turned back, releasing the spring hook i".

Drill a 6.5 mm hole in the middle of the bucket's floor. Push an M6 nut into the cup's trap, lay an O-ring in its groove and bolt the cup over the hole from underneath with a stainless M6 x 16 bolt and a washer. Fill the bucket with water to check it does not leak, then empty it.

Cut a 32 mm hardwood dowel 357 mm long. Whittle 14 mm of its foot to a point that sits in the cup and chisel a 16.4 mm square socket 15 mm deep in its top. Bore a 9 mm hole h across it 20 mm below the top. Mortise two hardwood arms 16 x 24 mm through it at 70 and 300 mm above the floor's level, at right angles, so they reach 88 mm from the middle, and screw four hardwood paddles 30 x 12 mm, 270 mm long, upright across their ends.

Cut two hardwood bars 60 x 15 mm, rounded at the ends to fit inside the bucket at 30 and 332 mm up, and bore each 35 mm in the middle so they turn loosely on the shaft. Join them with four hardwood breakers 20 x 20 mm, two each side, their middles 102 and 124 mm from the shaft. Bore an 8 mm hole j in the top bar 115 mm from the middle. Bend a hook g from 6 mm stainless rod and pivot it on the top bar so it swings into hole h.

Cut a 320 mm disc of 12 mm plywood, saw it in half and notch both halves for a 34 mm hole in the middle. Screw a hardwood block 80 x 56 x 30 mm on the front half over the middle, bored 13 mm, and two bearing blocks 44 x 30 mm, 114 mm tall, bored 12.6 mm through 94 mm up. Shape a 16 mm square pin m on the end of a 12 mm stainless shaft F, drop it through the block into C's socket and pin the wheel G on it above the block. Slide the crank shaft n through the bearing blocks, pin the wheel H on its inner end meshing with G, and fit a crank and handle. Drill a 9 mm hole through the lid over hole j, rivet a spring-steel strip with a 7 mm pin over it so the pin can be pressed into j, and pivot a hardwood button k beside it to hold it down. Fit hooks and eyes to hold the lid halves to the bucket.

Pour about 8 litres of heavy cream at about 15 °C into the bucket, checked with the thermometer. With hook g out of hole h, press the spring hook i into hole j and turn the button over it. Turn the crank steadily, timing it. When the butter comes, take off the back half of the lid, push hook g into h, turn the button back to free the spring hook, and turn the crank back and forth to gather the butter. Lift it out, wash it in cold water until it runs clear, work in a pinch of salt and weigh it.

**A. L. Sperry** of Auburn, Indiana, US 25,285, 30 August 1859, "Churn". He claimed the arrangement of the hook i and button k with the dasher D and breaker frame E. He named Dickinson's churn of 31 January 1854 and T. B. Harper's of 27 April 1858 and disclaimed what they claimed. He gives no sizes, so every size here is ours. He calls his wheels G and H two similar bevel wheels; his Fig. 1 draws a large wheel and a small one, and we use a printed crown wheel and pinion in their place.