Flutter-Wheel Bent-Arm Churn: Wind Wheels Carried Round, Spinning on Their Own Journals

"The nature of my invention consists simply in fixing two wheels, similar in shape to the ordinary wind wheel, to an upright shaft; the wheels being supported by arms so bent as to place the wheels on a line with the shaft and with each other, so that when the shaft referred to is made to revolve on its axis, the wheels are thus driven through the cream and made to revolve rapidly upon their own axes."

Print two wind wheels (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-wind-wheel.stl), the bent arms (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-bent-arms.stl), the step (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-step.stl), the crown wheel (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-crown-wheel.stl), the pinion (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-pinion.stl) and the standard (/uploads/blueprints/flutter-wheel-bent-arm-churn-standard.stl). Print in PETG at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.

Push a 6 mm stainless rod through each arm's journal hole and glue it. Slide a wind wheel on each, with a washer and a pin through the rod's end, so it spins freely. Push the arms onto a 10 mm square hardwood shaft standing in the step, in a square food-grade container about 240 mm across.

Fix half the lid with a hole for the shaft, the pinion on its top and the standard with the crown wheel meshing it; screw a dowel handle into the wheel.

Let the heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour in 2.5 litres, enough to cover the wheels. Crank steadily; check the wheels spin; time until the butter comes. Pour off the buttermilk, add cold water, churn a little and pour off again until it runs clear; work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.

**Henry C. Nicholson** of Mount Washington, Hamilton County, Ohio, US 17,444, 2 June 1857. He wrote that "good solid yellow butter has been made with it in four minutes"; that is his claim. He knew flutter wheels had been used against a division board or inside a hoop, and claimed them on bent arms with nothing for the cream to react against. A container, printed parts and a crown wheel with a pinion stand in for his. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn.