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Air-Chest Spiral Agitator Churn: A Disk That Draws Air Down Its Agitator Into the Cream
Webster shaped the agitator so the turning disk breathes air into the cream.
Hazen Webster of Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, received US 12,370, dated 6 February 1855, for a "Machine for Producing Butter, called 'Webster Air-Chest Agitator'": a round open disk A with openings a, b, c, turning at the bottom of a square or circular box, carrying "a spiral inclined air agitator" B whose sides run from near the centre and diverge "with a curve or circle toward the circumference," surmounted toward the rim by vertical breakers. Turning, it "opens a passage for the air down through the opening a, and so discharges from the bottom of the churn ... up through the agitator B, up through the letter b."
This rung works out the speed the air passage needs, then prints the air chest (disk, agitator and breaker in one), the step and gears, builds the churn, and makes butter.
Intermediate
About 4 hours, plus printing
Instructions
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1
Breathing air in
Breathing air in
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
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2
The air disk it builds on
The air disk it builds on
The embedded blueprint is S. P. Francisco's disk at the bottom of the churn with a tubular stem admitting air, which Webster names and does not claim. Webster claims the spiral agitator on such a disk.
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Read US 12,370
Read US 12,370
"What I do claim, in combination with such rotating disk, is— That form of the agitator which occupies the central portions of the disk and sweeps toward the circumference in a spiral shape with rounded angles, and is surmounted toward the circumference with one or more vertical breakers, and this I claim whether used with or without the air passages herein described."
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Print the parts
Print the parts
Print the air chest, disk down (/uploads/blueprints/air-chest-spiral-agitator-churn-air-chest.stl): the disk with its channel from a to the hooded mouth b, the spiral agitator with the opening c near its top, and the breaker. Print the step (/uploads/blueprints/air-chest-spiral-agitator-churn-step.stl), the 36-tooth crown wheel (/uploads/blueprints/air-chest-spiral-agitator-churn-crown-wheel.stl), the 12-tooth pinion (/uploads/blueprints/air-chest-spiral-agitator-churn-pinion.stl) and the standard (/uploads/blueprints/air-chest-spiral-agitator-churn-standard.stl). Print in PETG at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.
Materials for this step:
PETG Filament1 pieceTools needed:
FDM 3D Printer5
5
The churn
The churn
Use a straight-sided round food-grade container about 190 mm across inside and 230 mm deep. Stand the step in its bottom and a 10 mm square hardwood shaft in the step; slide the air chest down the shaft onto the step.
Materials for this step:
Food-Grade Storage Container1 piece
Hardwood Dowels1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw
Sandpaper6
6
Lid, gears and crank
Lid, gears and crank
Cut the lid in half and fix one half with a hole for the shaft. Push the pinion onto the shaft's top, screw the standard to the lid half and run a short 10 mm rod through its bearing into the crown wheel so its teeth mesh the pinion; screw a dowel handle into the wheel's boss.
Materials for this step:
Mild Steel Rod1 pieceHardwood Dowels1 piece
#8 x 1" Wood Screw1 piece
Machine Screws1 pieceTools needed:
Hacksaw
Screwdriver Set
Cordless Drill7
7
The build in 3D
The build in 3D
FreeCAD model of this build, not of the patent: the tub cut away to show the air chest on its step, the spiral agitator rising above the cream line with the opening c near its top, the breaker, and the crown wheel and pinion on the half lid.
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Churn and watch for air
Churn and watch for air
Let the heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour in 2 litres, so the agitator's top stands above the cream. Crank briskly and watch for bubbles rising from the rim; 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.
Materials for this step:
Heavy Cream2000 ml
Coarse Sea Salt1 piece
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Leave-In Probe Thermometer
Stopwatch
Digital Kitchen Scale
Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)9
9
No bubbles from the rim
No bubbles from the rim
Air-chest agitator troubleshooting.
Flow
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10
History and honest limits
History and honest limits
**Hazen Webster** of Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York, received US 12,370, dated 6 February 1855; he signed on 18 January 1855. He wrote that in trials it produced "some fifteen to twenty per cent more butter" and gathered it "in from four to eight minutes"; those are his claims, not tested here. He disclaimed the rotating disk with a tubular air stem "as these have been used before with the churn of S. P. Francisco, patented June 19th 1847"; Francisco's US 6,544 is dated 19 June 1849.
**Honest limits.** A container, printed parts and a crown wheel stand in for his box and drive, which he did not describe. The notebook's speeds are estimates; by hand the air may not flow (see the churns in MED-2518). FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn. Your times and weights are the result.
Materials
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- 2000 mlPlaceholder
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Tools Required
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- 1 vendor sell this, none ship to you yetPlaceholder
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Design Files
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CC0 Public Domain
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