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Ice-Drawer Butter Worker: An Ice Box Under the Tray, a Worker With Acute Edges
Smith kept the butter cold while it was worked, with ice in a drawer under the tray.
Lettie A. Smith of Pineville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, received US 9,959, dated 23 August 1853, for the "Labor-Saving Butter-Worker": a tray hinged at its back on a frame, its front resting on a sliding carriage of two notched posts so it can stand flat or inclined; a cooling drawer under it "into which ice is placed for keeping the butter in a cool and nice state while being worked"; a working lever with one end playing in a circular opening in the frame, "formed with acute angles at the sides of its working face" to break or press the butter and turn it over; a spout for the water; and a hook for steelyards to weigh the butter.
This rung works out the tray's slopes, then prints the worker, its socket, the notched posts and spout, builds the frame, and works butter.
Intermediate
About 4 hours, plus printing
Instructions
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The tray's slope
The tray's slope
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Working butter before it
Working butter before it
The embedded blueprint works the butter inside the churn, drawing it past fixed posts. Smith takes it out to a tray kept cold by an ice drawer, and works it by hand.
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Read US 9,959
Read US 9,959
"The butter after being taken from the churn is placed in the tray or pan E, and there washed and worked up together in the usual manner by the worker H, until all the impurities are extracted and all the water expressed from the same; the water and all extraneous matter runs down the inclined bottom of the pan and escapes through the spout."
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Print the parts
Print the parts
Print the worker head with its triangular working bar, ball end and handle socket (/uploads/blueprints/ice-drawer-butter-worker-worker.stl), the ball plate with its round opening (/uploads/blueprints/ice-drawer-butter-worker-ball-plate.stl), two notched posts with their projections (/uploads/blueprints/ice-drawer-butter-worker-notched-post.stl) and the spout (/uploads/blueprints/ice-drawer-butter-worker-spout.stl). Print the worker on its flat working face. 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
Frame, tray and ice drawer
Frame, tray and ice drawer
Build a pine frame about 320 by 220 mm and 260 mm high, with a cross bar across its front and runners below the top. Use a shallow rectangular food-grade container as the tray; hinge its back end to the frame, drill a 16 mm hole at that low end and seal the spout in it with food-safe silicone. Slide a roasting pan onto the runners under the tray as the ice drawer.
Materials for this step:
Pine Board1 piece
Food-Grade Storage Container1 piece
Butt Hinge1 piece
Silicone Sealant1 piece
Roasting Pan1 piece
#8 x 1" Wood Screw1 pieceTools needed:
Hand Saw
Cordless Drill
Drill Bit Set
Hole Saw Kit
Screwdriver Set6
6
Posts, springs and worker
Posts, springs and worker
Hang the two notched posts on the front cross bar so the tray's front rests on their projections, and screw a strip of spring steel to the frame against each post to keep it in its notch. Screw the ball plate to the back of the frame above the tray's hinge, snap the worker's ball into it, and glue a 20 mm dowel into its socket as the handle, long enough to reach over the tray's front.
Materials for this step:
Spring Steel Strip1 piece
Hardwood Dowels1 piece
Wood Glue1 piece#8 x 1" Wood Screw1 pieceTools needed:
HacksawScrewdriver Set
Sandpaper7
7
The patent drawing
The patent drawing
US 9,959 drawing sheet, public domain (expired patent).
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Churn, then work the butter cold
Churn, then work the butter cold
Let the heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Churn 1 litre in any churn until the butter comes, and drain it. Fill the drawer with ice. Set the tray flat, put in the butter and cold water and press and turn it with the worker's edges; raise the tray's front a notch or two so the water runs out of the spout. Repeat with fresh water until it runs clear, work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.
Materials for this step:
Heavy Cream1000 ml
Ice Cubes1 piece
Coarse Sea Salt1 piece
Water1 pieceTools needed:
Leave-In Probe Thermometer
Stopwatch
Digital Kitchen Scale
Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)9
9
Posts that slip, butter that smears
Posts that slip, butter that smears
Ice-drawer butter worker troubleshooting.
Flow
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History and honest limits
History and honest limits
**Lettie A. Smith** of Pineville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, received US 9,959, dated 23 August 1853, for the "Labor-Saving Butter-Worker." The specification calls the tray both E and F, and E is also the cross bar the notches rest on. The claims are the cooling drawer or ice box G combined with the butter tray, and the working lever formed with acute angles at the sides of its working face; Smith did not claim the working lever with a tray in general.
**Honest limits.** A container, a roasting pan, pine and printed parts stand in for the original; we weigh on a kitchen scale, not steelyards. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn. Your weights are the result.
Materials
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Tools Required
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