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Rotary-Dasher Box Churn: Float Boards on Crossed Arms in a Curved Box
Rufus Porter, Billerica, Massachusetts · Public domain (expired patent)
Martin

Created by

Martin

6. October 2026NO
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Rotary-Dasher Box Churn: Float Boards on Crossed Arms in a Curved Box

An up-and-down dash churn is slow, tiring work. Rufus Porter of Billerica, Massachusetts, received US 735, dated 10 May 1838, for a churn: a box eighteen inches long with a bottom curved from end to end; a wooden shaft running between a hollow cone and a pointed centre screw; two parallel pairs of rods through the shaft at right angles, carrying float boards parallel with the shaft — "what is termed the rotary dasher" — turned by a crank whose twisted tenon is pressed into the shaft and comes out when the occasion requires. This rung compares his churn's sweep with a tabletop one, then prints the dasher, builds the box, and makes butter.
Intermediate
About 5 hours, plus printing

Instructions

1

Butter yield and sweep

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2

A board pushed through liquid before it

The embedded blueprint drives a boat with a flat paddle. Porter's float boards push through cream the same way, turning on a shaft.
3

Read US 735

"Four round bars or rods, sixteen inches long and one inch in diameter, pass through the shaft; two of these rods are parallel, and about five inches apart, each being one inch from one end of the shaft. The other two are parallel to each other, but at right angles with the first pair, and three inches apart; the four bars thus constituting eight arms."
4

Print the dasher

Print the rotary dasher: core, two parallel pairs of arms at right angles, and four float boards (/uploads/blueprints/rotary-dasher-box-churn-dasher.stl). Print in PLA at 0.2 mm layers, 30 % infill, 4 walls; wash before first use.

Materials for this step:

PLA FilamentPLA Filament1 piece

Tools needed:

FDM 3D PrinterFDM 3D Printer
5

Use a box with a curved bottom

Take a food-safe storage box about 150 × 100 mm and 150 mm deep. Drill both ends on the dasher's axis, 85 mm up. Bed a plywood strip curved from end to end in its floor with silicone, as his curved bottom.

Materials for this step:

HDPE Storage ContainerHDPE Storage Container1 piece
Plywood SheetPlywood Sheet1 piece
Silicone SealantSilicone Sealant1 piece

Tools needed:

Coping SawCoping Saw
Cordless DrillCordless Drill
Drill Bit SetDrill Bit Set
6

Cone, centre screw and crank

File an M5 screw to a point and run it through one end as the centre screw into the dasher's end hole. Through the other end pass a 5 mm rod into the dasher's seat as the hollow-cone bearing, bent outside into a crank.

Materials for this step:

Machine ScrewsMachine Screws1 piece
Hex NutHex Nut1 piece
Mild Steel RodMild Steel Rod1 piece

Tools needed:

Files (Hand File)Files (Hand File)
Bench ViseBench Vise
Adjustable SpannerAdjustable Spanner
7

The build in 3D

FreeCAD model of this build, not of the patent: the box with its curved bottom cut away to show inside, the printed rotary dasher with two parallel arm pairs at right angles and four float boards, and the crank.
Design FileBLENDCC0 - Free
Download Model
8

Make butter

Let 500 ml of heavy cream stand until it reaches about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer. Pour it into the box, close the lid, and crank steadily; time until the butter comes. Pour off the buttermilk, add cold water, churn a few turns and pour off again until it runs clear; work in a pinch of salt and weigh the butter.
Step 8 - Image 1

Materials for this step:

Heavy CreamHeavy Cream500 ml
Coarse Sea SaltCoarse Sea Salt1 piece
WaterWater1 piece

Tools needed:

Leave-In Probe ThermometerLeave-In Probe Thermometer
StopwatchStopwatch
Digital Kitchen ScaleDigital Kitchen Scale
Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)Stainless Steel Mixing Bowl (Large)
9

A dasher that sticks, a box that leaks

Rotary-dasher box churn troubleshooting.

Flow

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10

History and honest limits

**Rufus Porter** of Billerica, Massachusetts, received US 735, dated 10 May 1838. His box is eighteen inches long, ten wide and eighteen deep, of boards three-quarters of an inch thick; the bottom, three-eighths thick, is curved so its centre is three inches lower than its ends; a lid with ventilation apertures fits a rabbet; the float boards are eight inches long and three wide. He gave the dimensions of every part. **Honest limits.** A storage box and a printed dasher at tabletop scale stand in for his. FDM prints hold food in their layer lines, so wash well and replace when worn. Your times and weights are the result.

Materials

10

Tools Required

11

Design Files

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CC0 Public Domain

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