Adjustable-Valve Dash Churn: Hinged Perforated Wings Shut Going Down, Open Coming Up, Slides Set How Big the Holes Are

"The object of the slides is to enlarge or diminish the holes in the valves or wings to facilitate the churning or breaking of cream. The object of the valves or wings opening as the dasher is raised, is, to allow the cream or butter to pass through the dash—thereby relieving the dasher of the entire weight of the cream or butter."

Glue up a square hardwood box 280 x 280 mm inside and 400 deep from 20 mm boards, the joints sealed with silicone sealant, and screw two hardwood feet 25 x 400 x 180 mm with arched cutouts under its ends. Cut a hardwood or HDPE cover to fit over the top, with a 34 mm square hole at the centre for the rod.

Make a hardwood frame E 274 mm square of 30 x 20 strips with a centre bar 30 wide. Plane a hardwood rod B 30 mm square, 505 long, mortise it into the centre bar, and bore holes C 10.4 mm across near its top for the lever pin. Cut two 6 mm HDPE wings G 92 x 266 mm, each with six 20 mm holes K, and hang each on a butt hinge along a side of the frame so it shuts up against the frame. Cut two 3 mm HDPE slides I 80 x 250 with six matching holes and a slot L, and fix each under its wing with an M5 set screw J through the slot. Screw a hardwood stop H 30 x 120 mm under the centre bar so its ends catch the wings when they have opened about 45 degrees.

Cut a hardwood standard 40 x 30 mm, 660 tall, and hang it on a butt hinge at its foot on one of the feet, 70 mm out from the box's end, so it folds down flat against the box for packing; hold it upright with a hook from a screw eye on the box's side (the patent's staple O). Bore it 10.4 mm across 20 mm from its top. Shape a hardwood lever 950 x 30 x 24 mm with a handle at one end, bore it near the other for a 10 mm bolt to the standard, and cut a slot 40 x 12 mm through it over the rod. Pass the rod up through the cover and the slot, and pin it with a 10 mm stainless pin D through a hole C.

Pour about 15 litres of heavy cream at about 15 °C, checked with the thermometer, into the churn. Loosen the set screws and move the slides to leave the holes half open to start; put the dash in, the cover on, and pin the lever to the rod. Work the lever up and down steadily, timing it. If the dash is too hard to push down, open the holes further; if the cream is not broken, close them more. When the butter comes, lift the dash out, take out the butter, pour the buttermilk into a bowl, wash the butter in cold water until it runs clear, salt and weigh it. Fold the standard down to store the churn.

**Cicero D. Van Allen** of Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York, US 32,907, 23 July 1861, "Churn". He claimed "the combination of the perforated adjustable slide I with the perforated dasher A". He made his churn of wood or other material, square or round. His drawing shows a pyramid-shaped cover and a standard with a staple; ours are a flat cover and a hook to a screw eye. The patent gives no sizes; every size here is ours.