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Wood Butter
Churns Page 3
This butter churn could easily have gone on the metal butter
churn page. The actual churning vessel is made of tin. The
wood frame supports the tin. One of the first
things you notice on this churn is the thermometer mounted on the
front of the churn and that there is a drain hole on each
end. However only one of the drains is open to the cream
tub. On closer inspection one realizes that there is a double tin
wall to form a jacket around the cream tub so that warm or cold water
could be added to raise or lower the temperature of the cream. The
second drain hole drained this water jacket. One of the biggest
variables in butter making is the temperature that the cream is churned
at. The maker of this butter churn obviously understood that and
accounted for it in his design. For this churn the ideal
temperature was marked at 62 degrees.
In the early to mid 1800's there was a lot of superstition about
churning. Many times the cream would not form butter no
matter how long one churned it. Many people felt that this was
because the cream was haunted by a witch. Many people that churned
butter believed in the "cream witch" and many churn advertisements
referred to it (picture). A
couple of the remedies for a cream witch was to put a red hot horse
shoe or a red hot poker into the cream. The cream would boil as
the hot metal was put in the churn and people said this was the noise of
the witch thrashing about as she was killed. In actuality the
temperature of the cream was increased and often this was enough for the
butter to start to form.
We would date this butter churn to about 1850-1880. It measures
out to about 9 gallons. We have no information on who
manufactured this churn or where it was made. However it
was advertised in an 1855 Buffalo, New York business directory
in sizes of 4.5, 6, 9,10.5, 14.5 and 28 gallons and was referred to
as Osborne's Improved Thermometer Churn. The No. 3 or 9 gallon
size like the one pictured here cost $4.50. An 1875 hardware
catalog from Marcus C. Hawley & Company of San Francisco and
Sacramento, California listed 8 sizes with the addition of a 2.5 and 20
gallon size. In this catalog they were only referred to as
Thermometer Churns. By then the cost of the 9 gallon had risen to
$7.50. All but the smallest size was advertised as having
double zinc cylinders.
An 1861 journal article estimated that annually 12,000 of these churns
were sold by a single supply house in the Boston area. The article
estimated that there were between 30,000 and 40,000 of these churns in
use in the Boston market. This would have made this a very popular
churn for its time. It is surprising that not many have survived.
When researching thermometer churns we came across references to a
patented Crowell's Thermometer Churn. The descriptions sounded
very similar to this churn. Wm. and Allen Crowell of Salisbury,
Connecticut patented a churn with two chambers, one for cream and
one for water, on June 20, 1840. Although they did not show a
thermometer in the patent drawings they did mention in the
specifications that one could be mounted in the end wall of the
churn. In fact we have seen one of these churns that is stenciled
CROWELL'S PATENT 1840. 
This is a Bent Wood Churn made by
the M. Brown & Company of Wapakoneta, Ohio. This butter churn
was patented on August 7, 1877 by Michael Brown, Francis McFarland and
Joseph Brown also from Wapakoneta. The patent was for a new way of
forming the churn box from only three pieces of wood, the two ends
and a center section of wood bent into the shape of a U. The
patent also covered a new packing that prevented leaks and metal corner
braces that held the churns shape. The paddles shown in this
patent however were not the ones commonly found on the
churns. A second patent was granted to these same three men on
June 13, 1882. This patent showed the four half circle paddles
that were commonly found on these butter churns. These paddles
were designed to pull the cream off the end walls of the churn and throw
it towards the center of the churn box. This second patent also
detailed using metal to from the U shaped portion of the churn instead
of wood, however we have never seen this on one of these butter
churns. The legs on each end of the churn were also made
from a single piece of wood bent in an upside down U shape.
Not all of these churns were stenciled with a patent date but
some will have the 1877 patent date and a few will be stenciled
with the 1877 and 1882 patent dates. These butter churns came
in 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12 gallon sizes. The three
gallon was called a No.3, the four gallon was a No. 2, the six gallon
was a No. 1, the nine gallon was a No. 0 and the twelve gallon was a
No, 00. An 1893 invoice listed the price of a 4 gallon churn at 4
dollars and a 6 gallon churn, like the one pictured here, at
$4.50. They will also be found with different decals on the
sides. The butter churn pictured above has a decal of green
foliage and is stenciled with the 1877 and 1882 patent dates. They
are also found with a decal of a pink flower (click here for a picture,
courtesy of Harry and Annie). Most rare is a decal of a milk maid
using a Bent Wood Churn. Note that this churn is stenciled with
only the 1877 patent date, possibly dating it prior to 1882 (picture). This rare
churn belongs to Harry and Annie. Thanks for letting us show it
here.
In 1903, M. Brown & Company produced 10,000 of these churns and had
customers all over the United States as well as in South Africa,
Germany and Russia. The factory had a workforce of 30 men at that
time. 
This picture shows the five types of
wood churns made by the Standard Churn Company of Wapakoneta,
Ohio. This company was established in 1889 by F.H. and R.C. Haman
and S.A. Hoskins. In the early 1900's this factory reportedly was
producing 40,000 butter churns per year.
The first style on the left is a wood dash churn. Standard Churn
Co. made these in 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 gallons sizes.
The second churn is a wood box churn on legs (picture).
Standard Churn Company made these in 5, 7 and 10 gallon sizes. We
believe that in 1917 Sears contracted with Standard Churn Company to
sell a version of this churn that would replace the Improved Union Churn
in their catalog. The butter churn that Sears sold was advertised
as having a power pulley on the large gear to make the churn adaptable
to a power belt drive. They also advertised that the churn had
four metal truss rods to reinforce the churn and the legs were not
curved but rather a simpler straight design (picture). From
1917 to 1919 Sears advertised them in 5, 7, 10 and 12 gallon
sizes. From 1920 to 1923 the catalog listed them in sizes of 9,
11, 13 and 15 gallons, although it is possible that the churns
remained the same and only the reported capacities changed since the
catalog numbers did not change. The prices in 1917 ranged from
$5.95 to $7.45 for the smallest and largest sizes. In 1922 the
range was $7.70 for the 9 gallon to $8.95 for the 15 gallon. We
have seen this Sears churn with stenciling for the Standard Churn
Company.
The third butter churn in the back is Standard Churn Company's barrel
Churn. They made these in 3, 5, 7 and 9 gallon sizes. The
clamp for the lid on the Standard Churn Company barrel churn was
different from most other companies that made barrel churns and was
patented by Harvey Brokaw on May 6, 1890. Brokaw assigned part of
his patent to F.H. Haman one of the founders of the Standard Churn
Company. F.H. Haman himself was granted two earlier patents for
barrel churns but we have not seen these in production.
The small butter churn in the front was a Home Butter Maker (picture). These
came in 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 quart sizes. These used a
crank, dasher and gear system similar to the type used on glass jar
churns however the container was made of wood.
The butter churn on the right is very rare. It is a keg or barrel
on legs and is stenciled the OK churn (picture). This
churn has paddles inside to churn the cream. It is a size No. 2
and is marked 7 gallons.
Again thanks to Harry and Annie for letting us picture their beautiful
collection of butter churns. 
 This is an example of a
Blanchard butter churn. It was made by Porter Blanchard's Sons
Company. Porter Blanchard was a craftsman in Concord, New
Hampshire who started in business in 1818. His sons, George
and Charles, joined him in the business and then Porter passed away in
1871. George and Charles continued the company under the name
Porter Blanchard's Sons. On June 4, 1878 George was granted a
patent for this butter churn. The patent dealt with the design of
the dasher blades. In addition to the fixed dasher blades there
were also pivoting floats. When the churn was rotated one
direction the floats helped churn the cream and when the rotation was in
the opposite direction the floats would pivot to allow them to work the
finished butter.
In the patent papers George said his patent was for an
improvement in the well-known Blanchard churn. He implied
that the Blanchard churn had already been available for sale and well
accepted. In fact an 1876 catalog of the International Exhibition
in Philadelphia had a claim that the celebrated Blanchard churn had been
proved for over a quarter of a century. An 1880 New Hampshire
magazine claimed that the company had been making butter churns for
over 50 years and the Blanchard churn had been made for over 25
years. It also said the these butter churns were being
used in Russia, South America, Germany, Australia and Japan, in addition
to every state in the U.S. Whether there was another patent for
the original churn design we are unsure. In 1871 the company
claimed that 30,000 Blanchard butter churns were in use and by 1876
the number had climbed to 100,000
The original churns had a flat lid. In 1880 they advertised an
improved version with a curved lid that made the churn box a complete
cylinder like the churn pictured here. They said that the flat lid
allowed unchurned cream to collect in the upper corners which could
streak the butter. By curving the lid and making the box a
cylinder all the cream was churned. For a few years after they
advertised both the round and square top churns at the same price.
However eventually they settled on the curved top.
In 1890 there was a fire that destroyed the Concord shop and the
business was relocated to Nashua, New Hampshire. These butter
churns will be found stenciled with either city. The Nashua
factory was sold in December of 1900. The butter churn
pictured above was made in Nashua and is a later model. They were
offered in five family sizes, the No. 3 was 2 gallons,
the No. 4 was 4 gallons, the No. 5 was 8 gallons, the No. 6 was 12
gallons and the No. 7 was 18 gallons. This was the actual gallons
that could be churned, the actual size of the churn would have been
almost double that. This was different from most churns in that
usually the advertised size was the full volume of the churn and the
actual churning capacity would have been half of that size. The
prices in 1876 and 1882 for these five sizes were 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12
dollars. The company also made larger factory churns up to
150 gallons.
The iron crank handle is embossed THE BLANCHARD CHURN, so even when the
stenciling is faded the butter churns can be identified. They were
advertised to be made of the finest kiln dried, Michigan pine lumber
and had no gearing. The crank was direct drive to the
dashers. The company claimed this simplicity made their churns
more reliable but especially in the larger sizes they must have been
hard to crank as the butter formed. Our observation is that the
earlier churns will have the initial B on the side while the later
butter churns will say THE BEST. The company often used the slogan
"Get the Best". The company remained in business until the late
1890's. George Blanchard was also granted patents for a
butter worker on July 29, 1879 and February 21, 1882.
Click here to go to the page with butter molds
made by Porter Blanchard's Sons Company.
This was called
a Lightning Churn. It is a size No. 2 and measures out to about 6
gallons. The exterior is very similar to a Blanchard butter churn
but the paddles inside are different. There is a stencil of a cow
on the back of the churn. We have seen one of these
Lightning Churns that has stenciling indicating that it was made by
Porter Blanchard's Sons Company. This explains the similarities
to the larger Blanchard butter churn. The town listed on that
churn was Nashua, New Hampshire so that would date that particular churn
to sometime after 1890. We have seen this Lightning Churn
advertised for sale in an 1897 Joseph Breck & Sons catalog from
Boston, Massachusetts. We also came across an advertisement in a
1903 Seattle newspaper that listed the churn in three sizes, a No. 0
that was 3 gallons, a No. 1 that was 4 1/4 gallons and a No. 2 that was 6
gallons like the one pictured here. The sale prices were $1.60,
$1.75 and $2.05 in that ad.
We have also seen a Lightning Churn like this with stenciling that says
it was manufactured by Samuel Cupples & Company of St. Louis,
Missouri. Samuel Cupples & Company was a large woodenware
manufacturer based in St. Louis that was formed in 1871 or 1872.
The company was later incorporated as the Samuel Cupples
Wooden Ware Company in 1882 or 1883. It appears that both of these
companies made similar churns. We have never located a patent for
this style of churn so there was nothing to stop two competitors from
manufacturing it. 
The only marking on
the butter churn pictured above is a July 31, 1866 patent date
embossed on the large gear however we have seen this butter churn
advertised as The Prize Churn. This 1866 patent was granted to
Alvin Mason of Springfield, Vermont. The patent dealt with the
gearing that drove the dashers for the churn. Mason devised
a system of gears that made it easy to change the speed of the
dashers. The handle was connected to two concentric gears.
The large gear had teeth on the inside and the smaller gear had teeth on
the outside. When one started churning the cream and required a
faster speed, the larger gear would engage the gear at the end of the
dashers. This meant that for one revolution of the crank the
dashers would rotate many times. As the cream thickened and butter
started to form a slower speed was needed. The crank gears could
be lowered and the large gear would disengage and the smaller gear would
engage the gear on the end of the dashers. Now one revolution of
the crank would only revolve the dashers one time.
We have seen
later Prize Churns that were stenciled with an October 8, 1867 and a
March 18, 1873 patent date. The 1867 patent was granted to A. H.
Brown of Springfield, Vermont. This patent dealt with improvements
in the two speed gearing and also the design of the dasher. The
1873 patent was issued to William Lewis, also from Springfield, and
dealt with further improvements to the two speed gearing of the churn
utilizing a clutch mechanism.
Thanks Ray for letting us picture
your churn. 
The butter churn pictured above is
sometimes referred to as a wig wag churn. The dasher pivoted on a
pin at the top of the churn. Moving the top of the dasher lever
side to side would also move the bottom end of the dasher that was in
the cream side to side. Usually the end of the dasher was a flat
piece of wood with holes in it. This style of butter churn was
patented on February 22, 1876. The inventors were James and
Chastain Taylor of Ashland, Virginia. |
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