AN IMPROVED CHURN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Milton Alexander Hamilton, of Detroit,
Michigan, United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, for the
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Milton Alexander
Hamilton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition and Declaration, on the 16th May 1868 pursuant to the
9th Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MILTON
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, of Detroit, Michigan, United States of
America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVED
CHURN," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for
the same, and have made solemn declaration that I am the true and
first Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE that I, the said Milton Alexander Hamilton, do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed in and
by the following statement, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings forming part of this Specification :―
My Invention relates to churns in which the butter is produced by
the action of a reciprocating piston or plunger upon the milk or
cream which is contained within a cylindrical or other suitable shaped
vessel.
The said Invention consists chiefly in constructing the piston or
plunger with two or more perforated discs or with shallow saucer-
shaped pieces, or with rings, or with a hollow perforated conical or
bell-shaped piece or number of such pieces which form chambers,
whereby the air is collected and forced into and through the milk or
cream during the process of churning. The cylindrical or other vessel
is formed of wood or metal and of any suitable length and diameter.
The plunger may be constructed of wood, tin, zinc, wire gauze, or
other suitable material. When formed with concave discs or saucer-
shaped pieces the same may be produced either by turning annular
spaces in a conical block of wood, the said block being first made of
the required diameter and length, or by soldering discs or plates of tin
or other metal upon the boss or centre of the piston. Each of the discs
is made concave on its under side, and either the largest disc or the
smallest may form the bottom of the plunger. The holes or perforations
in the discs are formed to allow the air and with it the cream to pass
freely through the air chambers or annular spaces, and to facilitate the
movement of the plunger I prefer to leave the upper disc without these
holes or perforations. A rod or handle is attached to the said plunger,
and is extended upward through the cover of the churn, and by means
of this handle the plunger is moved up and down in the same.
the plunger is moved above the surface of the liquid in the churn
a quantity of air is collected in the air chamber or chambers, and as
the said plunger moves downward the air so contained is forced
into and through the milk and cream. This introduction of the
air together with the agitation produced by the concussion of the
plunger upon the liquid facilitates the breaking up of the globules in
which the particles of butter are contained, and greatly accelerates
As

page_text: the gathering of the butter; this action of the plunger upon the
liquid is increased by the holes or perforations.
When the plunger is constructed with a series of sheet metal discs
I prefer to solder them upon a tube or socket at suitable distances
apart to give the required size to the annular space between the discs.
When rings instead of discs are employed the same are provided with
an exterior flange within which the air is collected. When the plunger
is constructed with a number of the conical or bell-shaped pieces the
same are preferably formed of tin and arranged one below the other
upon the piston rod. The said pieces may be arranged with their
largest diameters either towards the bottom or top of the churn, or
the piston may be constructed with double concs united at their
apex in the centre of the piston.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of a churn provided with my improved
piston or plunger; Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 illustrate various modifications
in the construction of the said plunger. Like letters indicate the same
parts in all of the Figures.
The cylindrical vessel a, which is preferably constructed of tin, may
be made of any desired capacity. The piston 6 is shown in Figure 1
constructed with a series of concave discs or plates c, between which
are left the air spaces or chambers d. When the piston is raised into
the space in the upper part of the churn these chambers are filled.
with air, which as the piston is forced down through the milk or cream
passes with the same through the holes or perforations e in the concave
discs or saucers c, a fresh quantity of air being thus intimately mingled
with the cream at each stroke of the piston.
When the piston is constructed as shown in Figure 2 with a series of
rings f the air chambers are formed by the recesses f' in the said rings.
At each upward stroke of the piston a quantity of air is collected
within these recesses, and when the piston is forced downward it passes
from the said recesses with the cream through the apertures 9 between
the rings, the cream and air being mingled together as already
described.
g
In the modification of my improvements illustrated in Figure 3 the
air chamber in the piston is formed within the hollow perforated cone h;

page_text: the said cone is preferably constructed of tin, but if desired may be
turned from a block of wood or constructed in any convenient and
suitable manner. I sometimes place two or more of these cones upon
the piston, leaving spaces between them, and thereby form a number
of chambers for collecting the air as in Figure 1. .
Figure 4 shows the piston made bell-shaped instead of conical, the
air chamber or space being formed within the bell-shaped piece h',
which is perforated as already described.
In Figure 5 I have shown a piston with two perforated cones arranged
in opposite directions upon the rod. The upper cone increases the
agitation of the milk and cream, and therefore accelerates the production
of the butter.
In all the modifications of my Invention herein described and
illustrated the chief object is to form in the plunger chambers or spaces
for collecting the air, which is afterwards forced into and intimately
mixed with the globules or particles of cream. The perforations in the
saucer-shaped conical or other pieces constituting the plunger allow
the air and cream to circulate freely, and the agitation produced by
the concussion of the plunger upon the liquid is such that the required
intermixture of the air and cream is effected with great rapidity.
Having thus fully described my said Invention and shown how the
same may be conveniently and advantageously carried into practice,
I claim constructing the piston or plunger of a churn with an air
chamber or a number of chambers or spaces between or within perforated
saucer-shaped conical or other pieces, substantially as and for the
purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Milton Alexander Hamilton have
hereunto set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
MILTON ALEXANDER HAMILTON. (L.S.)