IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR WORKING, WASHING, OR OTHERWISE TREATING BUTTER, WHICH SAID MEANS OR APPARATUS ARE ALSO SUITABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Macnee at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd May 1877.
JAMES MACNEE, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Merchant.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR WORKING,
WASHING, OR OTHERWISE TREATING BUTTER, WHICH SAID MEANS OR APPARATUS
ARE ALSO SUITABLE FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
This Invention relates to improvements in the mode of and means or apparatus
for working, washing, or otherwise treating butter, whereby the butter after being
churned is more speedily, easily, and completely washed, and the buttermilk sepa-
rated therefrom than by the ordinary process of hand pressure and working hereto-
fore practised.
The improvements are also equally applicable for the mixing of butter with other
substances, whether for preserving or cooking purposes, and also for mixing or
kneading dough, for biscuit baking, or for similar mixing, kneading, or expressing
operations. And the nature and novelty of the Invention consist in the construction
and use of a machine or apparatus composed of a strong hard wood or metal disc,
flat on top, on which the butter is laid and worked, and revolving loose on a central
spindle in a bush or other journal bearing in the centre of a portable or fixed table
below, which has a ledging all round its outer edges, with a narrow recess between
the ledging and the edge of the disc or rim below it for receiving or containing the
cleansing water or washings from the butter.
The working, pressing, or agitating lever is fulcrumed at its one end on a bracket
at the back central part of the table, and extends forwards across or over the middle
of the butter-carrying disc, with the long working handle projecting sufficiently
over the table to be reciprocated up and down by the attendant there in a similar
manner to the well-known hand lever turnip cutters and lever knives; the lever
having flat, angled, rounded, or feathered sides to work and compress the milk or
liquid out of the butter, which flows into the recess in the upper surface of the table,
and may be run or drawn off from time to time, as desired, by the tap or tube; the
supply of fresh or salted water being fed in over the butter from a vessel above by a
tap or by hand at intervals as desired.
The short projecting end of the lever beyond the fulcrum is connected to a trans-
verse rocking shaft, working in bearings underneath and close to the under side of

page_text: the table by a short connecting rod and lever on the overhanging end of the shaft
for the purpose of turning the butter-carrying disc at each upward stroke of the
lever by a lever projecting up from the inner part of the shaft with a spring pawl
jointed on its upper end, which takes into a ratchet wheel formed on the under side
of the disc.
One or other of the levers is formed with a slot or other equivalent for regulating
the throw of the rocking shaft and its spring pawl, so as to turn the disc one, two,
or more teeth as desired at each up-stroke of the lever, the disc remaining stationary
during the down-stroke, or while the lever is compressing the butter. When the
lever has compressed the butter flat or spread it too much over the disc, it is rolled
or raised again into a heap by the attendant.
The standard on which the lever is fulorumed and the connecting rod connecting
it to the feeding or rocking shaft are preferably made adjustable and capable of
swivelling to suit different heights of the lever above the surface of the revolving
disc, or the position of the butter on the disc; and the hand lever may be made of
wood, with an iron socket at the fulcrum end, so as to turn and present any of its
pressing sides desired to the butter or other material on the compressing disc, the
handle end being preferably rounded or cylindrical for ease of working by the hand;
the table being either fixed at or adjustable to a height suitable for the proper
working of the lever by the operator.