AN AUTOMATIC CREAM COLLECTOR
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Glode Peltret, of the City and County of San
Francisco, State of California, U.S.A., Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN
AUTOMATIC CREAM COLLECTOR."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Peter Glode Peltret at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th February 1880.
PETER GLODE PELTRET, of the City and County of San Francisco, State of
California, U.S.A., Gentleman. "AN AUTOMATIC CREAM COLLECTOR."
The object of my Invention is to provide a means of collecting the cream from
milk for dairy purposes without the necessity of skimming off the cream by hand,
as is usual This I accomplish by forming in the bottom of the pan or receptacle,
of whatever shape, an orifice covered with wire gauze, and having a faucet extending
outside by means of which the milk may be drawn off from under the cream, and,
the cream retained, as is more fully described on the accompanying Drawings, in
which Figure 1 is a view of the pan; Figure 2 shows the arrangements. The
ordinary pan in which milk is set is made shallow and circular in form, although in
somo large dairies a longer receptacle is used; in all of these however the method
of obtaining the cream is the same. After the cream has raised to the surface a
skimmer is taken in the hand, passed around the edge of the pan, and the cream all
moved to one side and lifted over the side of the pan into a suitable receptacle.
The pan is then taken up and the skimmed or sour milk is thrown away. In a
large dairy, where numbers of pans of milk have to be skimmed, considerable time
is occupied in this operation; inoreover, more or less milk is necessarily taken with
the cream, and when the milk has set so long as to get soured this sour milk has to
be put into the churn also, and the resulting butter is poor. It is not possible.
except at great waste of time and by the exercise of unusual skill, to remove all the
cream without taking some of the milk.
I take an ordinary milk pin A of any shape or size and form a hole in its bottom,
under which I place a common faucet B of any desired form. Over the hole I place
a piece of netting or wire gauze a, so as to prevent the escape of the cream.
Now, after the cream has raised and is ready to be removed, instead of having to

page_text: skim the cream off the top of the milk, I draw the milk from under the cream by
opening the faucet; all the milk will then be drawn off, leaving the pure cream in
the pan. The dairy-man has only therefore to turn a number of faucets, and the
milk passes off, the cream remaining. The pans require no more attention from
him until he is ready to remove the cream. He then takes each pail and pours the
cream out into the cream pail or into the churn.
I have shown my device as applied for dairy purposes in such a manner that the
milk from the pans is directed from the dairy-house out to any desired place, all
through one pipe, the pans or receptacles being so arranged that no handling is
required.
In this arrangement the pans A are arranged in a row, each with a faucet B.
The faucets all lead into a pipe D, this pipe leading the skimmed milk off to any
desired point. After the milk in the pans is drawn off as described, and the cream
is left, each pan may be tipped over and all the cream collected in one pail. Over
the rows of pans are two other pipes E, F, provided with cocks, one pipe for hot
and the other for cold water. The hot water is first drawn into the pans after the
cream is removed, and when this is drawn out through the faucets and draw-pipe a
spray of cold water is turned into each pan from the cold water-pipe, the pans thus
being quickly and readily cleaned without handling. After milk has soured no
more cream rises, and the cream remaining on the sour milk makes poor butter. As
soon as the acidity reaches the cream the cream partakes of this acidity, and the
resultant butter is not sweet; this souring always begins at the bottom of the pan.
The dairy-man can therefore, by opening the cock, draw off some of the milk to test
it. If sour he removes the cream immediately before it partakes of the acidity.
It will be seen that this method of collecting cream very much simplifies the
operation, and it is possible by it to obtain pure cream without any admixture of
milk whatever. I do not wish to confine myself to any specified form of pan or
milk receptacle, that being unimportant, the main feature being that of drawing off
the milk from under the cream and leaving the cream free. The screen or gauze is
made fine enough to retain the thicker portion of the contents of the pan, namely,
the cream, from passing through.
Having thus described my Invention, what. I claim as new, and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is,―
1. In a milk pan or receptacle in which milk is set for cream, a faucet placed on
its bottom, the opening into which is protected by a screen or wire gauze, whereby
the milk may be drawn from under the cream and the cream retained, substantially
as herein described.
2. The arrangement for the collection of cream, consisting of the series of pans A
provided with the faucets B and screens a, said faucets connecting with the common
drain-pipe D and the hot and cold water-pipes E, F, whereby the cream may be
collected and the pans cleaned without handling, substantially as and for the
purposes, herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Glode Peltret, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this 24th day of January, in the year of our Lord A.D. One thousand
Witnesses,
CHAB. G. YALE.
FRANK A. BROOKS.
PETER GLODE PELTRET. (L.S.)