Dog-powered Butter Churn Patent Model
notes: label: Description
content: H.M. Childs of Utica, New York, patented the dog-powered butter churn in 1871. The machine consists of an inclined wooden treadmill connected to a butter churn by a flywheel attached to a pitman rod. A dog or goat was tied to the treadmill, and when it ran, the treadmill rotated the flywheel, which in turn moved the rod and churn dasher up and down, churning the butter. Although it saved a farmer from additional manual labor, the dog-powered butter churn was not very efficient and was quickly replaced by a revolving barrel churn. The dog-powered churn does not appear to have been in widespread use; most of those that still exist have come from upstate New York. The Smithsonian churn was a 1958 gift from the New York Historical Association in Cooperstown, New York.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Agriculture and Natural Resources
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content: Work
label: See more items in
content: Agriculture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: AG.58A05.13
label: accession number
content: 213356
label: catalog number
content: 58A05.13
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Churn, Dog Powered