After the butter was churned the buttermilk needed to be worked out of the butter and if the butter was to be salted the salt needed to be worked in. This task was done by butter workers on larger operations and by hand held wooden paddles on a smaller scale. These paddles were known as butter ladles, butter spades or butter hands.
On the bottom of the picture are butter ladles on the left and butter spades or hands on the right. The first ladle on the left was an Anderson ladle and the second one was known as an Acme ladle. Ladles were cupped like a spoon while spades or butter hands were flat and usually had a grooved surface. They were used, one in each hand to continually turn and press the butter. This worked the buttermilk out and the salt in. In the 1897 Sears catalog butter ladles and spades were 8 cents each. In 1902 the price of an Anderson ladle was 7 cents while an Acme ladle or a spade was only 4 cents.
Above the butter ladles and spades is a lever butter worker. Freshly churned butter was placed in the tray and the lever was worked back and forth over the butter. The tray was tilted so as the buttermilk was worked out it would drain out the narrow end and into a container below. Salt could also be worked into the butter. This style of butter worker was patented on May 15, 1877 by Oscar S. Cornish and David W. Curtis of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. On November 16, 1880 these men were granted a second patent that covered improvements in the bracing of the legs for this style of butter worker. Lever butter works are often found with the stenciling of the company, Cornish, Curtis and Greene that sold them. The butter worker pictured above is a No. 0 size and was designed to work 15 lbs of butter. In 1896 a model with legs would have cost $3.50 from Sears, Roebuck and Company. The price had dropped to $3.33 by the fall 1904 Sears catalog and they were no longer sold in the 1908 catalog. They also came in sizes to churn 25 and 35 lbs of butter.
This is an A. H. Reid butter worker made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was originally patented on March 23, 1875 by Alban Reid. The lobed roller ran on two metal tracks and cranking the handle would run the roller back and forth over the butter. The handle side of the tray had legs that tilted the tray away from the operator so the buttermilk would drain out of a hole in the back. Alban Reid was granted a second patent on August 14, 1883 that dealt with operating this style of butter worker in a continuous manner driven by a motor.
A later patent, dated December 8, 1885, was granted to Nathan Williams of Bellow Falls, Vermont for improvements to this style of butter worker. Williams' improvement added two friction-rollers to the bottom of the guide that held the roller on the geared track. This allowed the roller to move more freely as it worked back and forth over the butter. Williams assigned his patent to the Vermont Farm Machinery Company, also located in Bellows Falls, Vermont. They sold many butter workers and also produced the Davis Swing Churn.
This was a size No. 4, which was a very large size, designed to work 50 lbs of butter. It was two foot wide by three foot long. Models were also available in 10, 20 and 30 lb sizes. This model was priced at $10.00 dollars in an 1889 Vermont Farm Machinery catalog. However the price dropped significantly when Sears started to market them. They were $5.75 in the 1896 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog, increased to $6.33 in 1902 and then remained under 6 dollars until 1916. This size last appeared in the 1918 Sears catalog but smaller sizes were sold until 1926. Until 1904 Sears referred to this style of butter worker as a Reid Butter Worker, from 1905 to 1918 they called it a Philadelphia Pattern Butter Worker and in 1919 they started calling it a Standard Butter Worker. These name changes probably coincided with changes in who was supplying the butter workers to Sears. Sears advertised that these units could work butter in three to five minutes.
This is a butter worker made by the American Wooden Ware Manufacturing Co. of Toledo, Ohio. This company also made Improved Union butter churns. This butter worker probably was manufactured under the Reid patent. This one was also labeled as a size No. 4 but this was the smallest butter worker they made. It was just over a foot wide and two foot long. It was designed to work 8-10 pounds of butter. The lobes on the roller of this butter worker are larger than the Reid's butter worker pictured above even though it is smaller. Butter workers are often found with significant corrosion on the metal parts due to the salt used in working the butter.
This is a rotary butter worker advertised as Lilly's butter worker. As one turned the crank the round table rotated to move the butter towards the roller and the roller also revolved to work the buttermilk out of the butter. The buttermilk drained towards the center of the table and could be caught in a bucket set under the table.
This butter worker was patented by William Lilly of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on January 11, 1876. In an 1878 advertisement it was sold by Henderson & Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were made in sizes that could work from 25 to 100 pounds of butter. A 30 pound machine sold for 15 dollars and the ad claimed it could work butter in five minutes. Later that year they were sold by C. H. R. Triebels, which was the successor to Henderson & Company.
Thanks Mike for letting us picture your butter worker.
After the butter was worked it was usually placed in molds of a measured size and formed into shapes. Common butter mold sizes were 1/2, 1 and 2 pound. The first butter mold on the left is a California round hinged mold. This is a 2 lb size and would have cost 25 cents in 1897 and 18 cents in 1902. The next two butter molds are California square hinged molds. The large one is 2 lbs and the small one was 1 3/8 lb. In the 1902 Sears catalog the 2 lb was 18 cents and the smaller one was 17 cents. Butter spades would have been used to press the butter into the hinged mold after which the mold could be opened and the butter removed.
The third, fourth and fifth molds are fancy carved butter molds. The first is a one pound, the second a half pound and the last one was a pat size. These had fancy designs carved into the press so that the impression was left on top of the butter. Common designs were a sheath of wheat, pineapple, cow, rooster and geometric designs. The price of these varied depending on the complexity of the carving but would have ranged from 10 to 26 cents at the turn of the century. Butter would have been filled into the mold and then the plunger pressed to form a tight shape of butter.
The last butter mold on the right works on the same principle but forms a rectangular shape. Usually they are smooth or just had lines cut in the plunger. This butter mold sold for 68 cents in the 1902 Sears catalog.
