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Wood Butter Churns Page 2
The churn pictured above is a Union churn. They typically have three legs like this one. It is a size No. 3 which would have been ten gallons. It is stenciled with a December 20, 1864 patent date. This would have been during the Civil War. This patent was granted to C. H. Warren and A. C. Baldwin of Tiffin, Ohio. Baldwin and a partner named Saffell had a churn manufacturing company in Tiffin, Ohio as early as 1864. A billhead from 1871 referred to the company as the Union Churn Manufacturing Company. In 1876, the Tiffin Union Churn Company was incorporated with A. C. Baldwin as the president. The company was said to employ 60 people and also manufactured the Union Grooved Wash Board.
The manufacturer of the churn above is listed as the Union Mfg. Co. of Toledo, Ohio. At some point they must have moved to Toledo or contracted with a company there to make the churns. The stenciling on the end of the churn boasts of first place premiums won at the state fairs of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and New York. These early churns have a flat shelf below the curved section of the churn that the legs are attached to. 
At some point the name was changed to the Improved Union churn. These churns no longer have the shelf at the bottom and the legs attach to the curved portion of the churn. We have seen advertisements as early as 1881 referring to the Improved Union Churn. A second patent was granted to Charles Warren, now of Toledo, Ohio, for a method of making a round bottom churn with tongue and groove slats and metal hoops to hold them tight. This patent was issued on April 27, 1875. The churn pictured above is stenciled PATENTED but does not have a patent date. However we have seen this patent date stenciled on one of these Improved Union churns.
The butter churn pictured above has 4 legs. Usually they would have had 3 legs. This one is original. We don't know why it has four legs. It is very large, a size No. 4, and measures out to almost 20 gallons. This size would have been for a large dairy. The Sears and Roebuck catalog from 1896 through 1900 lists a No.1 (5 gal), No. 2 (7 gal) and No. 3 (10 gal). From 1902 through 1916 a No. 5 (15 gal) was added. The cost of a 10 gallon Union churn from the Sears catalog was $4.75 in 1896 and climbed to $6.30 in the fall of 1916. Why the catalog does not list a No. 4 and why this butter churn is so large and has four legs is a mystery. Montgomery Ward also listed the Improved Union Churn in their early catalogs.
On the lid of the churn above the manufacturer is now listed as The American Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio. The American Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company was incorporated in 1902 under the direction of a former employee of the Union Manufacturing Company. The stenciling on the end of the churn now boasts of first place premiums won at the state fairs of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and California. We have also seen Improved Union churns that were manufactured by The LaFayette Wagon Company of LaFayette, Indiana and the Grand Detour Wagon Company of Dixon, Illinois. In addition to the Union churn, The American Wooden Ware Manufacturing Company also made a butter churn called the American Churn (picture).
Advertisements for the Union churn often made references to the Cream Witch. This showed how making butter was not an exact science and many times the cream did not churn properly. Many factors affected how well the cream churned into butter although none involved a witch. These factors were not well understood at the time and churn manufacturers did their best to convince users that it was the churn itself that made the difference (or conquered the Cream Witch). In reality many other factors such as the temperature of the cream, the fat content of the cream, the acidity of the cream and the speed of churning had an influence also. 
This is an Elmer's Double Acting Churn made by the A.W. Richards and Co. of East Rochester, New Hampshire. This churn was patented by John and Edwin Elmer of Buckland, Massachusetts on June 29, 1880 and specifically covered the gearing for the butter churn. It was called double acting because the gears could be rearranged to run the churn at a slow or very rapid speed. The gears drove a pair of paddles that intermeshed with each other as they turned. The motion is very similar to a supercharger on an automobile engine. They were advertised in sizes from 4 to 12 gallons. 
This is a 3 gallon New Style White Cedar Cylinder churn. This style of cylinder churn was one of the earlier churns. We have seen it advertised as early as 1844. At that time it was referred to as Kendall's Churn or Kendall's Patented Churn. We have been unable to locate a patent if one was granted. Around that time they were advertised in five sizes, starting at 3 gallons and ranging in price from $2.00 to $4.50.
Sears, Roebuck and Company also sold this butter churn for many years. In 1896 this style of butter churn in the 3 gallon size cost $1.50 in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. By 1908 the price had risen to $1.98 and in the 1920's and 30's it was priced between three and four dollars. They were still sold in the 1946 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog with a Farm Master label for $4.98. They did not appear in the 1946-47 Sears catalog. They were available from Sears in 3, 4, 7 and 10 gallon sizes in the early years but in 1941 Sears dropped the 7 and 10 gallon size. In the 1945-46 Sears catalog the four gallon size was also dropped and only the three gallon churn was sold. The three gallon size was the most common size sold over the years.
Montgomery Ward also sold Cedar Cylinder churns. The 3, 4, 7 and 10 gallon sizes appeared in the 1894-95 catalog with the 3 gallon selling for $1.50. They still were sold in the 1947 catalog but only in the 3 gallon size priced at $6.45.
This was a very popular style of butter churn in the last half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century as proven by 100 years of sales. 
These two churns are common dash butter churns. The churn on the left is a three gallon size. In 1896 a butter churn like this sold for 56 cents in the Sears, Roebuck and Company catalog. By 1900 the price was even better, only 53 cents but by 1908 they no longer appeared in the catalog. Sears, Roebuck and Company also sold them in 4, 5 and 6 gallon sizes.
Most towns had a cooper or barrel maker that made this style of butter churn. The better quality butter churns would have the staves tongue and grooved to prevent leakage. The lids were often sunken below the upper ends of the staves so if cream splashed out on top of the lid it could not run down the side of the butter churn. The bands could be flat steel or brass, round wire or even reeds. Ash and cedar were common woods used for these butter churns.
The Standard Churn Company of Wapakoneta, Ohio manufactured this style of butter churn in 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12 gallon sizes. The butter churn on the right is an example of one of their 5 gallon dash churns. The M. Brown & Company, also of Wapakoneta, Ohio and the Buckeye Churn Company of Sidney, Ohio also manufactured wooden dash churns. All these companies advertised that they made there dash churns out of white ash.
This style of churn was very popular on small dairies with a few cows as well as in larger creameries. They could be banked together so that many churns could be operated at once by an external power source like a gas or steam engine or even a water wheel (picture).
Click here to go to the page with tin dash butter churns. 
We have seen the churn pictured above labeled various ways. One style said Funk's Folding Dash Churn. It was made by the Champion Churn Company of Toledo, Ohio. The other style was marked E. H. Funk's Champion Churn. It was manufactured by the Champion Churn Works located at East End Chicago Str. in Sturgis, Michigan. The patent date was listed as Sept. 1868 on this second version. The original color would have been red. This patent was granted to Elliot Funk of Newark, Ohio on September 15, 1868 and it specifically covered the dasher mechanism. The motion of the dasher was up and down but a lever was used to give a mechanical advantage.
The dasher on this butter churn was unique. There were two fixed break-boards and two folding wings. On the down stroke the wings folded shut to increase the force on the cream (picture). As the cream was forced through the holes in the folding wings it struck the break-boards causing the fat globules to break apart. On the up stroke the wings swung open to let the dasher move through the cream more easily (picture). We often see these butter churns with the handle installed backwards. The dasher will be on the end of the handle and the pivot point in the middle but in fact the way it is shown in the picture is the way it was drawn in the patent papers.
We have also seen this style of churn stenciled as C. L. Bottum's Excelsior Churn. It had a February 24, 1863 patent date which was granted to C. L. Bottums of Dansville, New York. We also have seen this style of butter churn labeled as The Celebrated Churn. That particular butter churn was also marked For Sale by A. M. Lewellen & Co. Rosendale, Mo. and had a January 30, 1883 patent date. That patent was granted to Conrad Berst of Princeton, Missouri. The patents for these churns dealt with the design of the dasher and not the churn itself so that is why so many similar churns could have unique patents.
Elliot Funk later patented a square, rotary crank butter churn on September 23, 1884 but we have never come across that churn. 
This is a Modern Churn made in St. Mary's, Ohio by the Easy Wash Machine Company. The first thing you notice about this churn is the way the dasher shaft enters the churn. On most wood butter churns the dasher shaft passes through the end wall of the churn where leakage can be a problem. On this butter churn the dasher shaft runs on a beveled gear and enters the churn at 45 degree angle through the edge of the lid, eliminating any leakage problems. This is 5 gallon size. These churns also came in a 4, 6 and 7 gallon size. The churn pictured above does not have a patent date on it but some of these churns are marked with a patent date of October 23, 1900. This patent was issued to William Johnston and Evertt McDonald of Buckland, Ohio. Although the patent papers show a slightly different gearing system the basic design of the dashers entering the churn at a 45 degree angle and running off a bevel gear is essentially the same.
Thanks Annie for your information on this churn. 
The butter churn pictured above is stamped SPAIN’S IMPROVED. It is a size 1 which measures out to around 4 gallons. This probably was one of the smaller sizes. An 1883 advertisement mentioned seven sizes. The churn consists of a small barrel or keg that sits on its side resting in a sawbuck type stand. There are paddles inside of the churn and a square, metal lined opening at the top. One of the unique things about this churn is that the paddles were designed so that they could be removed through the opening at the top without having to break them down into pieces. This made cleaning very easy. This was important since one of the main competing butter churns of the time was the revolving barrel churn which had a large opening and no paddles making it very simple to clean.
The history of Spain’s churn goes back very early. An E. Spain was granted one of the earliest butter churn patents on April 23, 1828. Remember patents only first started in 1790 and this was probably one of the first ten butter churn patents. The design was for a similar barrel type churn with paddles and a hinged lid. The barrel in the drawings was more of an oval shape rather than round however. Unfortunately only the drawing exists for this patent and the specifications were lost so we don’t know for sure where this E. Spain was from or what his first name was.
On May 16, 1848 an Edward Spain of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania patented a butter churn that was externally identical to the churn pictured above, just the paddle design was different. In the patent Spain claims that the dashers can be removed from and replaced in the churn through the square opening in one whole piece. Spain actually received an extension on this patent on April 30, 1862. Edward Spain was granted a second patent for improvements to this churn on September 29, 1868. In that patent he describes dasher paddles that are inclined and have perforations in them to better agitate the cream.
At some point the company of Clement & Dunbar of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania took over the manufacture of these churns. Clement & Dunbar was a large cedar ware manufacturer and in addition to butter churns also made ice cream freezers. These churns were advertised as being made of white cedar with galvanized hoops. The churn pictured above was stamped with two patent dates, both of which were assigned to Clement & Dunbar. The first was issued to Watson Twining, also from Philadelphia, for the design of metal journals mounted to the ends of the churn to ease replacing the paddles in the churn. That patent was dated February 27, 1872. The second patent was granted on October 17, 1882 and the inventor was John Dunbar of Philadelphia. This patent dealt with improvements in the dasher design. The dasher had four paddles but two were placed near the outside edge of the churn and inclined forward and the other two were near the center of the churn and inclined backwards. In addition one of the paddles had a concave curve on the edge while the opposite paddle had a convex curve. This dasher was designed to churn the cream more completely while at the same time still being able to be removed in whole from as small an opening in the churn as possible.
Spain’s Churn was sold for many years. An 1878 advertisement from Clement & Dunbar mentioned that this churn had been in use for over 25 years. We have seen advertisements as late as 1903 still advertising the churn for sale. At that time they were sold by the Dairymen’s Supply Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania under the Bestov trademark.
Clement & Dunbar also sold an oval shaped bucket churn with vertical staves called the Star churn. It was advertised in 5 sizes and was also made of white cedar with galvanized hoops. 
The butter churn shown above was called an Oval Churn. It was sold by The Oval Churn Company of Goshen, Indiana. This one is a 6 gallon size but they were also sold in a 4, 8, 10 and 12 gallon size. A six gallon size sold for 4 dollars in the late 1800's. An advertisement stated that in 1880 only 870 of these churns were sold but in 1881 the number sold increased to upwards of 12,000. Obviously the name comes from the oval shape of the wood staved bucket that forms the churn tub. The Oval Churn Company advertised these as the best, cheapest, simplest and most durable churn on the market. They claimed that it would churn easier and quicker than any churn on the market as well as produce more butter of unsurpassed quality from the same quantity of cream in less time than any other churn.
A patent was granted to George Cline and Joseph Gallagher on August 28, 1877 for this churn. They were also from Goshen, Indiana. The patent papers discussed the unique shape of the dashers which are shown in the picture. It appears the design in the patent papers was changed slightly for the churns that were sold. |
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