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Wood Butter Churns Page 4
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 (picture). 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. The legs were removable. This was an advantage for shipping as they could be placed inside the churn box to keep them from getting damaged and to make a smaller package. The pictured churn 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 (picture). 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 Ashfield and 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. This allowed the user to change the gearing as the butter formed and it became more difficult to crank the churn. The gears drove a pair of paddles that intermeshed with each other as they turned. The motion was very similar to a supercharger on an automobile engine. They were advertised in sizes from 4 to 12 gallons. 
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. It seems that Funk wanted to patent his complete churn but the commissioner of patents disagreed and determined that only the dasher design was able to be patented. 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. Bottum 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 Washing 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.
Although it may seem strange at first, it was common for companies that manufactured butter churns to also make washing machines. If you think about it, a washing machine and a butter churn have many elements in common. Both were water tight containers with a dasher or an agitator and in the early 1900's both were usually made of wood. Once a manufacturing plant was set up to make butter churns it took very little extra equipment, supplies and labor to also make washing machines.
Thanks Annie for your information on this churn. |
