Dog-powered Butter Churn Patent Model
Object Details
- Description
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- AG.58A05.13
- accession number
- 213356
- catalog number
- 58A05.13
- Object Name
- Churn, Dog Powered
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Agriculture and Natural Resources
- Work
- Agriculture
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_866786
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a6-ddbf-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
