AN ATMOSPHERIC CHURN.

Southland Times, Issue 947, 8 May 1868, Page 3

AN ATMOSPHERIC CHURN.

The " Queenslander " of a recent date-, has the following — :An American invention, we understand, has caused so much commotion amongst butter makers, that Mr A. J. Hocking's, of Brisbane, has been induced to introduce it to the Queensland public. At the request of that gentleman, who placed two of the churns at our disposal, t we have put them to several tests, with the following results :-^-The first tried was a three-gallon churn, made of tin, with water jacket for the purpose of raising or lowering the temperature of th 3 contents of the churn. Unskimmed milk, two hours from the cow, was tried first, and butter began to come from it in 18 minutes after it was put in the churn ; a sweet butter, but rather frothy and of a pale color, was made from the new milk in 35 minuted ; the milk left in the churn was quite sweet, and as good to the taste as much of the " new milk " sold to consumers. Milk 14 hours from the cow was tried next; it had a thick cream, and was just begining to turn sour ; butter began to come from this entire milk in 15 minutes, and was made as well as churn butter could be made in 7 minutes after ; the butter in this case was of a better' color and firmer than that from the new milk ; a splendid but-ter-milk was left in the churn. . -Cream was then tried, and from it butter began to come in five minutes, and was fully made in 12 minutes. The quality was all that could be expected from the best plunge churn after an hour's labor. A smaller-sized churn was tried afterwards, with pretty much the same results — if anything the time was in favor of the small article. The peculiarity of the atmospheric churn, which is in other respects exactly formed like the old-fash-ioned plunge, consists of a stopper and valve connected with, the handle, by which means the handle, which is a hollow cylinder, and the vacuum caused by raising the plunger, are filled with air eve : ry time the handle is raised. When the' plunger is sent down amongst the contents of the churn the valve closes, and the air is forced through the milk. Even with' a slow steady motion the commotion amongst the milk is consequently very great, and butter is separated and forms readily. With as quick motion as an orbinary plunge churn requires, the milk is beat into a froth, and butter can be formed in a few seconds. Of course, hastily made butter ia never good,, so in our report we stick to the result as achieved by the good motion — slow and sure. The result, in our estimation, places the atmospheric churn as the best thing of the kind ever introduced to butter makers. The motion of the churn aided as it is by the air introduced through the valve and plunger, is peculiarly easy. It would not distress a child to do all the manual labor connected with the entire operation of raising butter in the largest sized churn sent to us. The affair is as strong as any old-fashioned churn ; there are no complications about it. We may mention that neither hot nor cold water was used in. any of the experiments — the temperature of the milk and cream throughout being about 65 degrees Fahrenheit.