HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 19 



farmers skimmed their cream on the farm, usually by the use 

 of shallow pans, but later by setting the milk in deep-setting 

 cans, set in water, and this cream was taken to the creamery. 



The Influence of the Centrifugal Cream Separator. With 

 the advent of the centrifugal separator in the early nineties, 

 originally invented by the German Engineer, Wilhelm Le Feldt, 

 in 1872 and improved and made continuous by the Swedish 

 Engineer, Dr. Gustav De Laval, and others after the year 1878, 

 and first introduced in this country during the years 1885 to 

 1890, the creameries installed power separators and the cream- 

 ing on the farm temporarily fell in disfavor. The farmers again 

 hauled their milk to the creamery where it was skimmed by 

 the centrifugal separator and they took back the skimmilk. 

 Many creameries, in order to draw their supply from a larger 

 radius of territory, established skimming stations in various 

 places to which the farmers within hauling distance brought 

 their milk. The milk was skimmed, the crea'm hauled or ship- 

 ped to the central creamery and the skimmilk was taken back 

 to the farm. Inasmuch as these skimming stations served ex- 

 clusively to separate the milk and were not intended for ripen- 

 ing and churning of cream and packing of butter, they required 

 but a small initial investment. Only a small building and only 

 part of the machinery essential for a creamery were needed. The 

 cost of the skimming station was therefore much less than that 

 of a complete creamery. An investment of $250 to $500 for the 

 building and of $600 to $900 for equipment was all that was 

 necessary. Thus the perfection of the centrifugal separator gave 

 birth to the whole milk, creamery system. Under this system 

 the buttermaking industry made rapid progress and the quality 

 of the product showed marked improvement. 



In the early nineties of the 19th century the development 

 of the centrifugal separator, first, successfully manufactured by 

 Dr. De Laval in 1886, had reached the stage where it could be 

 adapted to practical use on the farm. Dr. De Laval was the 

 first to successfully devise and manufacture hand separators 

 applicable to farm use. Its introduction on the farms was 

 slow at first, but, in the course of a decade, it made rapid prog- 

 ress, especially in the Middle Western States. The advent of 



