WORKING THE BUTTER 351 



the churn is not always due to there being more butter in the 

 churn than its rated capacity under normal conditions can 

 properly take care of. Frequently it is caused by the fact that, 

 when renewing the workers, a larger diameter worker is fur- 

 nished and installed. Since the distance between the centers 

 of the worker shafts remains the same, regardless of size of 

 worker, the installation of the larger diameter workers leaves 

 less space between workers, so that the butter of a churning 

 of normal size cannot all go through the workers and the effect 

 is obviously the same as if the churn with workers of proper 

 size had been overloaded. When replacing old churn rollers 

 by new ones, great care should, therefore, be taken that the 

 new workers are of the proper size. 



Of late years manufacturers of churns that contain more 

 than one worker, have endeavored to overcome the tendency 

 of the butter to crowd toward the ends, by installing at the 

 top and bottom in the center of the churn, a so-called "center- 

 board." The centerboard is a heavy cypress board, about 24 

 to 36 inches long, running lengthwise, with one edge lying 

 against the churn drum and the other edge pointing radially 

 toward the center. This board is braced on its sides by heavy 

 wooden braces. 



The evident purpose of these centerboards is to give the 

 butter more contact and therefore more stability to stay in the 

 center (between churn ends) and thereby offset the adhesion 

 at the ends which otherwise pulls the butter away from the 

 center. The center board also helps to hold the butter over 

 the workers and to prevent it from dropping over the outside 

 of the workers without, being worked. Practical experience 

 shows that the centerboards do effectively help to prevent the 

 crowding of the butter toward the ends. But, if the churn is 

 really overloaded, so that the butter cannot all pass through 

 the workers, a portion of it is bound to escape the workers and 

 if it cannot crowd toward the ends it must inevitably fall off 

 the workers over their whole length. 



One of the most fundamental causes of the tendency in 

 American creameries to overload the workers, lies in the fact 

 that the listed working capacity of the majority of combined 

 churns and workers on the market and in use is greatly over- 



