2 BULLETIN 747, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
COMPARISON OF FUEL CONSUMPTION IN DIFFERENT 
CREAMERIES. 
Although several hundred creameries were reporting regularly to 
the Dairy Division, it was considered advisable to make a personal 
inspection of many of them to observe the condition of the ma- j 
chinery and the method of operation and also, so far as possible, to 
verify the reports submitted. Visits were made, therefore, to 360! 
creameries and special reports were made on the quantity of butter | 
made, the kind and amount of fuel, the size and type of boiler and its 
condition and method of firing, the size and condition of the engine, 
the condition of. the piping as well as of all the apparatus using 
steam, and the operation of the plant in general. 1 
Only 2Q6 of the- plants inspected used steam exclusively for both ' 
power and heating. Some used combinations of steam and elec- 
tricity or of steam and internal-combustion engines, while a consider- 
able number were operating mechanical refrigerating equipment. 
Many of the creameries also carried, on various side lines which 
necessitated the use. of power and fuel, and it was found impossible 
to determine how much was used for buttermaking and how much 
for other purposes. Consequently only the 206 plants which used 
steam exclusively for both power and heating are considered. 
The creameries visited represent all sizes from the smallest to the 
largest and in order to compare the fuel consumed for the different- 
sized plants they Avere grouped as indicated in Table 1. 
Before deciding, however, to use only those creameries covered by 
special reports in averaging the fuel consumption of different-sized 
plants, the- items of the fuel consumption of a large number of other 
creameries reporting regularly were tabulated and studied. As the 
averages thus obtained were very close to those shown in the special 
reports, it was decided to use only the latter as representative of the 
creameries throughout the United States. 
Table 1 shows a comparison of the fuel consumed per 1,000 pounds 
of butter made for different-sized creameries. 
Table 1. — Comparison of fuel used per 1,000 pounds of butter made in cream- 
eries grouped according to size. • 
Quantity of butter made annually. 
45,000 to 100,000 pounds. ... . 
100,000 to 200,000 pounds. . . 
200,0u0 to 300,000 pounds. . . 
300,000 to 400,000 pounds.. . 
400,000 to 1,000,000 pounds. 
Creameries 
reporting. 
Coal con- 
sumed per 
1,000 pounds 
of butter 
made. 
Pounds. 
1,540 
1,120 
800 
740 
520 
1 The creameries were visited and the data collected by O. A. Storvick and the tabula- 
tions* were made by T. R. Pirtle, both of the Dairy Division. 
