Highlights From Our Collection - January 2011

“McCormick-Deering” Cream Separator
International Harvester Co.
Chicago, IL, ca. 1930-1940

A cream separator is a device used to separate cream from milk. Milk and cream separation was common on many farms years ago. Most farmers milked a few cows, usually by hand, and separated milk. Some of the skim milk was consumed - the rest was used to feed the calves and pigs. Enough cream was saved to make butter and the excess cream was sold to provide much needed income for many families.

This manually driven cream separator worked by using centrifugal force. When it spins, the milk, which is heaviest, is pulled outward against the walls and the cream, which is lighter, is collected in the middle. The cream and milk then flow out of separate spouts. Some floor-model cream separators were built with a swinging platform attached to the stand. This was used to put the bucket for the cream on, and a much larger bucket was set on the floor for the milk to flow into. Some floor-model separators had two swinging platforms. Smaller versions of separators were called table-top models, and were more for small dairies with only a few cows or goats.

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