From the estate of Armand Matz (1914-2006) father of Barbara (Mrs. Edward) Roesler; lifelong resident farmer in St. Mary Township close to Loon Lake. The cream separator was first used in the United States in 1879. At first it was powered by steam and soon by hand, which altered dairying dramatically. Prior to the development of the cream separator, separating cream from milk was done by placing milk in shallow pans and allowing the cream to rise to the top. The cream was skimmed off and processed, and the skimmed milk was fed to hogs or calves. In using the new cream separator, milk was fed into a bowl traveling at 6,000-7,000 rpms. The heavy particles found in the milk, usually manure or flies, were thrown at the top part of the bowl followed by the lighter particles of butterfat. The butterfat escaped through a tube while the skimmed milk below flowed out through another tube. With the introduction of the hand separator by Carl Gustaf De Laval of Sweden, dairymen could separate cream from milk at home rather than taking it to the creamery or separator stations.
