Dog-Powered Churn
The most common dog-powered machines of the 19th century were utilizing treadmills that our canine friends would walk on. But the ultimate purpose of the machine could vary widely. In the image above, the machine was a churn.
The February 1849 issue of the magazine The Genesee Farmer mentioned an 11-foot wheel that was being marketed for powering various machines that weren’t just for churning:
This power is applied to a circular saw, a lathe, and several other operations, such as churning, pumping and washing. It is said to be much superior to the old one so long in use for churning.
But the second half of the 19th century saw even more applications than that.
