Sold: Patent Milker

Salesman sample handheld patent device for milking cows / wood and rubber / c. 1870s

“The Elastic India-Rubber Cow Milker” was advertised as “One of the Most Needed and Useful Labor Saving Implements ever Manufactured and Sold.” Though manufacturers Roth & Son of Mummasburg, Pennsylvania dubbed it an “Automatic Milker,” it was in fact a hand-operated device. The manual milker distanced the hand of the farm worker from the cow’s teat by several inches but essentially required the same action as milking the cow directly. 

Once the cow’s teat was placed in the rubber-cushioned opening at the end of the device, the milker would grip the two handholds the other end and alternately apply and alleviate pressure to milk the animal. Given the fragile invention required the same basic manual actions and hand position as milking a cow by hand, it does not seem likely it saved the dairy farmer much effort nor provided “Cleanliness and Efficiency” on a working farm for long.

A remarkable survivor, the advertising broadside is professionally framed in a period black-painted frame.

Measurements

Milker
7 inches long
4 inches deep
3 inches wide

Broadside
14 inches tall
8 5/8 inches wide

Condition

Good condition. Apparently only used as a salesman sample.

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