WOMEN'S HISTORY: Newtown Doctor Invented "Labor Saving Butter Worker"

NEWTOWN, PA — Just in case you missed this Facebook posting from the Mercer Museum, we wanted to share it with the community in celebration of Women's History Month.

Dr. Lettie Ann Smith (December 11, 1816 - June 21, 1912) was an American inventor and the one of the first female doctors in Newtown, Bucks County. Patent certificates held by the Bucks County Historical Society document Lettie’s invention, the “labor saving butter worker."

Dr. Lettie Smith was Newtown’s first female doctor, a women’s rights advocate, an active member of the Newtown Friends community, and inventor of the Butter Worker, according to the museum.

Smith’s Butter Worker improved on a traditional butter churn in several ways: an ice drawer underneath the butter tray helped to cool and coagulate the butter, a paddle allowed the user to work the butter horizontally as well as vertically in the tray, the tray tipped forward to drain water and other impurities through a small spout, and, lastly, there was a scale on top of the machine that weighed the final product.

Lettie Smith's "Labour Saving Butter Worker." (Mercer Museum)

On August 23, 1853, patent certificate 9959 was written out to Lettie A. Smith of Pineville for her “improvement in butter makers”.

In addition to the certificate is a labeled drawing depicting the butter worker and how the components functioned. Although none of her butter workers survive today, a miniature salesman’s sample showing her invention is on permanent display in the Butter and Cheese Making exhibit on the second floor of the Mercer Museum in Doylestown.

Visit the Mercer Museum to see this and many other incredible artifacts. More information about visiting can be found at mercermuseum.org/buytickets.