Mixer
Category
Metalwork
Date
1920 - 1927
Materials
Metal
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Branscombe Old Bakery, Weston, Devon
NT 200539
Caption
This mixer helped make life easier for the Colliers, up until 1946 they had done all the mixing of the dough by hand.
Summary
Large dough mixer and bowl. Possibly imported but believed likely to have been produced by Albert William Dumbrill who established a firm to produce bakery equipment in south London in 1920. This type of dough mixer was originally designed c.1900 by Wilhlem Pott of Aachen and built by his firm, Rothe Erde Maschinenfabrik. By 1907 the Dutch firm Nieulant Pelckman were producing his machine for Dutch and Belgian bakeries. Pott revised the design of the upper half of the kneading arm with a 'slotted link portion' and roller bearing, which meant smoother, more efficient running. The example at Branscombe has the older style of upper arm, pre 1927, indicating that this would have been bought second hand. By 1930 Dumbrill were producing their dough mixers in sizes 2-6 according to capacity. Capacity was related to sacks of flour, each of which would have weighed 280Ibs (approx.127kg). The Dumbrill size 4 was a 'one sack' mixer that would accommodate a maximum of 280Ibs in one mix. The Branscombe example is likely to be this size, one which was suited to many village bakeries. Before World War Two (1939-42) dough mixers in British bakeries were often powered by stationary engines, so the Branscombe machine may have been modernised with the fitting of an electric motor. Believed to be the only surviving Dumbrill in the UK to have the pre-1927 kneading arm.
Bibliographic description
Information provided by S Burden.