From RetroTech, the online museum of 20th century technology.
De Laval Corporation of Poughkeepsie, New York introduced a system for the automation of the diary in the 1920s including an internal combustion engine that drove a 2-hp generator that could be used to power milking machines, cream separators, butter churns, water heaters, and electric barn lights. On display in the museum is a
cream separator made by De Laval in 1948. Electrification of the dairy became widespread at the end of World War II, with the marketing of a variety of milkers, cream separators, and stainless steel milk handling equipment.
