We can now announce that the mystery object we had on our stall at Ifield May Fayre was an… Ice Cream Maker.
The machine probably from the late 19th to early 20th century was made by a Swedish company Husqvarna.
The company was established in 1689 as a weapons foundry and then subsequently expanded into kitchen equipment, gardening tools, construction equipment, sewing machines and motorcycles.
The space between the wooden outside bucked and the inter metal container was filled with crusted ice. The top can easily be removed to allow access to the inner metal drum where the liquid ice cream mixture to be poured in. Within the drum are wooden paddles to agitate the mixture.
The top is then replaced and using the handle then rotates the paddles mixing the liquid in a near freezing atmosphere to produce the semi solid ice cream.
This process should have taken around 20 to 30 minutes.
Thank you to all those who entered the competition to support Crawley Museum and Ifield Watermill and congratulations to the lucky winner who gets £10 to spend in the museum shop.
