US Patent No. 122,075: What an improved butter churn reveals about A.T. Still, DO

Publications Category : Medicine and Society

Author(s): Daryl Callahan, Jeremy Bigham

Project Description : A.T. Still, DO, had a habit of looking for a better way. Usually, his concern was finding a better way to treat injury and illness, but his interests went beyond improving the practice of medicine. He grew impatient with squandering his precious time, skill and energy on mundane chores. Always fascinated with machinery and engineering, he shared his mother’s knack for fixing things and, since childhood, was a tinkerer. As an adult, this casual interest grew into something more serious. As our profession recognizes Dr. Still’s birthday on Aug. 6, below is an exploration of what a patent for an improved butter churn tells us about the founder of osteopathic medicine.