Maryland Historical Society finally identifies 100-year-old mystery machine

Historians from a small town in Maryland were recently stunned by a 100-year-old mysterious thing stored in their archives for almost thirty years. After turning to the public for help, the Dorchester County Historical Society has finally discovered the strange machine’s original purpose.

According to WBOC on October 29, the Dorchester County Historical Society in Cambridge, Maryland, had spent weeks trying to determine what the “Neild Museum Gadget” was originally designed for. Although it shows obvious signs of age, the tool still works and consists of two horizontal rotating pins (one of which has pins) installed on a ceramic countertop. It appears that the machine was originally operated by hand, but archivists note that a motor system was later added to help automate the task – whatever it was.

*The two rollers are mounted on top of a ceramic counter. Credit: Dorchester County Historical Society*

WBOC notes that a “similar device” was donated to DCHS in the 1990s by a fellow historical society in Delaware, although the accompanying documentation does not contain any photos positively matching the machine. After asking the public to participate last month, Facebook Commenters offered a number of theories for the device, including a clothes wringer, a tanner, a planographic press for lithographs, and even a meat tenderizer. However, according to DCHS Director Zoe Phillips, the machine appeared to have a very local origin.

“We possibly think it was a cookie-cutter from Maryland, made by a man who was trying to help his aunt with (her) business,” Phillips told WBOC. “The belief is that this would have helped knock the air out of the dough when the cookies were made.”

On Nov. 1, Phillips said Dorchester County could finally close the case: the machine is essentially a mechanically struck cookie maker.

“The man who transported it to our Society confirmed that it was the same machine he brought here from his previous home in 1992,” Phillips said in an email to Popular science.

A motor linked to the beaten cookie maker — *Although the machine itself is 100 years old, an engine has recently been attached to it. Credit: Dorchester County Historical Society*

While the exact origin of Maryland minted cookies Because time is still clouded, historians believe the baked goods came from plantations in the southern and eastern regions of the state. The cookies were probably developed as a solution to the lack of leavening agent used to lighten and soften the dough, and consisted of lard, flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. The first cookies were made on hardwood tree stumps and often involved beating the dough with the back of an ax – possibly an influence of the native culture’s approach to beating corn for various recipes. Beating cookies can be a time-consuming and tiring task, so a machine that simplified the process would have been a welcome solution for many bakers.

But now that the mystery has been solved, one question remains: who will be the first to taste a batch of whipped cookies made with the Neild Museum gadget?