This is an example of a metal cream can that would have been familiar on many dairy farms prior to the invention of the mechanical cream separator in the 1880s. Before the separator, cream was made at home on the farm using simple inexpensive devices like the cream can. The basic cream can design involved letting milk sit in the container until the cream rose to the top, where it could be skimmed off by hand. Variants on this original design, such as the one featured in this picture, included a nozzle at the base and a small window along the side. The nozzle allowed the separated milk to drain on its own, while the window allowed the operator to observe how much milk was left.