Flour sifter

Flour sifter

A light sheet iron cylinder about six inches in diameter, open at the top, containing a hemispherical screen on the bottom, and a curved metal scraper that could be moved across the top side of the screen by turning a crank. While not listed in cookbooks as a prime reason for sifting, an important function of the sifter was to screen out weevils, which tended to be found in the flour after it had been stored for a time.