A sunflower oil press machine is a device for extracting oil from sunflower seeds.

Fragrant and healthy sunflower oil was invented in the Belgorod region. In 1829, in the village of Alekseevka, Voronezh province (now Belgorod region), a serf Danila Semenovich Bokarev crafted a manual oil press from an ordinary oak stump to extract oil from sunflower seeds. In the small stump, the craftsman carved a through hole. At the bottom of the cutout, he hollowed out a cylindrical socket, into which portions of prepared sunflower seeds wrapped in clean burlap were placed. A wooden cylinder was made to fit the size of the socket, which was then placed on the sunflower seeds. By pressing two wedges, the cylinder was driven into the socket, and the wedges had to be hammered, hence the name of the process — oil pressing. There was a drainage hole at the bottom for the oil to flow out.

Bokarev’s first experiment in 1829 turned out successful: he obtained several buckets of excellent oil, which was quickly sold out at a high price. The following year, he began planting sunflowers “industrially, ” and his oil was again a great success.

The first oil press factory in history appeared in Alekseevka in 1833. It was built by merchant Papushin together with Bokarev. The factory operated on horse power: the driving force was provided by a horse, and the presses used were exclusively screw presses.

First, the seeds were dried in drying ovens, then hulled in shelling machines to separate the husk from the kernel, after which they were mechanically ground with hard stones in a special device. To achieve high crushing quality, the seed mass was periodically moistened with warm water. Then, the mass was roasted in cast-iron pans specially cast for oil presses. The workers continuously stirred the contents with wooden spatulas. The almost-ready-to-press mass was then dumped into a large box lined with a cloth cover. After that, the pressing process began: sunflower oil flowed out from under the press.

In 1834, Bokarev launched his own factory.

In 1860, about 120 oil pressing machines were operating in Alekseevka and the surrounding areas, producing a total of 900.000 poods of product, with sunflower oil exports alone exceeding 100.000 poods.

In 2005, a monument to Danila Bokarev was erected in Alekseevka.

Thanks to the invention of Danila Bokarev, Russia became the first country in the world to start industrial production of sunflower oil.