Sacrament Tray Filler

I visited a ward the other day and noticed they had a device to fill all of the sacrament cups full of water at the same time. I have looked on the lds catalog and had no luck at finding this device. Where can I find this water tray filler????

I'd bet it was "homemade". I've never seen such a device the the buildings I have attended (both new and quite old).

The trays used for water are not unique to the Church, there are variations made for other churches as well, some are very similar if not the same. That means that in other places it is possible that someone has come up with a device for use in those other situations and someone happened to stumble across it somewhere.

We've also gone through some variations, but usually each tray can hold about 30-40 cups, some have been plastic and those were a little smaller, the last I saw of the round water trays was in the late 80s, and some of those and the rectangular ones had places to drop the cups into (either side of the handle).

Paper cups were common until about ten years ago. Now the small plastic ones are used, and in my ward we found a way to mitigate the sound when one is dropped back into the tray holder, you take a paper towel from the dispenser in the room you prepare the sacrament in although not all rooms will have one, tear it in half down the middle, and lay the halves in the bottom of the tray. Also makes it easy for cleanup as well after the meeting.

30 years ago when I was a Priest, we had such a device. It hooked to the water faucet, and had a valve/lever which would open up streams over all of the cups at once. Haven't seen anything lately, though.

Frankly, it turned out to be more of a hassle than it saved. The connection to the faucet would often come loose (and spray water everywhere!); if you didn't have the tray sitting just right, it would leak into the bottom of the tray. Plus it didn't really save time.

After a couple of weeks it got relegated to a permanent place under the sink, and we went back to filling the trays manually. By lifting out the top part (which holds the cups), I used to be able to move the tray under the water stream, filling the cups to just the right amount, and then shaking the tray to get rid of the water in between the cups...

-- Steven

I guess we will continue the way we are doing it, thanks for your help!!

Our ward has one- I'll look at it next time I'm over there and see if it has a label. It's a rectangular dish on a pivot, so that you fill it with water, and then tip it on the pivot to drain water out holes that are spaced to match the cups in the tray. Works slick! It's possible that this one is 30+ yrs old, because it was there (or one virtually identical) when I was a deacon that long ago.

I'd like a device that would automatically insert the cups into the tray.

knuteream wrote:Our ward has one- I'll look at it next time I'm over there and see if it has a label. It's a rectangular dish on a pivot, so that you fill it with water, and then tip it on the pivot to drain water out holes that are spaced to match the cups in the tray. Works slick! It's possible that this one is 30+ yrs old, because it was there (or one virtually identical) when I was a deacon that long ago.

We had a similar one when I was growing up in California. I would love to buy one for our ward. Did you find out a brand name or is there a sticker or stock number of any kind?

I have been preparing sacrament trays for years. I have never seen anything like this. If anyone tracks it down or figures out how to make one let's schedule a group conference call to discuss the "how to's".

Our ward had one back in the 80's when I was a YM. Worked great and filled the tray in seconds.

Anyone have luck locating the manufacturer tag or sticker. Would love to get one for our AP boys.

I photographed the one I saw a couple years back. My googling turned up nothing but a trophy shop in West Valley and lofts for sale in the former MFG building.

This contraption is in Burbank, CA in the Sunset Grove building sacrament prep room. It is still used weekly AFAIK.

I've seen a device that hooks to the faucet, but never used one.

I found we could fill them pretty quickly just taking the top off the trays and running them under the water. It didn't take too long. You can google "communion cup filler" and see what's out there. It looks like many churches use a squeeze bottle, but I did see one device that would fill a round communion tray. It's been a long time since I've seen a round tray at an LDS church, but I've seen them once or twice in my life...nothing recent.

mevans wrote:You can google "communion cup filler" and see what's out there. It looks like many churches use a squeeze bottle, but I did see one device that would fill a round communion tray.

Looking through these makes me glad that we use water instead of wine – makes a lot less of a mess and we don't have to be super worried about wasting any that runs off into the sink...

Our ward uses a great one.....the YM

We had one at the building I went to in Fairfield California. It connected to the faucet and would fill one half of the tray at a time. It didn't spray water everyone like someone described above; it was very reliable.

I'm trying to track one down. Seriously, does ANYONE know where to find one?
The ward I'm in now passes around twelve trays for the sacrament, and we could really use one.

Has anyone tried contacting the inventor, John U. Webster, at the address shown in the photo?

The one you describe is called Quick-Fill Water Tray Filler . It was invented and produced by Elmer L. PERRY of Lagrande OR 97850.

I was at a ward a couple of weeks ago where they had solid white plastic sacrament cups – thick enough to be reusable. Has anyone else seen those? It was unexpected. At Store.LDS.org all I see is the clear plastic cups.

sbradshaw wrote:I was at a ward a couple of weeks ago where they had solid white plastic sacrament cups – thick enough to be reusable.

Are they reusing them? If so, how do they clean them?

Not sure. It was a ward in Idaho I was visiting.

Can anyone tell what was used for Sacrament service for the water before the current plastic or paper cups. I'm wondering if the church ever used a wooden tray with glass cups. & if so what was the mating bread tray?

This is what the one my ward in California had back in the '80s looked like:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3811604

Our ward had one when I was in Ym. I’ve been looking to get some for our ward now but can’t find them. I remember what it looked like so I may just build one

kurtjensen wrote:Our ward had one when I was in Ym. I’ve been looking to get some for our ward now but can’t find them. I remember what it looked like so I may just build one

Depending on your climate and such, please be careful of mold growth in the tubing and around the orifices. Mold can make at least some people pretty sick.

This device was developed by my state patriarch when I was a very young boy. He actually had it patented until 2011 when it expired. It is a device that hooks directly to the faucet and then has a lever on top you place the tray inside the device and you fill up one side at a time flipping around and you fill up the other. It actually is a very ingenious device and from my experience using it as a youth, it did save a significant amount of time for us. That being said the man who invented this device which has been used in many Western areas of the United states, was in our Ward and hook the unit up himself. It stayed permanently connected to the faucet so we didn't have any issues but we were able to detach it as we cleaned it on a routine basis. Hopefully this helps, I know this is an old thread but maybe someone will look for it and gain a little bit of insight.