Grist Mills in our Collection.

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12" Meadow Stone Burr Grist Mill

This mill is totally in pieces when we acquired it.  Restoration was started by someone over 25 years ago but the restorer left it sit when he sold his house and started cruising the world in his new sailboat.  When he sold his house he left it sitting in a shed at the back of the property.  The people he sold the house to were then moving and are trying to clean out all this old "junk" 25 years later.  The 2nd owner approached me at the June, 2000 SIAM Classic Iron show.  He showed me a picture of it and ask if I knew what it was and would I be interested in it.  I went with him to his house and found the mill still sitting in the shed where it had been for the past 25 years.  It appeared to be in reasonably good shape despite the fact that it was all apart. It look like most of the wood parts had been replaced but not drilled yet for any bolts.  We made a deal and loaded it up.  My daughter, Elizabeth, decided she wanted to restore it for entry in the 4-H Americana project at the 2002 Vanderburgh County fair.  Below is the picture story of the mill and the it's restoration.

Here are all the parts as they were when we aquired the mill.

The original weevil spout on th bottom and a reproduction on top.

The cast iron legs used to hold the grain hopper up. We could only find 3 and needed 4. More on this later.

The bracket that supports the off end of the sifter.

This was in the box of parts but we never did find out what they were used for. Someone suggested they may have been used on an old wagon.

The ground grain exits the mill through this spout.

Another view of the exit spout.

These pieces of wood form the shoot between the weevil spout and the stones where the grain travel.

The mechinizm used to control the speed in which the grain is fed into the mill.

Top view of the feed control mechinizm.

The grain hopper was located in the trash pile that the owner had made when he was cleaning out the shed.

It had been remade by the previous owner.

Here is the main shaft with the runner stone and drive pulley.

The stationary or "bed" stone.

This stone is cemented into the frame of the mill.

All the cement had to be removed from the stone and it had to be recemented into the new wood frame.

Here are some pictures of the mill as we attempted to figure out how it went together.

You can see the runner stone in the case of the mill.

Another view of the runner stone.

The main iron frame that holds the drive shaft in place.

The main timbers of the mill.

We had to replace the two bottom runners.

The main parts laid out to be cleaned with a pressure washer.

We had to re-replace a couple pieces of the wood case.

Some of the wood case pieces getting painted.

Elizabeth cleaned all the metal parts on the wire wheel.

We had to make two sheet metal parts. The piece that wrapped around the weevil spout and the piece that formed the shoot for the grain.

Elizabeth and her grandpa made these pieces in the sheet metal shop.

Some of the metal parts having just been painted black.

Elizabeth is cheiseling out holes for the heads of the bolts.

One of the most critical parts in restoring a mill like this is to get the stones alighned correctly.

We stood the mill on end. We cut a opening in a 1/4" piece of plywood the shape of the bed stone.

We used a plastic "Gaterade" bottle to keep the opening for the grain from being filled with cement.

We placed wax paper over the runner stone to keep cement off of it.

We placed the bed stone on the runner stone and then placed it's enclosuer over it.

We clamped it all together. We also placed a few screws around the case to keep the cement from falling out after it hardened.

We wanted to keep the cement about an inch back from the working edge of the stone. We stuffed some shipping bubble wrape in that space.

We also had to place a wooden block to keep the spout opening slot clear.

We mixed up a batch of concrete and poured it around the stone.

The concrete leveled.

We put the date and our initials in the wet cement.

The mill is starting to go back together.

Drilling holes to mount the feed adjuster.

Putting one of the many leg bolts in that hold the mill together.

The weevil spout with the feed adjuster in place.

Putting the weevil spout together.

Mounting the weevil spout to the mill.

We only had 3 legs and needed 4. The next few pictures show the casting process.

An original cast iron leg was used as a pattern. Foundry sand was packed arround it to make a sand mold.

The furnace set up used to melt the aluminum

The melted aluminum in the cast iron pot which is still in the furnace. Notice how hot the iron pot it.

Getting ready to lift the pot of molten aluminum from the furnace.

Pouring the excess aluminum into an ingot mold.

The new part just pulled from the sand mold

Not bad for a fist try.

Can you tell which is the new leg?......2nd from the right.

Mounting the legs to the hopper.

Mounting the hopper to the mill.

Getting close to done.

The completed mill and the Grand Champion ribbon that Elizabeth received for the restoration.

We still need to make and attach a sifter to the mill. We have one but it is too large for this small mill.

This is a bagger sacking elivator we picked up to put on the mill. It is a seldom seen accessory.

The shelf was added to place small paper bags under the spouts.

It is powered by a flat belt that runs off the main shaft of the mill.

There is a chane inside that drags the gound grain to the top.

The first outing for the mill.
May 2, 2003

The ATIS, Stationary Engine List put on an educational exhibit at the North Side Elementary School in Midway, Kentucky.
We were guests of Lincoln Tucker, a forth grader.  Over 400 kids got to see 18 different exhibits depicting the usage of stationary engines and how they made  easier for their owners in the early part of the last century.

Economy 9 H.P. Hit and Miss Kerosene engine built in 1914.

The box on the side of the water hopper is the gasoline starting tank. After warming up it would be switched to the main fuel tank for kerosene.

It is a half-base engine and would have originally been mounted on a wagon that was pulled by horses.

This is the first time we put the mill to use.

We still have a few bugs to work out of it but was VERY please with the way it operated.

We need to get the sifter hooked up to sift the meal.

We ran about 400 pounds of corn through the mill in the day and a half long show.

If you fed the corn pretty heavely it would really make the engine work.

Since the engine does not have a clutch pulley we rigged up an idler pulley to tighten the belt.

 


14" Williams Stone Burr Grist mill.

This mill needs it's wood replaced but is in otherwise good condition. 
The Williams mill company was purchased by the Meadows Mill Company in 1924.

 
24" Meadows Stone Burr Grist Mill

This is either a 22" or 24" Meadows mill. I'll have to measure again. 
Needs some wood restoration but generally in pretty good shape.
 

Meadow mill instructions and parts list.

 

Meadows mills sold through IHC

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