The Smutter, mark II

Help needed with research .... When we were first restoring Crabble, and becoming more familiar with the intricacy of it's ingenious automation, some people thought the Mill could have been designed in the style of Oliver Evans, an inventive genius of the American Industrial Revolution.

OK, so we now know it's not an "Olly Evans Mill" and I lied about Crabble Mill being the "fully" operable!! However, most of the equipment is operable and it's a magical experience to see it, to sense it and be 'in amongst it' when it's all whirring and turning. The Mill represents 'hi-tec' of the 1800's, it is state-of-the-art of that period. If our governor system could be likened to Windows XP (or whatever the new version is going to be), then the Eureka Smut & Separating Machine (Mark II) has to be the best spam filter or virus protection of it's time! We need it restored back to working condition. It's located on Level 6, the top floor.

Our Eureka was manufactured by Howes, Babcock & Co. of Silver Creek, New York in (or near) 1874. It's serial number is 10149. So far, we've discovered the same company is still in business now called S. Howes Inc. and is still manufacturing grain cleaning equipment. In fact, you can buy a new ‘Eureka Scourer, although it won'’t look anything like the 19th Century version.

This company has extensive business records dating back to their beginnings in 1865. They made tens of thousands of these machines and shipped them all over the world, so there could be other examples in the UK, hard to find and probably not operable. When I contacted them directly I received a reply ....

"we tried to look up drawing/PO for that machine. Our records are good till about 1890 .... we are having a hard time doing some research for you."

With the Eureka being an American invention, we've had interesting dialogue with friends and colleagues in the States and Canada. This is where I/we need the help of someone to take-up this cause. We need more exact plans and, perhaps the advice on methodology to do effective restoration of this unique piece of 'kit', someone to research and liaise on our behalf.

There is a very active community of mill enthusiasts in the United States and the best point of contact would be the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills. Their web site includes a discussion board. Apparently the Eureka machine was common to many mills in the States.

Paul Jarvis, one of our Founder Trustees managed to gain 3 pages of outline sketch drawings and description of the Eureka Smutter installed at the Fischer Windmill, Illinois. I've scanned them and can fwd to anyone interested in helping out with this.

Another example is at Goblintown Creek Grist Mill, Virginia although it's a different model Eureka and doesn't appear to be fully restored. I'm sure there are more fine examples yet to be rediscovered.

The best restored example I can find is at Thomas Mill, Wilmington DE. Patrick Harshbarger has sent me some fantastic pictures of their wonderful work there. These are very useful for us to reference BUT, it's a different model to our Mark II version, and there are a few significant differences.

Question: Who will help with this smutty business? When will our story to come clean?? What will it take for us to upgrade???