In the mills's early years, wheat was brought to the mill by horse and wagon in bags and was left at the mill until the milling was finished.

Bags of wheat were unloaded on the main floor, weighed, and then dropped down a chute to a bin in the basement. Stored wheat was sent to the second floor. Wheat made into flour was elevated from the receiving bin in the basement to the main floor . A wheat cleaner in the basement used screens to remove straw, stones and other debris.

The wheat was elevated to large bins on the second floor directly above the millstones. A slide was opened at the bottom of the bin and the wheat dropped down a spout to the hopper of the millstone.

Another Stover Mill in Erwinna, PA along River Road at the Delaware River is similar in design to the mill in Pipersville. This mill has the sifting equipment in place, Though many of the silk fabrics are damaged.		A wooden structure supports the sifting reels and allows them to turn (on the third floor of the Stover Mill in Erwinna, PA).

This wooden flour sifting machine on the third floor is made of pulleys, wheel, sprockets, belts and chains. The main wooden wheels are about eight feet long and 2 feet in diameter. The three sections of the machine were covered with silk of different gauges (tightness of the fabric weave).

Here a view into the reel box allow us to see the silk in place (off-white color) on some reels.

Ground wheat would pass through the reels as they turned and flour would pass through the fine section. Middlings or low grade flour came through a coarser section. The bran or outside shell of the wheat was sent through the last section. The grain products were moved along until they came out of a spout. Later, during the roller mill period, gyrators were used to sift the flour. In the mill the gyrator system can still be seen.

The products were sent down separate chutes to the second floor and stored in bins.

CATTLE FEED

Grinding corn and other grain for cattle was a much simpler process than making flour.

Corn cobs were pulled up to the third floor using a hoist.		A rope was suspended from the front of the mill roof and using ropes, the corn was taken from the wagon in bags to the third floor door.

 

The corn was dropped in the cob crusher. It was crushed into small enough pieces to go through the millstones		The product was then bagged for use as animal feed.