This roller mill was made by Great Western Manufacturing in Leavenworth, Kansas. The dates on the drawings for this machine are dated 1903. This unit is a 6-20, meaning that the rollers are six inches in diameter and twenty inches long.

The grain enters the mill at the top, where the feed rate is regulated before it pours down onto the rollers. The rollers are in pairs, turning such that they pull the wheat downward in between them. The rollers rotate at different speeds, which has the effect of tearing apart the kernels of grain.

Mills of this type were originally met with scepticism by millers who had for generations used stones to reduce grain to flour. However, it was eventually learned that the roller mill is less labor intensive and is more economical.

The original building from which this mill came was a multi-level structure. Grain was elevated to the uppermost level, where it was fed into the roller mills. The grain was fed through a series of mills until it reached a lower level. There, the flour was sifted, with the sufficiently fine product being sent out for shipment, while the coarser product was sent back to the top for another trip through the mill.

Originally, this mill was driven from a line shaft that was on the level below the mill. The drive belt went straight down through the floor.

Setting up the mill in an original configuration is not practical for us. We have no elevators, no multi-story buildings and no lineshaft. The first hurdle was to build a stand that would allow us to collect the flour as it poured out the bottom of the mill. For this, we built a stand that would raise the mill sufficiently to accomodate a five gallon bucket underneath.

Another hurdle was devising a drive mechanism. We decided upon the addition of an idler pulley that would allow us to redirect the belt off to the side, rather than straight down.

The finished display is powered by our 7½ horsepower Allan Brothers. This works out nicely because the Allan Brothers runs slowly enough that we can run the mill directly off the engine. A better setup would include a larger pulley to provide sufficient belt friction, a slower running pulley to run the mill at the proper speed, and added horsepower. As it is, we have to be careful about feeding the grain too fast and overloading the system.

These modifications would add a degree of complexity that would be impractical. As the display currently sits, it can produce more than enough flour for mobs of spectators and hordes of hungry enginemen.