Illustrated Catalogue Of Eclipse Pumping And Geared Windmills As Adapted To The Water Supply Of Farms, Dairies, Residences, And Other General Domestic Uses, And To The Grinding, Shelling, Sawing Wood, Threshing, Churning And Pumping Of General Farm Work, Etc. Manufactured Exclusively By Eclipse Wind Engine Co., Beloit, Wis. (Cover Title)

ECLIPSE WIND ENGINE CO.

Publication: Manufacturers Printing Company, n d (ca 1890), Racine, Wisconsin

First edition. 8vo. Printed wrappers, 54 [2] pp., numerous detailed illustrations, lithographic plates, diagrams.

This catalogue relates to pumping and geared windmills and fixtures for general and domestic uses The full line includes Eclipse pumping windmills, Eclipse windmills for power purposes and for water supply purposes. Also there is information on pumps of various forms and windmill styles, as well as water tanks of all sizes and descriptions. Helpful suggestions in the proper location of geared windmills, with a reference to their several uses and a section regarding repairs and a description of parts.

"The Eclipse windmill was one of the more successful designs of windmill used to pump water in the nineteenth century United States. It was invented by Leonard Wheeler, a Presbyterian minister who was working among the Ojibwe on the south shore of Lake Superior. Wheeler perfected the device on his missionary homestead over nearly two decades, unknown to the larger technological world. In 1866 health issues forced him to move to Beloit, Wisconsin, then a bustling industrial city, where he was persuaded to patent the basic function of the device. Although Wheeler died before he could witness the success of his invention, his sons carried on the legacy. Some of the companies that succeeded the original Eclipse Windmill Company remain viable in the 21st century.

In the early 1890s, Charles Morse bought shares in the Eclipse Wind Engine Company. Eventually Morse merged the interests of Eclipse with those of the Fairbanks Company as well as other enterprises, organizing the combined company known as Fairbanks, Morse & Co.[

At the turn of the 20th century, the products of Fairbanks, Morse & Co., including the various models of the Eclipse Windmill, were sold all over the world. Eclipse windmills at the time were one of the top two brands in the United States and were also manufactured extensively in Germany. When the patent rights expired in 1901, many competing windmill companies copied the design.

After World War I, the Fairbanks Morse company no longer manufactured the classic wood-fin Eclipse. However, they did produce several steel windmills that carried the Eclipse brand name." ---- Wikipedia

Red stamp of agent L. H. Wheeler / Boston, MA on front cover, light wear to the spine ends, covers lightly used, else a very good copy.