The mill was manufactured by the firm of L.H. Wheeler and Son of Beloit, Wisconsin.  In the beginning it was made in a style with four large paddle-shaped blades, but after only two years the familiar wooden solid wheel replaced the paddles.  The business of the  firm grew gradually until by 1873 more capital and larger facilities were needed for the mill's production.  On  May 13, 1873, the Eclipse Windmill Company of Beloit, was formed when C. B. Solomon and S. T. Merrill bought the Eclipse patent rights from the Reverend Wheeler and his son, who retained a portion of the stock of the new company.

Manufacture of Eclipse windmills was conducted by Eclipse Wind Mill Company until February 11, 1880, when the firm again was reorganized, this time to become the Eclipse Wind Engine Company of Beloit.  The Wheeler family still retaining over half of the stock.  At that time, however, Charles H. Morse, partner in the firm of Fairbanks, Morse, and Company of Chicago, purchased about 1/5 of the stock in the firm, and Fairbanks, Morse, and Company became general agent for the sale of Eclipse windmills in the territory  covered by its branch house.  In 1890 the Chicago based company assumed control of the Eclipse firm, although for several years the Beloit company continued to distribute the mills as well.

The regular pattern Eclipse is the classic example of a solid-wheel wooden mill.  It consists of a solid wind wheel, a side vane paralleled with the wind wheel and a hinged vane combined with the necessary iron and steel parts to form the mechanical portion of the mill.  Its regulation is accomplished by wind pressure on the side vane, which forces the wheel toward a position parallel with the principal vane, there by reducing the angle of the wheel and its area exposed to the wind.  At the same time, the linkage on the governing system raises a lever bearing a moon-shaped weight.  This weight acts as a counterbalance to the pressure of the wind on the side vane, insuring a more or less uniform number of wheel revolutions per minute.

The wooden parts of the Eclipse are made form various woods.  The arms are from oak, the rims from cypress or poplar, and the blades from cypress or poplar.  All the wooden parts were dipped in olive green at the factory and the tips on the blades and vane were trimmed in maroon or blood red.  The castings and  inscription on the vane were painted in black.

As early as 1870, regular pattern Eclipse mills were being made in 8 and 1/2 ' , 10', 12', 13', and 14' sizes.  The 13' size was deleted in 1880, but the others remained in production into the 1920's.  for a few years between about 1906 nd 1914, a 16' size was also marketed.  Basically, one style of regular pattern Eclipse was made from 1869 through 1888, when several casting and wooden parts were modified.  The mill was produced virtually without change for the next 35 years, and all parts on these mills are interchangeable.

After the patent rights for the Eclipse windmill entered the public domain in 1901, many companies began the production of mills virtually identical with the Eclipse, changing only casting numbers, colors, and governor weights.  Regular-pattern Eclipse windmills are among the most commonly seen of the wooden wheel mills.  They were manufactured in large numbers for approximately 50 years and can be found in  most parts of the US, Canada, and Mexico. They are among the most popular of antique windmills for restoration.

The Railroad Eclipse is the larger size Eclipse windmill produced in turn by the Eclipse Wind Mill Company, the Eclipse Wind Engine Company, and Fairbanks, Morse, and Company.  These mills were named "railroad" pattern because of their use as early as 1870 in supplying boiler water for steam locomotives.  Produced in styles for either pumping or power purposed, they were manufactured in sizes ranging from 16' up to 35' in diameter, and were marketed throughout America.  All these sizes remained in production until the first World War, although by the close of the war only mills up to 20' in diameter remained on the market.  Pumping-pattern Railroad Eclipse mills were used primarily where water was available only at considerable depth or where large amounts of water was needed, such as for steam locomotive, for municipal water works, or for watering large numbers of livestock.

A special type of wooden tower was used in conjunction with the Railroad Eclipse, and other railroad-pattern mills.  These towers, called "telescoping towers" consists of one tower built within and extending above the other.  This type of construction give the large wheel mill both greater height and sufficient clearance for the wind wheel to turn without striking the tower.  Today Railroad Eclipse are only rarely seen.  A number have been preserved by museums, historical organizations, and private individuals.

The Steel Eclipse Type WG was the first of several self-oiling steel windmills marketed by Fairbanks, Morse, and Company after they became the distributor of all the Eclipse mills about the start of the 20th Century.  It has the more important distinction of having been the only widely distributed worm-gear mill in the history of American windmill manufacture.  Produced from about 1926 to the mid-1930's, the Steel Eclipse remains in the field today in considerable number in most parts of the country.

One of the more easily identified of the early self-oiling steel mills, this mill has a number of very striking design elements, the most prominent of which is its worm-gear drive.  At the rear end of the main shaft is a worm pinion gear which meshes with the teeth in a large crank gear mounted on its own shaft beneath and at right angle to the main shaft.  On each side of the crank gear is mounted a short shaft to which two steel pitmans are attached.  These pitmans extend upward and forward to connect with a steel pump rod that moves up and down in steel guides. The mill is back-geared three and one half  to one and so arranged that only 1/3 of a revolution of the crank gear is devoted to the down stroke, leaving 2/3 for the actual pumping of the up stroke.  The top of the main casting is covered with a compact sheet steel hood to protect the working parts form dust and the elements.

Another unusual feature of the Steel Eclipse Type WG is the clearly visible tilted angle of its wheel.  The manufacturer took advantage of the fact that the direction of the wind actually is at a slight angel toward the surface of the earth, and thus "to get maximum power out of the wind, the wheel of the Steel Eclipse is tilted at a corresponding angle."  This design also permits the wheel to be placed closer to the tower without striking it.  Many windmillers and windmill users doubted the advantage of the tilted wheel, and they even coined the saying that "the old Steel Eclipse looks to Heaven and hopes to Heaven that it doesn't blow off."  The vane sheet bears the sole ornamentation on the mill, the words "Fairbanks, Morse Steel Eclipse" stenciled in black.

The first of these mills to reach the marketplace in the mid 1920's were the 6' and 8' sizes, although by the end of the decade, 12' , 14', and 16' sizes became available.  The larger 14' and 16' models remained in production the longest being the only sizes available in 1936.

The Steel Eclipse Type WG is very easily identified from a number of characteristics:  the small enclosed head, the wheel close to the tower, and tilted back and a distinctively shaped vane.  the mills are not uncommon and may be seen in most parts of the US and many other countries to which they were exported.

Manufactured from 1931 to the late 1940's, the New Eclipse was the first of several self-oiling back-geared mills produced by other makers and distributed by Fairbanks, Morse, and Company in the decades of the 1930's and 1940's.  Of these mills, the New Eclipse is the most frequently seen in the field.  The New Eclipse, also known as the Model 33, is the only internal gear windmill distributed by Fairbanks, Morse, and Company.  A final windmill was marketed by Fairbanks, Morse, and Company form 1945 into the early 1950's.  Known as the Faribank-Morse Model 45 or Eclipse 45.

Still probably the most common mid 20th Century windmill from Fairbanks, Morse, and Company, is the New Eclipse mills, and may be seen today in most parts of the country.  Usually, they are in good condition, and they are relatively easy to identify from the low rectangular profile of the hood atop their ironwork and from the distinctive shape of their vane.