This windmill succeeded the SAMSON open geared windmill. The SAMSON was a very good windmill but required relatively frequent lubricating because of its bearing design. Many potential windmill purchasers were impressed with a new concept of windmill, generally known as oil bath windmills, which kept all the moving parts of the engine lubricated using oil stored in a sump or gearbox. Other US manufacturers had been offering them as far back as 1912. STOVER could see the necessity of offering their own oil bath design to compete in this market, so in 1925 they introduced the 'STOVER OIL RITE' windmill, MODEL 'W'.
This was only on the market for a few months before the company introduced the SAMSON OIL RITE MODEL 'M' windmill in 1926 which was sold alongside the STOVER. In 1927 the SAMSON OIL RITE MODEL 'S' was introduced to further compete with the STOVER OIL RITE. The SAMSON OIL RITE MODEL 'S' has also been located in Australia.
Current US information states that they were made until c1930, however it must be noted that they were still being advertised as available in Western Australia in 1933. There had been a fairly major revision of the cross head design and the addition of an oil pump in 1926, and examples of both the revised and the older design exist in Australia.
The STOVER OIL RITE employed an annular gear, with the intention of taking advantage of that designs ability to engage more teeth than the normal spur gear, and therefore reduce the load and wear factor on the individual teeth. The later SAMSON OIL RITES both reverted to a standard Spur Gear.
This model was available in 8, 9 and 10 foot versions in America but as yet only 8 foot versions have been located in the field in Australia and in advertising by the agent, HARRIS SCARFE & SANDOVERS. The 8 and 9 foot version shared the same gearbox.
The museum display model is constructed of parts from Burnerbinmah Station and Lake Violet Station.