During that time, he was trained as a motor machinist's mate at the University of Kansas. After the war, Carter returned home to resume his career in the family business. At the time, the H.M. Carter Manufacturing Co. was a small manufacturer of peanut tillage and processing equipment. To keep the company growing, Lewis saw the need for the company to develop products that were unique, of high performance and unexcelled efficiency. Thus began his work on gravity separation equipment.
Gravity separation is based on the difference in the specific gravity of density of products.
It is useful in removing heavy foreign materials from a product, such as stone from beans. In 1964, Carter bought the business from his father and continued to design and develop a more complete line of equipment. Soon the Lewis M. Carter Manufacturing Co. Inc. emerged as the world's largest manufacturer of peanut processing equipment developing specialized designs and installations throughout the world. The company also developed machinery for other products, including almonds, pecans, cotton seed, coffee and cocoa beans. We're a small company.