Peugeot's story starts in the 19th century when the Peugeot brothers converted the family's gristmill into a steel foundry. They began producing award winning hand tools immediately after opening and went on to produce a diverse range of exceptional quality products including small appliances, bicycles and most notably, automobiles. (Although now operating as a separate company, the Peugeot car company continues the same commitment to quality and innovation that is a Peugeot hallmark). In 1840 Peugeot created their burr style coffee grinder and adopted that design to accommodate peppercorns in 1874. The resulting pepper mechanism design is still used today in every Peugeot pepper mill. Peugeot's iconic pepper grinding mechanism design is often copied, but never equaled. Today, Peugeot offers six unique spice-specific mechanisms plus the original burr-style coffee grinder.