The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1852-06-29
Michigan Flour and Wheat.


Those of our readers whose prejudices are
not confined to particular localities, but. can
appreciate good quality OF Hour, and do
honor to good mlers wherever they may be
found, will agree with us, when we say that
Michigan is moro than ordinary blessed with
both, and in both particulars, as well as IN
numbers, is excelled by few States on this
Western continent. Indeed, mo may say, the
practical mllers of that State are, as body
of mechanics, not surpassed by any others, OF
our own knowledge, in their inventive practi-
cal and general skill in milling. A Michigan
miller accomplished the feat of producing
barrel of superfine flour from less than four
bushels of wheat on straight system OF ma1-
ufacture, and patented In 18i9, by Mr. u. +.
Bonnell. Another miller, in the saraa Statey
produced the extraordinary amount Of zoo
barrels of flour from one rum OF y feet stone,
in "a hours which would require riis OF the
same size stone to do the same work IN tne
ordinary process of milling 20 years. ago.
This principle of fast grinding was also pat
ented by the author of the Improvement, they
being both discovered Of two important facts,
not generally believed at that time, and indeed
doubted now by tiose of more limited inowi-
edge, as regards practical milling, aad the two
facts are: First, that less than 2iO iaS OF wheat
produced 1876 lbs of super6ne -four, thing al
together discredited generally, at the time OF
the discovery; and secondly, that such large
amount of wheat could be ground by one run
of stone of the above size, being on the sup
position that each barrel of flour, so produced,
required we will say for convenience AZ bushels
of wheat to the barrel, which gives eco bush
els of wheat ground in the "a hours-and the
amount ground per hour being about 36A
bushels. That is what We should call very
fast grinding, although we do not intend to
say that it was looked on by the author OF this
| this Improvement, Mr.. Ansell, of Clinton as
being anything more than his average work, or
more than his usual speed of grinding AS 1t
may be interesting to some o: our resders 70
know something moro of this improvement Id
detail, we shall describe il entirely from mem
ory having made a visit to his mill on purpose,
| which instructed as well as amused us much.
| The Clinton mill was built few years previous
| to The experiment of Mr. Ansells improvement,
on the then old plan of mill-building, and was
| the mill which he chose for the testing OF MS
then new plan, in 1912, as near as our recoiiec,
tion serves at this moment. The mill conslsteq
of three run Of stone of the size rcpresentedi
with a circle quarter dress, of sixteen quarters
to the stone, on one and eighteen feet circle.
and making about sixty to seventy barrels OF
flour per run of stone in twenty -four hours
Such was the mill that this Mr.. Ansell chose
| 10 introduce his new invention of increasing
speed and amount manufactured, per run OF
stone. -,
The first point necessary, in his operation,
was to increase the weight OF his running
stone to about double its former weight; the
next being to use dress which would anow
him to use each superficial inch Of the face OF
the milestone possible, without the use OF any
draft whatever on the skirt of the Stone
This he accomplished by reversing the old
dress described and allowing the usual draft
at the eve of the stone only, which gave all
, the short burrows draft to the centre, the
: die.hargiug uf the meal being obtained by the
velocity instead of the regular DRAFT, the mo-
tion of the stone being over 200 revolutions
per minute: he also attached regulators TO each
of the spindles to set the stone and regulate
the quantity of grain necessary to feed the
stone subject to the greatest nicity CT intervens
ing changes, by either the increase or de-
E crease of power; by a connection with the
f lighter screws, the grinding was performed
, very uniform and complete. l was informed
that the runners weighed 1000 pounds each.-
The quantity of the flour was very good and
generally inspected as extra superfnes The
bran was also well cleaned, and we have seen
much worse work done where they did not
: grind over six bushels per hour. Mr.. Bon
nell's process is very generally before the mill
ing public, and further description OF It
seems unnecessary as the back number OF the
American Miller contained 1t in full.
We know of no State where the subject OF
milling and mill building has been so well ana
> thoroughly tested, as in Michigan, and our re-
cent visit among some of the first mills, led US
4 to conclude that Michigan Millers are hard to
6 beat
The quality of wheat this year, seems to De
!, ! equal TO any ever produced, and the Hour Is
II also much improved from the last years GRIND
ing. Milers i'm Michigan, begin to see that IN
y order to obtain the best prices they must make
- the best flour, and equal the quality and differ
ent grades which Eastern milers make io'
their customers. Many of the mills we have
recently visited, are fully accomplishing this
and some of them inform us of their intention
70 to keep their brands fully up with our best
n New York mills in quality; and, having seen
If the quality of wheat they grind, we consider
a il not impossible. The sample shown US IN
Pontiac, at the extensive milling establishment.
of Messrs. Beach and Mathews, speak vel
"a for Michigan farmers. Finer wheat we never
,e saw than that which these three mills nea
nt Pontiac are daily grinding. The quality Q
tho wheat taken at Detroit "City Mills, Il
also very fine, and makes beautiful Hour
IN equal to the best from Michigan. We als'
70 inspected fine lot of flour at Scio Mills
in All we shall say Just nov of this brand, is tina
ne we hope friend Whitcomb will have it shippo'
IN to Buffalo, so that our augur may have chanc
@. to dive into it meritoriously and We assure hin
st il shan't be bored with gimblet, as we shoul'
re prefer doing business with that brand with on
neighbors big augur. [American Mi'ier'
re A SHARP REpLY.-"How do you feel wit
n such a shocking looking coat on!' said a youn
ON clerk Of some pretensions, one morning 10 Oh
Ic- Roger. I,
" ssTr.r ~ ..;J Ill y ooor loot;no at him stead