Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1877-08-29


ing out the Patent Office entirely. This
case has been commented upon by the
newspapers far and wide, and we gather
from different ones the facts as follows:
That prior to 1S73 the system of milling
III this country as universally practiced
was that of low milling, or bringing the
upper or running stone into close prox-
unity with the bed stone, the object be-
ing to make as much -four rs possible at
the first grinding. 1t will readily be
seen that this system reduced a great
deal Of the coating and germ of the
wheat so fine as to be bolted out with
the flour, hence all the spring wheat
-four was Of n dark color and held in
low esteem III the market. In 1871
there was introduced into the mills Of
EX-Gov. Washburn at Minneapolis an
entirely new system, and the directly
opposite of hat then in use. That sys-
tenn consists in first grinding high, max
ing at first but little flour. The flour
thus made was bolted out leaving the
bulk Of the product in the shape of
bran, the germ Of the wheat, and "A
large amount Of fine pure white granu-
lations called greats or middlings, and
the secret in making pure and perfect
flour consisted in separating all the inn
p%urities from these ~middlings and then
grinding them to flour.
The machines for making this separa-
ton are Of French origin and invention,
as we'll as the whole system ofhigh grind
ing. The proprietors of the Washburn
mill purchased their machines in Bor-
deaux, France, Of NJ. Cabanes, the in
%ventor, by whom they were patented,
both in France and England in the year
1855, and the machines were fully de-
scribed in English and French publica-
tons ofthat year. The result of the intro
duction ofthese machines was marvellous
and not only placed Minnesota flour in
the front rank, but it absolutely led all
other flours in the market. Other mills
Immediately adopted the principle, and
by 1874 there was scarcely n mill in the
United States that had not n machine
for cleaning middlings, similar to the
original French machines. That so
valuable a machine should have been
brought into use, and one that had
added Mt least ten cents a bushel to
every bushel of wheat grown in Wis
consin, without exciting the cupldity of
some person would be strange. How
to rob the public Of the great benefits
being derived from this system was the
great question TO be solved by the har-
pies that perch around and peer into
the Patent Office. They had no knowl-
edge of the date of the French patents
in use, and their object was to find some
patent which they supposed should
antedate all others. In 1868 n VIM.
+. Cochrane, then of Springfield, Ohio,
had invented what he called an i'm
provemcnt in " Boiling Chests for
boiling flour. 1t was never designed
for purifying middlings, could not be
used for that purpose, bore no re-
semblance to the machines in use, and
was never brought into use for the pur-
pose for which it was declared to be in
vented. In 1874 the inventor assigned
an interest III his invention to II Rod
nev Mason, u patent claim agent at
Washington. The old patent was sur
rendered, new specifications made and
Il claim set up rs the inventor of the
new process OF making flour and the
machine necessary TO accomplish it.
On that claim there was Il reissue of the
patent. The next step to be taken was
to obtain "A decision Of the Supreme
Court of the United States establishing
the validity of their patent. Accord
ingly a suit was brought against a firm
Of mIllcrs in Georgetown, d. c., with
whom the pretended patentee was on
the most intimate terms and in whose
employment he had been before, if not
ut the very time of the tendency of
the suit. The defense made, it is said,
shows Enthusiastically that there was a
perfect understanding between plain
tinS and defendants, and the Court was
compelled to decide the case as pre-
/ scented before If This case waS proSpCu-