Daily globe., 1879-04-03

mesh, and the meal or coarse-ground whe at,
lying on the cloth, sends the finest flour
through the top, and as the flour mass goes
onward it drops coarser; the coarse part is |
again taken up to the head Of the cloth and |
sent onward second time. Now, there is |
still something left after this double boiling, |
and it retains the name of meal. The finest
of this meal is called ssmiddlings;" the next
coarser quality is called ssshipstuff,'' and the
third quality is called ''shorts" and ''bran.'
Now, you must see, that as machinery ad
vanced and our wheat increased in quantity,
it Became desirable to hasten the old fash
ioned slow bolting operation. 1t was gener-
ally believed that atmospheric pressure would
do it. The Americans and the French both
set to work at this.''
AMERICANS AT sTEAM-BOLTING.
(Which was the American patent that
drew most attention.
cit was called the Cogswell d McKiernan
patent, and was granted June -, 1850. A
blast of air was introduced into hollow
shaft surrounded by zinc box perforated
with small holes. The air escaping went up
q crooked chimney, whose elbows formed
addies and let the flour fall back into the
reel-chest. This patent was sold to William
F. Cochrane, and in the summer of 1861 he
put up mill on that patent near Spring
field, Ohio, for the Warder family. Some
trouble occurred, and after many improve
ments and corrections the whole thing YVES
laid aside, somewhere about 1868. It died
right there and for ten years not q ghost of
it fingered around. Yet that patent became
the basis of the greatest milling business of
our times.''
"How was that?"
'sIt was accomplished through the sur
render and reissue of the patent, taking ad-
vantage of the patent Office at Washington.
This was not done until the French machines
had revolutionized wheat-grinding in Min
nesota. About 1860 they introduced spring
wheat into Minnesota, and the crop increased
rapidly, until it was nearly 1900, 700 bushels
bushels in 1877. Yet the brittle hull
of the Minnesota wheat would get into the
-four, and could not be bolted out by the old
processes. Consequently, though richer in
gluten than the St. Louis flour, it held an in
ferior place in the market, and was used by
bakers only, not by families. In that con-
dition of things Frenchman named LIE
Croix, who knew about the system of grind
ing spring wheat in France, told his neigh
bors, the great millers around Minneapolis,
to try the French machines. Consequently,
Mr.. George II. Christian sent out to France
and imported what are called the Cabanese
machines, first patented in April, 1856.
After about one years experiments with
these machines in his mill, and constructing
others like them, Mr.. Christian fully estab.
lshed the character of Minnesota flour in
1871. It was done by what is called the
middlings purifying process. 1t brought
from S to $50 more in the Eastern markets,
and ST. barrel more than the st. Louis
-four. The effect was immense, when il
suddenly occurred to some sharp fellows
that the old Coggswell & Cochrane patent
should be revived and good thing made o1
it."
SETTING UP PATENT JOB.
"Who were the persons interested in thii
performance?'
sMr. William Warder and Mr.. Rodney
Mason, in 1873 and 1874, entered into an
understanding to obtain the greater part o1
, the interest in the old Cochrane patent, anG
then reissue it so as to cover the new pro
cess. Middlings had never been ground in
{ to surerfne flour here. Cochrane readily
agreed to give one-half his interest to Mason
-T-which was one fourth of the entire paten
3 for obtaining the reissue and prosecuting
, suits under the reissue. The thing was ther
/ SO worthless that William Warder had got
fourth of it for nothing. These three mer
-l-Cochrane, Mason and Warder-slipped OF
to Washington City, and associated will
them three lawyers-Peck, Phillips an,
t Walter Co1-and two men of means-Joh1
, o. Evans and J. Van Buskirk. These latte
persons furnished $4,000 to carry on tn
g litigation. The patentees at once brough
Q suit against miller at Georgetown, D. @.
J. under their new patent. This miller, Welcn
3 had been the first to tell them that purife,
: middlings could be manufactured, and he
t suspected of being in with them. Thei
: suit was pressed, and before it was decide
}, the interested parties resolved to carry
8 right up to the supreme court on printe
o briefs. They got verdict in thei: favor.
It ssHow did they get that verdict?''
g sBy an e1 parte affidavit of the first in
+ ventor, Cogswell, he testifying that Cochran
t was the real inventor of the air-blast an
Q ventilator. The supreme court, thus mislei
: decided that the old Cogswell and McKierna
t patent did not interfere with Cochrane's II
p issue. They also seemed to establish th
o fact that this Cochrane invention antedate
+ the French patent. The fact is, that o
Q both points the court was misled."
s'Well, what ne1t?"
e ssThe owners of the reissued patent NJ
|. only collected their royalties with impunit
/ all over the country, but went back throug
g years and demanded payment for whateve
# flour had been ground by the midding
: purifying system. Now, the French inver
a ton was wholly different thing. It was
9 vibrating sieve, inclined. and as it rose an
: fell at the sides produced current of a
: which passed upward through the meshe