The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1881-02-25
Modern FIGURING MIL.
EDITOR REGISTER;

Your notice OIL the cuhnReh anu huui- |
lions now being made In my mill made
me think that perhaps a brief descrip- |
ton Of modern Touring mill and the
latest methods of reducing wheat TO
nour might be of interest to your read
ers. Thirty years ago ! often visited
the Qrist mill under the old wooden fac
tory and looked with wonder at the
different pieces of machinery and the
movements of Mr.. Heath, the miller,
and later of Mr.. stowe. The boiling
chest was on the east side of the build
ing and the front Of the chest had slides
which were passed up and down by
the miller every little while to get the
-four down Into long trough or box
In front OF the chest and then with a
wooden scoop the miller would make
HE separation of -four, camel and bran.
The old mill referred to is not much
like a mill of the present day. The art
of making -four has made moro i'm
provemeut In the past ten years than In
one hundred wears before. Your read
ers all probably know that wheat is
composed of three parts, q woody
fibrous covering on the outside, called
bran, near to and attached 10 the bran
are small granular particles of o yell
lowish white color called gluten, and
the center is filled with a clear white
starch. In the old style mill q kernel
Of this tiny tender wheat was placed
between mill stones, the upper one
weighing several hundred pounds, bal
anced In the center on fine point and
making from one hundred and fifty 10
two hundred revolutions per minute.
The faces of the stones are gritty and
grinding In their action, and this small
tender berry of wheat Is exposed to
this hugh, rough mass of stone as 1t Is
carried by centrifugal force from the
center to the circumfi 4 ce, distance
Of two or two and one half feet, The
result Is that more or less Of the bran 10
ground of into such fine particles that
II is like O powder and mixes into and
Is carried along with the -four during
ito whole course from the mill stone to
the finished products, which causes
dark -four and poor bread. The aim
of the progressive miller has been to
avoid this securing of the bran, and
much time and money has been spent
on various devices to overcome this
difficulty. The latest and apparently the
best of them is what am now putting
In my mill as stated In your previous
issue. After this long introduction /
am ready to proceed with what l
promised at the commencement, @ brief
description OF q modern Touring mill
and the latest method of reducing
wheat to -four, and l will give partial
description Of my own mill as 1t will
be after the improvements are compile
ted.
The mill building is of stone, one
hundred feet long, sixty feet deep, four
stories and attic In front and six stories
In rear. The power is the Genesee
river driving through thirty-fve inch
turbine water wheels under Ia sixteen
foot head. On the first floor in front
we have our wheat scales for weighing
In wheat. They weigh fifty bushels at
a time and the wheat is dropped into q
pit from which 1t 10 elevated to tho up
per floor, and If not wanted for imme-
date use Is put In storage bins. A
wanted, 1t is drawn out and sent to q
separator to remove the oats, cookie
and other foul stuff there may be in 1t I;
then to a securing machine to rub OF
any dirt that may be on the berry; then
to another separator and air blast then
to solid cylinder brush machine
where every kernel Of wheat IL tho
roughly brushed then to another eepa.
rstOr and air blast and finally through
a spout containing fifteen powerful
horse shoe magne 70 take out any
pieces OF wire or iron that may be left IN
the wheat. TIE wheat 10 now clean
and is ready for reducing to -four. In
stead of using the mill stone as for
rnnrt0 onnA 20
roIs. nine by thirty, and making four
hundred turns per minute. These |
steel rolls are fiuted on tho surface spi- |
rally and of different degrees of fine
ness. The first pair of rolls are huted |
coarse and the wheat is only broken in
tn 'wO or four pieces; it then goes to |
roll with finer corrugation and re-
d"ccd finer aud so on tor ak different
REDUCTIONS when 1t is fully prepar. ed
Tor purifier and boiling. Between
ZACH Of the six reductions the fine -four
is bolted out with wire cloth and then |
sent to reels covered with silk cloth for
further action. The aim OF the miller
ia reducing the wheat 10 to make as lit |
tie of the fine -four as possible and rs
much of s'uall granular particles of the
size of q small pin head as he can.
These are separated from the fine -four
and bran and sent to purifying mo
chimes, which are sleeves covered with
silk cloth suspended in a large box, tine
upper part Of which 10 made tight, aud |
the lower part under the sieve has
openings. A fan making six hundred
to eight hundred revolutions per min |
nte Ia placed on top Of the machine, |
which draws the air with power In |
through the openings below the sieve
and up through the silk cloth and out |
through al air trunk, carrying with il |
ell impurities of less specific gravity |
than the coarse farina. This 10 contiu-
ued through six different machines un-
til the material 10 thoroughly cleaned
and purc. The purified particles are
now sent to steel rolls aud reduced to |
-four and the -four is bolted and re-
bolted through silk cloth until It is fin.
ished. The cloth used for boiling and |
is made of the very best silk
and Is of dull white color. 1t Is of
different degrees of fineness for differ
ent kinds of work. The finest that we
have in our mill has 2S, 900 meshes in
square inch, and the coarsest has 400.
/ he best cloth is made In Switzerland,
expressly for mills and is expensive.
Twelve hundred dollars worth of it is
In use In our mill.
If the reader has been able to follow
me they will have some idea of the
labor and care bestowed on kernel of
wheat In making 1t into -four. The
operation is wholly automatic and me-
chanical except that the miller has TO
direct and guide 1t with brains. 1t re-
mira No handling from tho TINA tha
wheat Is weighed In from the wagon
I'LL It's put into the barrel by the pack
ing machine. 1t is carried TO any part
Of the mill In horizontal direction by
revolving screw called conveyor, and
m . perpendicular way by an endless
belt passing over pullies at the top and
bottom; the belt has ten cups Of peculiar
'hape attached which carry the material