The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1883-10-24
NEW ROLLER PROCESS FLOUR.
A Description of the Modern Machinery in
troduced into Lear's Mills.

& Niece, of the Upper Mill" in this
city, and Mr.. F. f. Lear, of the Lower
Mill, have been conscious that western
millers were beating their eastern COM
petitors in the quality of the fiour pro
/ dueed, Notwithstanding the eastern wheat
is equally as good as western ; aud the
improvements that were made in both
mills some time ago to enable them to
manufacture 'snew process flour did not
seem to put them gu an equality with the
western millers. An investigation show
ed that the ''roller process used by many
of the western mills made far superior
flour to any that could be produced by the
old stone grinding method. They i'm
mediately resolved to ''keep up to the
times, and partnership was formed be-
tween Mr. F. f. Lear and Messrs. Isaac
w Holcomb and w. B. Niece, under the
firm name of F. +. Lear & Co., for the
purpose of manufacturing by means of
the roller process. Lear's Mills being
roomy, it was decided to put the ma
chinery in them. The very best was re-
solved upon and careful examinations
were made for this purpose, with the re-
suit of adopting the process of E. p. Allis
& Co., of Milwaukee, Wis. During last
Summer work Was begun, and for two or
three months alterations bave been going
on and the new machinery has been in
process of erection. Recently the ma
cbinery has been put in motion and tho
roughly tested. The result is that flour
of the very finest quality is produced,
equal to any made in this county, and the
demand for it is such that far greater
able to produce, although the capacity of
the mill has been increased to sixty bar
rels each twenty four hours. Two quail
ties and brands of -four are made in their
mills. The Diamond, which is the pat
ent grade, and the "Royal, which is the
family grade. Either grade of this roller
process -four is much better than the best
stone ground ''new process, and either
grade is more nutritious than the best
burr-stone flour.
WHAT THE ROLLER PROCESS Is.
The roller-process as now in use is a
yankee invention of recent date and
the idea is so simple that it seems strange
that it should not have been thought of
before. Tho old burr-stone grinds and
mashes all the life out of the flour, and so
mixes bran and germ with the more valu-
able parts of the wheat that it can never
afterward be thorough separated. BY
the new process, the wheat is passed
through steel rollers, each succeeding one
crushing the wheat finer than the pre-
ceding, then, after having the hull or bran
blown away by series of boiling, blow
ing, brushing and other processes, it is
carried to other rollers and reduced to
flour of the finest quality, nothing hav'
ing been lost of the wheat except the
mere outside shell or bran. 1t can there
fore be readily seen that this flour is far
more nutritious and healthful than burr
stone flour, in which some of the choicest
parts of the grain are unavoidably car
ried off with the bran. To show that the
roller process is superior to the grinding
process, 1t is only necessary to say that
while the burr-stone seems to make the
flour of a pasty nature, the roller-process
graduates it. This Is proved by the fact
that burr-stone flour runs with difficulty
down spout at considerable angle, while
roller flour passes down readily without
any sign of choking the spcuts The adj
vantages of gradual reduction by roller
process are so numerous that it is pre-
dcted the timers not far distant when
burr. stone grnded will be thing of the
past, and the time-honored milestone it.
self will suffer extinction. The principal
advantage OF roller milling is that the
bran or husk, and the germ of grain, are
flattened out by the action Of rolling, and
can easily be sifted out by proper appli-
cation of dressing machinery. This adj
vantage cannot be over estimated, con.
sidering the detrimental action which
both bran and germ have on the keeping
and baking qualities of flour. Analysis
of bran generally shows percentage of
frohi 40 to go per cent. OF starch, and it is,
therefore, evident that by removing every
flour particle of the bran, which is the
object of the roller-process, the percentage
and equality of -four is thereby greatly in
creased. Where the oily germ and bran
are ground up with the inner part of the
berry, as is the case in the old burr-stone
process, the resulting flour easily gets
musty. The action of the rollers re-
sembles squeeze, unlike the more pro-
tracted rubbing action which the grain
undergoes during the passage between
and across the rough and extended sur
faces of the milstones, and which de-
taches from the outside of the grain an
infinite number of small particles of bran.
These, after once having got into the
-four, can in no possible way be got out
again. On the other hand, roller mills
tuO EViib, aHu SNOb fS'J Sh'"h
particles of bran, and render them all the
easier to remove by proper machinery
This is one of the principal reasons why
flour produced by roller mills is 50 much
whittier than that ordinarily produced from
the same wheat by burr-stone grinding
The superior baking qualities of roller
process flour, its superiority as an article
of food, and the fact that it will yield
from forty to sixty pounds more bread to
the barrel than that made under the old
process, are universally conceded.
We examined the machinery used in
the roller-process at Lear's Mills, yester-
day, AID were greatly interested, in their
working. 1t consists in part of the fol-
lowing Six pairs of rolls; one Eureka
shutter and brush machine combined :
ona p,ounotin sauarator. tha naceeaarv