Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-05-20
SAVANNAH, TENNESSEE, THURSDAY, MAY 20, 1886.
HOW FLOUR Is MADE.
The Ingenious Contrivances Used In the
Modern Flour-Mills.

mOutTu
Here is the mill. What noisy,
dusty place, and what perfect maze
of machinery and men flying hither
and thither; but we will soon under
stand this. When the wheat gets here
it has in it oats, corn, rye and various
weed seeds; besides, many harvesters
bind with wire, and these bands are
cut in small pieces by the threshers.
All these foreign substances must be
removed before grinding. For long
time the bits of wire baffled every en-
deavor to remove them; finallya bright
man invented machine which does it
without missing wire. This consists
of an inclined sheet of zinc, under the
lower edge of which is placed row of
magnets; over this the wheat flows in
thin, golden stream; the magnets
hold every wire, which the scraper
pushes to one side. After this the
wheat goes to the cat separator,
large cylinder in the inner surface of
which are pressed dents just large
enough to hold grain of wheat but
not of sufficient size to allow of the en-
trance of oats or corn. The wheat runs
into this cylinder, drops into these hol-
lows, and is carried up one side as the
cylinder reyolves. A brush is placed
part way up the side, just touching the
cylinder; this catches the oats and corn,
but the wheat grains being in the cav
tiles pass on, while the oats drop to the
bottom. As soon as the wheat reaches
a given point it falls on a series Of
sieves like those of a tanning mill. The
cookie separator is the same in princi-
pie as the oat machine, the difference
being the cookie seed are smaller than
the wheat, and the dents are made OF
corresponding size; thus the wheat can
not fall into the dents.
Next it goes to the shutter, which
clears it of all smut, and last is the
Becker brush, in which the grain goes
through brushes which remove all the
dust and dirt and rub off the fuzz,
leaving only the dirt in the crease of
the kernel. Now it is ready to be
ground. The wheat goes to the first
reduction rolls, of which there are
eight sets placed side by side, having
eight corrugations in each roll. The
second set has twelve, and so on, in
creasing by four to the sixth, which
has twenty-eight. In passing through
the first set the wheat is cracked, the
dirt in the crease released and some
flour made; this now goes to the upper
story where it passes over wire cloth
called a sculper; all the flour and dirt
here pass through the cloth and form
the lowest grade of -four. This is hard
ly fit for bread, but is sometimes used
for that purpose. The cracked wheat
now goes to the second series of rolls
and sculper, and again the third, Sc
continuing until the fifth, each time a
higher grade of flour being taken out
The middlings are now taken to the
purifier, where all the impurities are
winnowed out, which leaves them
ready to be ground; this is done by
running between porcelain rolls, after
which it goes to the bolts; the foul
passes through leaving still portion
to be ground again; this last part is
ground with brushes and bolted. Al
the sixth reduction the bran is carried
to the bran duster, where the adhering
flour is separated from it, which is car
ried to the lowest grade. The bran il
conveyed to room and prepared fol
shipment While going through the
middlings-purifer portion Of the Houl
is forced into the dust room. The con
tents of this room are afterward re
ground, and -four is carried to the low
est grade.-N. E. Farmer.