Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-04-14
FLOOR-SfAKING,
How Wheat and Other Grains are
Converted into Flour.


In theory the making of flour from
wheat Is simple, and though there Is
such o maze of machinery in the mill,
it Is after all quite easy to under
stand, at least in general principles.
The first thing to do is to make the
wheat clean. As it comes to the mill
it contains oats, corn, weed seeds oi
various kinds, smutty wheat, etc., all
OF which must be taken out before the
wheat goes to the rolls.
The first thing to be taken out is the
wire which comes from the harvester.
The wire. which was used in binding
the wheat, is cut by the threshing ma
chine into fine pieces, which it seemed
apparently impossible to get out. But
bright man invented a machine that
does 1t and does not miss wire. The
machine is comparatively simple and
consists mainly OF sheet-zinc, at the
lower under edge of which is row OF
magnets. Over this sheet the wheat
passes in thin, wide stream, and as it
passes the magnets the wire is held fast
by them. A scraper passes along this
edge and scrapes them all Off to one
side.
The wheat now passes to the oat sep
arator. This is large cylinder on the
inner surface of which are pressed cav
tiles, or dents, il we may call them so,
just large enough to hold wheat, but
not large enough to hold the oats or
corn. The wheat passes into the cylin-
der, drops into these cavities, and is
carried up the side of the cylinder. A
stationary brush, which Just touches
the side of the cylinder, and is placed
part way up, catches all of the oats
and corn that may have been carried so
far, and drops them down to the bottom
of the cylinder. Further up, or as sooa
as the cylinder has turned so far, the
wheat drops, and is caught on a system
of sieves like tanning mill. This one
description is sufficient for our pur-
pose, which is only to show that the
wheat Is made perfectly clean before
grinding.
The cookie separator is made On the
same principle as the oat separator, the
main difference being that. as the
cookie seed is smaller than the wheat,
the "dents" are made smaller, SO as to
hold the cookie and other small seeds
and leave the wheat.
the next machine is the shutter,
where all the smut is taken from the
wheat. The last machine is the Becker
brush in which the wheat passes
brushes that take of the dirt,
rub of the "fuzz" on the kernel and
make it clean as 1t is possible to make
whole wheat. The only dirt left is
what is in the crease OF the kernel.
The wheat is now ready for grinding,
and passes to the first reduction rolls.
There are eight sets of these in the mill
placed side by side. The rolls on these
are of corrugated iron, the first ma
chine having eight corrugations on the
rolls, the second twelve, each one IN
by four TO the sixth, which
has twenty-eight. In passing through
the first rolls the wheat is cracked, the
dirt in the crease released and some
-four made.
The cracked wheat now goes to the
upper story, where it passes over a
wire cloth called scalper. All the
-four made is taken out, the dirt OF
course going with it. Tins Is the low
nst grade of flour made, and is scarcely
it for bread, though it is sometimes
used for that purpose.
The cracked wheat now goes to the
,ecord rolls, where it is cracked finer
han before, and again to a second
'scalper," where the next to the lowest
yrade of flour is taken out. This wheat
hen passes in succession through the
oils and scalpers to the fifth, q portion
,f flonr being taken out by the scalpers
zach time
The coarser parts or ''middlings" are
low taken to a purifier where all the |
are blown out. The purified |
are now ready to be grounu |
nto flour. This is done by passing !
hem between porcelain rolls, after |
which the product passes to the bolts
nd the flour passes through. leaving |
till portion to be ground again. This |
asst part is ground with Buhrs and
,olted.
At the sixth reduction, with the iron |
oils, the bran is separated and carried |
o the bran duster where the most of
he flour adhering to the bran is sep
rated and carried 70 the lowest grade
# flour, the bran being carried to
oom to be made ready for shipment.
While going through the process of
'urifying in the nliddlings purifier
'ortIon of the -four is carried along
nth the impurities to the dust room.
The contents OF the dust room are
fterwards returned and reground. The
our is separated and carried to the
)west grade.