The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-01-16

How Wheat and Other Grain Are Con.
verified into Flour,

Ill eheory tne MAKING OF hour from
wheat is simple, and though there is
such a maze of machinery in the mill,
it is after all quite easy to understand,
at least in general principles. The
FIRST thing to do is to make the wheat
clean. As it comes to the mill it con-
tains oats, corn, weed seeds of 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
r bright man invented a machine that
does it and does not miss a wire. The
machine is comparatively simple and
consists mainly of sheet-zinc, at the
lower under edge of which is a row of
magnets. Over this sheet the wheat
passes in a 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 II
side.
The wheat nov passes to the oat
separator. This is a large cylinder on
the inner surface of which are pressed
cavities, or dents, if 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
cylinder, 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 corr that may have been car
ried SO far, and drops them down to
the bottom Of the cylinder. Further
up, or as soon as the cylinder has
turned so far, the wheat drops, and is
caught on a system of sleeves like a
tanning mill. This one description is
sufficient for our purpose, 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
through brushes that take off the dirt,
rub off the ''fuzz' on the kernel and
make it clean as it 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 mil.
placed side by side. The rolls on these
are of corrugated iron, the first ma.
chine having eight corrugstions on the
rolls, the second twelve, each one in.
creasing 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 somC
flour made.
The cracked wheat now goes to the
upper story, where it passes oyer 6
wire cloth called q scalper. All the
flour made is taken out, the dirt o.
course going with it. This is the low.
est grade of flour made, and is scarcely
fit for bread, though it is sometimes
used for that purpose.
The cracked wheat now goes to the
second rolls, where it is cracked fine,
than before, and again to q second
"scalpcr'', where the next to the lowest
grade of flour is taken out. This wheat
then passes in succession through the
and scalpers to the fifth, a por.
ton of flour being taken out by the
scalpers each time. ,
The coarser parts or "middlings'
are now taken to a purifier where ali
impurities are blown out. The
purified middlings are now ready to be
ground into -four. This is done by /
passing them between porcelain rolls.
after which the product passes to the
bolts and the flour passes through, leav-
still a portion to be ground again.
This last part is ground with Buhrs and
At the sixth reduction, with the iron
rolls, the bran is separated and carried
o the bran duster where the most Of
The flour adhcring to the bran is separ.
tied and carried to the lowest grade OF
lour, the bran being carried to a room
o be made ready for shipment.
While going through the process OF
purifying in the middlings purifier {
of the flour is carried along
With the impurities to the dust room.
The contents of the dust room are after.
wards returned and rcground. The
lour is separated and carried to the
owest grade Western PoWman.