Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-20

and snugly folded together. In getting at
the -four within the grain the miller has to
remove hair, bran, and germ, and must
thoroughly unfold the crease.
This last part of his work was the most
troublesome of all until rollers took the
place of millstones. They open out the
grains crease so completely that the separa-
when spring wheat, with its hard, brittle
covering, furnishes the grist.
Separation Is tho Great Point
While mills of the Hungarian type EN-.
| ploy series of rollers to reduce the wheat,
their efficiency and economy are equally
due to their separating machinery. This
machinery takes the different products sue
cessively let fall by the rollers and assorts
them with nicely. If -four from an old
fashioned mill, such as still may be found
lingering in afrontier settlement, be scrutin-
lied carefully'it will be found to consist of
fours of more than one kind. These fours,
| if freed from their admixture of bran and
other impurities, and divided into fair,
good, and best, would be much enhanced in
value. To effect this separation would be
| impossible. and yet modern milling accom-
plishes what is practically the same task.
This it does by indirect attack. Instead
of attempting to separate and purify fours
| in their ground and mixed state, it sepa-
| rates and purifes each distinct product of
wheat before -four is made at all. When
wheat Is granulated, step by step, it can be
easily rid of its impurities and divided
kind from kind, as it cannot at later stage
when as -four it rises before the breath like
so much dust. Both groups of inventions,
rollers for reduction and purifiers and sepa-
rators for treating wheat as reduced, owe
their development to the study bestowed
upon what, not very long ago, millers were
wont to regard as mere bye-product.
a Bye-Product the Miller's NIainstay.
Millstones run in the old, crude way used
to turn out to per cent of their grist in
the form Of fmiddlings-wheat finely broken,
but still far short of the powderiness of
four. Formed from the part next the husk,
hard in texture and refractory to the mill
stones, these middings were at the same
time the wheat's richest substance, the por-
tion most sensitive to the action of leaven
Millers were quite we'll aware of their
value, but mixed as the middlings were
with bran, germ and fiber, they were either
run into the refuse heap for cattle feed or
made into low quality of -four. When
the middlings purifier was invented its
cleansed and separated product yielded q
-four SO superior to sny brand previously
manufactured that milIers began to study
how the percentage Of middlings might be
increased This led to the Introduction of
''new process milling" which was simply
high grinding on millstones, the upper
milestone being at an increased height from
the lower.
The process was in turn discarded for
the Hungarian roller system. A very strik-
ing transformation has resulted. Whereas
the miller's aim had been to make as much
-four at one operation as he could, and as
little middlings, he endeavors to-day to
make all the middlings possible, and, at his
earlier operations, as little -four as he can.
To produce this largest possible yield of
middlings he uses series Of rollers to break
up his wheat. That done, rollers in q Sec
ond extended series reduce the middlings to
-four.
The Result Of Improved Processes.
Uncounted experiments have shown that
in both operations it is best to proceed de-
iberately. Gradual reduction permits
gradual publication, and no publication |
abandoning methods that seemed simple,
and which were really too simple, millers |
have built up what looks like roundabout |
process. Their justification is in its splendid |
results. To-day out Of 100 pounds of -four |
they will have some seventy to seventy |
five pounds of whiteness and bread-mak-
ing quality such as the old mills knew not,
20 pounds or 80 as good as the old mills
best, and only the remainder, five to ten
pounds of low grade.
Let Us enter q roller-procsss mill First
of all we are shown the machines which. bv
means Of sieves and air blasts, remove from
the wheat its admixture Of cookies, tares,
chips and dirt. Next come the securing
machines, stoutly framed and covered with
cases OF perforated cast iron. These are fed
from the cleaners we have just seen, and
their duty is to cut off the beard of the
grain, leaving 1t in perfectly secured and
polished condition for reduction by the
rollers Some millers prefer cases made Of
very heavy rolled wire Of square section,
whose sharp. impinging edges exert IL