The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-28
IN THE FLOUR MILL

The Interesting Story of q Wheat Grains
Evolution.
The noises on the inside of the mill
are deafening. One who has never
been in a Touring mill of the largest
size cannot realize what peculiar lot
of noises are made by the machinery.
AS soon rs the wheat enters the
machine from the long spout which
brings it down from the upper floors,
: it falls between the two rollers OF iron
-s'chilled" iron as they call it, and
very hard iron it is, too. One of these
rollers revolves rapidly, the other more
slowly, il order that the separation OF
the coat, or bran, from the kernel may
be l-aore easily accomplished The
wheat first passes between rollers
separated just enough to allow the coat
to be crushed. 1t is then carried away
up to the top OF the mill again, to
room where the sun vainly tries to
shine in through the fiour-coated wind
ows far above the city's roofs. 1t next
passes ever a wire sieve which separ-
ates the bran from the kernel proper.
This bran, which contains much OF
the -four material, again passes down
and is ground once more, the process
being repeated four times. making five
grindings, each one finer than the one
preceding it. Each time the fibrous or
bran portions are more completely
separated, and at last the bran comes
out clear, brownish husk with every
particle of -four removed.
The inside part of the kernel has
meanwhile been going through very
interesting process. After the first
grinding or breaking, it passes to big
six-sided revolving reel covered with
fine Wire netting or sieve. Through
this reel the finer portions Of the ker-
mel pass, coming out in what is called
s'middlings," granulated mass which
goes back to the rollers for another
crushing. This process is repeated
through five reels, all but the first be-
ing of silk. The last one has one hun
dred and twenty threads to the ineal
inch. The -four which comes out OF
the fifth reel, while white in hue, is yet
not of the finest or patent" grade, but
is classed as ''bakers" or Second-grade
-four.
The middlings above referred to are
purified by an interesting process.
They are passed over a fine wire sieve,
through the upper part of which a
strong current of air is passed. This
holds in suspense the tiny portions OF
fibrous matter which may have been in
the -four, and at last, after this process
of neutrality-suspicious. has been very
carefully carried out, the flour appears
spotless. snowy white-the patent"
flour, as it is called. In the process OF
grinding in this gradual and repeated
way, the germ of the wheat, a tiny par
ticle about the size of mustard-seed,
is separated from the white flour. 1t is
what one might call the life-part OF the
wheat. If it were ground up, it would
not leave the patent -four SO white and
powdery, so it is separated in one of the
sievings, and passes into the darker or
lower-grade flour. It contains, how
ever, the best and most nutritious part
of the wheat.
The last thing that happens to the
pulverized kernel, before it is ready for
market, is the filing of barrels Or sacks.
Down many stories through smooth
tube comes the white or patent" flour.
Uuder the tube is the barrel or the sack,
as the case may be, and as it begins to fill,
steel auger, just the size Of the barrel.
bores down into the flour, packing it
carefully and solidly beneath the broad
blades.-St. Nicholas.