Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1893-02-11
MODERN MILLING.
I'm Separating Different Grades of Flour
Lies the Secret of the Industry.

Hardly any manufacture of gener
alton ago was So simple as -four milling
The miller dropped his wheat into
hopper; millstones beneath swiftly
ground it into a product from which
there and then, -four was separated by
bolting cloth. Fragments of wheat
that had been only partly ground, and
so could not pass through the meshes Of
the cloth, were passed between the mill
stones second time. The meal ob.
tanned by this latter operation was
again sifted, yielding -four which var
ned good deal in quality. Sometimes il
was fair in grade. but usually it carried
SD much bran as to he quite dark in
color. and the bread baked from it was
darker still
Contrasted with this simple, direct
way of making -four is the elaborate
roller process, first brought to the point
of practical success in Hungary. I'm.
ported thence 1t was developed and i'm.
proved by American ingenuity in the
great mills of Minnesota. and from that
state has spread to every other in the
Union. Simplicity is SO important a
feature in machinery that, had the old
time mill been as economical as it was
simple, its quick and ready methods
would never have been discarded.
The fault in these methods was that,
considering the real complexity of the
work to be done. they were too simple.
Millstones. especially when they ran, as
they usually did, very close together,
wasted some Of the wheat's best ele-
ments, and left sticking TO the bran no
small percentage of good -four.
What miller's task is becomes plain
when we closely examine grain Of
wheat. The first thing to meet the eye
Is its branny envelope. At one end OF
this is a little bunch of delicate hair or
fuzz; at the other appears an embryo or
germ-for the grain, II must be remem
bered, Is seed. Next is to be noticed
the deep crease which runs along tho
length Of the grain. This is very tight
ly and snugly folded together In get
ting at the -four within the grain the
miller has TO remove hair, bran and
germ, and most 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 separation of the -four is an easy
matter, even when spring wheat, with
its hard, brittle covering, furnishes the
grist, While mills of the Hungarian
type employ series Of rollers 10 reduce
the wheat, their efficiency and economy
are equally due to their separating ma
chinery This machinery takes the diff
ferent products successfully let fall by
the rollers and asserts them with nicely
II -four from an old fashioned mill,
snch as still may be found lingering in
frontier settlement, be scrntinized
carefully, it will be found to consist Of
flours Of more than one kind. These
fours. If freed from the admixture of
bran and other impurities, and divided
into fair, good and best, would be much
enhanced in value. To effect this separ-
alton would be impossible. and yet mod
ern milling aceomplishes what is prac-
tically the same task. This it does by
indirect attack. Instead of attempting
to separate and purify hours in their
ground and mixed state it separates and
purifies each distinct product of wheat
before flour 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 ii rises before the
breath like 50 much dust. Both groups
of inventions-roliers for reduction aud
purifiers and separators for treating
wheat as redueed-owe their develop
ment to the study bestowed upon what
not very long ago millers were wont to
regard as mere byproduct.-Cincin-
matt Commercial Gazette.