The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-11-16
In a Flour Mil.

The noises on the inside of the mil
are deafening. One who has never
been in ilouring mill of the largest
size cannot realize what peculiar LOT
of noises are made by the machinery.
As soon as the wheat enters the ma
chine from the long spout which brings
it down from the upper floors, il falls
between two rollers of iron" chilled
iron they call it, and very hard iron i,
is, too. One of these rollers revolves
rapidly, the other more slowly, inordei
that the separation of the coat, or bran,
from the kernei may be more easily
accomplished. The wheat first passes
between rollers separated just enough
&ST7cl He5at TO be Srnshed, $at is
tneh carried away up to the top of the
mill again, to room where the sun
vainly tries to shine in through the
flour coatel windows far above the
city's roofs. II next passes over a
wire sieve which separates the bran
from the kernel proper.
This bran. which contains much OF
the flour material, again passes down
and is ground once more, this process
being repeated four times, making five
grindings, each one finer than the one
preceding IT, Each time the tibrous
or bran portions are more completely
separated, and at last the bran comes
ont clear, brownish husk with every
particle of -four removed.
The inside part of the kernel has
meanwhile been going through n 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
"middlings, II granulated mass which
goes back To the rollers for another
crushing, This process is repeated
through five reels, all but the first being
of sill. The last one has one hundred
and twenty threads to the lineal inch.
The flour which comes out of the fifth
reel, while white in hue, is yet not OF
the finest or patent grade, but is
classed MS bakers or second grade
flour.
The middlings above referred to are
purified by an interesting process.
They are passed over u fine wire sieve,
through the upper part of which a
strong current of air is passed. This
holds in suspense the tiny portions of
iibrous matter which may have been in
the flour, and at last, after this pro,
cess of middlings- purifying has been
very carefully carried out, the -four
appears spotless. snowy white-the
patent -four, as it is called. In the
process of grinding in this gradual
and repeated way, the germ of the
wheat, tiny particle about the size
of n mustard seed, is separated from
the white flour. 1t is what one might
call the life-psrt of the wheat If il
were ground up, it would not leave the
patent -four so white and powdery, SO
1t is separated in one of the sievings,
and passes into the darker or lower
grade flour. 1t contains, however, the
best and most nutritious part of the
wheat.
The last thing that happens to the
pulyeri2ed kernel, before it is ready
Tor market, IS the filling of barrels or
sacks. Down many stories through a
smooth tube comes the white or 'pat.
ent' -four. Under the tube is the bar
rel or the sack, rs the case may be,
and, as it begins to fill, a steel auger,
Just the size of the barrel, bores down
into the -four, packing it carefully and
solidly beneath the broad blades. st.
Nicholas.
Coxnar lnuaI nafa nnd haI "a ana