Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-10-17
4 GRAIN or WHEAf
dow Js II Treated Before ls Become
Flour.


dow It IL Treated Before is Becomes
Flour.
One who has never been in -four
ing mil of the largest size cannot re-
alIle what a peculiar lot Of noises are
made by the machinery. As soon as
the wheat enters the machine from
the long spout which brings 1t down
from the upper floors, 1t falls between
two rollers of iron-''chilled" iron
they call it. and very hard iron 1t is.
too. One of these rollers revolves
rapidly, the other more slowly, in or
| der that the separation OF the coat, or
bran, from the kernel may be more
easily accomplished. The wheat
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 vainlv tries to
shine in through the -four coated
windows far above the citys roo s.
1t next passes over a wires eve which
separates the bran from the kernel
proper.
| This bran, which contains much OF
the -four material, again passes down
and is ground once more, this process
being repeated four times, making
live grindings, each one finer than
the one preceding it. Each time the
iibrous 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 a
big six-Sided revolving reel covered
with q fine wire netting or sieve.
Through this reel the finer portions
Of the kernel pass. coming out in
what is called ''midd ings," a granu-
lated mass which goes back to the
rollers for another crushing. This
process is repeated through five reels,
all but the first being of silk. The
last one has one hundred and twenty
threads TO the lineal inch. The
-four which comes out of the fifth
reel, while white in hue is yet not OF
the finest or patent" grade, hut is
classed as "bakers" or SecOnd-grade
flour.
The middlings above referred to are
purified by an interesting prUresS
They are passed over u fine wire sieve,
though the upper part of which a
strong current of air is passed. This
holds in suspense the tiny portions OF
fbrous matter, which may have been
in the flour, and at last, after this
process OF neutrality-suspicious. has
been very carefully carried out the
dour appears d sp0tlesj 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 a tiny particle about
the size of mustard seed, is sepa-
rated from the white -four 1t is what
one might call the liie-part of the
wheat. If il were ground up, it
wou d not leave the patent -four so
white and powdery, so 1t is separated
in ne Of the sieving>, and pa >es intu
The darker or lower grade -four 1t
however, the Test and most
tutritiouS part Of the wheat
The last thing that happens to the
pulveri ed kernel, before it is ready
fer market, is the hlling of barrels or
sacks. Down many stores through
a smooth tube come, the white or
'patent" -four Under the tube is
the barrel or the sack, as the case
nav be. ami, a it begins to Gil, a
steel auger. just the size Of the bar
-el, torres down into the -four. packing
It carefully ana solidly beneath the
broad blades