The Penn's Grove record., 1894-10-12
a GRAIN OF WHEAT,
dow 1t is Treated Before It pecom..
Flour.


dow IT is Treated Before It necom..
Flour.
One who has never been in n eour.
ing mill OF the largest size cannot, re-
illle what q peculiar lot of noises arc
made by the machinery. As soon as
the wheat enters the machine from
the long spout which brings it down
from the upper floors,i it falls between
two rollers of iron-'chilledu iron
they call it. and very hard iron IL ia.
too. One Of these rollers reyoIyes
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 lust
enough to allow the coat to be
crushed. 1t is then carried awav I'M
to the top OF the mill again, to a
room where the sun vainly tries 70
shine in through the -four coated
windows far above the city's roofs
1t next passes over a wires eve 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
i've grindings each one finer than
The n preceding it Each time the
lbrOus or bran portions are more
completely separated, and at last the
bran comes out a clear, brownish busk
with every particle OF flour removed.
The inside part OF the kernel has
meanwhile been going through a very
interesting process. After the first
grinding or breaking, 1t passes to a
big six-slded revolving reel covered
with a fine wire netting or sieve.
Through this reel the finer portions
Of the kernel pass, coming out In
what is called s'middlings," 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 n 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, but is
Chased 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,
though the upper part of which o
strong current OF air is passed. This
holds in suspense the tiny portions Of
abrous 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 a 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, a tiny particle about
the size of a mustard seed, is sepa.
rated from the white -four. 1t is what
one might call the life-part of the
wheat. If 1t were ground up, it
would not leave the patent -four so
white and powderY, 80 1t is separated
in me Of the sievings, and pa Sses into
The darker or lower grade four. 1t
contains, however, the best aud most
nutritious part OF the wheat
The last thing that happens to the
pulyerized kernel, before 1t is ready
fer market, is the filling OF barrels or
sacks. Gown many stor es through
a smooth tube comes the white or
"patent" flour. Under the tube il
the barrel or the sack, as the ase
NAV LIE and, az 1t begins to oil, a
steel auger. just the size Of the bar
rel, bores down into the flour, packing
1t carefully and solidly beneath the
broad blades.