Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-11-21
A GRAIN OF CORN.
Science Turns it Into Everything from
Automobile Tires to Fireworks.

Automobile Tires to Fireworks.
There once was a time-and not
such a great number of years at that
when Indian corn was considered
fine feed for fattening cattle and poul-
try, and that was about all.
Just see what the wizard of science,
otherwise the food expert and chem
list, is able to do with grain of corn
today He separates the shell or hull
from the starchy inside, or endosperm,
and also removes the heart, or germ,
of the grain, and from these three
different substances he makes such
variety of products that they must
not be written down in one long list.
Some of them, such as bread and
sirup, have 4 food value. Others,
such as fireworks. soap and rubber
heels. have not.
This article gives an idea of the
widely diversified range Of foods,
substances and compositions which
the wizard Of science has already been
able to extract from the wonderful
grain of corn. and it is possible that
further experiments may reveal many
other uses to which the grain of corn
can be put.
Back in 1881, DR.. H. w. Wiley, chief
of the bureau of chemistry, depart
ment Of agriculture, said: Corn, the
new American king, now supplies us
with bread, meat and sugar, which
we need, as we'll as with whisky,
which we can do without" Today
he might add to the foregoing table
sirup, oil for frying, candy, gum, feed
cake for cattle, preserves and jelly.
And then, turning for a moment from
the food value found in a grain of
corn to the other substances and
compositions derived from that same
grain. DR.. Wiley might add laundry
starch, the new safe and sane" Fourth
of July firecrackers known as spark
lers," automobile tires, rubber heels,
soap, paint, varnish and hair tonics.
Wonderful" you may remark. The
wizard Of science says 1t Is all very
simple: The secret consists in know
in order to extract fine sirup from
one part, starch from another, oil
from another and so on without get
ting them mixed.
How do they make automobile
tires out of grains of corn?" may be
asked To answer frankly and hon.
estly, they don't. But out Of the very
heart, or germ, of the grain, a GER
tain oil, known as corn oil, Is extract
ed. Then by a vulcanizing process
this oil is converted into rubber
substitute, which is used in the man
ufacture Of various articles, such as
insulating material, rubber heels, au-
tomobile tires and raincoats. AS for
the corn oil itself, it is used in the
manufacture Of soap, soft soap and
soap powders, oilcloth and leather,
paints and varnishes.
The old way of using corn was to
feed it to the cattle, either on the
cob or in grains, or by grinding 1t
up, just as it came from the cob, to
make corn meal. Today the wizard
Of science takes a grain Of corn and
first of all sleeps 1t in water. The
grain absorbs a certain portion of the
water, swelling somewhat in conse-
quence, and there results a loosening
and softening of the various COM
ponent parts of the grain. The steep
water containing the solubles of the
evaporated and incorporated. with
other parts of the grain to make glu-
ten feed.
The next step Is to grind the steep
ed corn somewhat closely, so closely,
in fact, that the little heart or germ
Of the grain Is not broken. Then fol-
lows another sleeping process, by
means of which the component parts
of the ground corn are easily separ-
ated. The light and oily parts, In
obedience to the laws governing spe-
cific gravity, rise, and the heavier
parts SINK. and so a separation OF
germs, hulls and endosperm Is effect
ed.
The germs are dried and from them
is produced oil and oilcake The hulls
are likewise separated and mixed
with the gluten and corn solubles to
form gluten feed. The endosperm is
separated into it's component parts,
starch and gluten. From the starch
the three following classes of pro-
ducts are derived: Dry starches, corn
sirups and sugars and the dextrines.
The sugars and sirups are obtained
by a process known as hydrolizing
the starch. This simply means the
chemical decomposition Of the starch
and the formation Of new compounds
when the starch Is absorbed by water.
A subsequent refining and evaporat-
ing process is necessary for the pro-
duction Of the corn sirups and sugars.
The dextrines, otherwise the gummy
compounds formed by the action Of
heat on starch are produced from the
corn starch by a process of roasting.
Getting back to the very germ Of
the grain Of corn, 1t Is interesting to
follow it's career still further. When
the germ which contains the oil Is
separated from the remaining portion
Of the grain it is dried, ground and
subjected to hydraulic pressure
whereby the oil is extracted. The oil
is filtered after settling and still fur
ther refined to get rid of any free,
fatty acids, to improve the taste and
to tighten the color Then this oil Is
ready for frying and cooking pur-
poses, salad oil, for shortening for
bread and cake. for pharmaceutical
purposes, such as ammonia liniments
and camphorated oil.
The various starches obtained from
the grain of corn are almost too nu-
merous to mention, but among others
are the familiar corn, laundry and
confectionery starches. They have a
multlQuQe OF uses, LOT lOOQS, SUCH do
jellies and puddings, baking powder,
pastes, sauces, candies, gum drops,
lozenges, for brewing beers and ales,
for stiffening and finishing yarns and
fabrics in textile industries, in paper
manufacture as a filler, finisher and
size, for cosmetics, asbestos, soaps
and adhesives and in the manufacture
Of coal briquettes.
The dextrines, made by roasting
the starch, are used in the textile in
dustries for strengthening the fiber
and finishing the fabrics. for cloth,
carpets, twine, for thickening col
ors, for calico and other printing, for
leather dressings, pastes, food, sauces
and paper, for gums and CLUES, ink,
mucilages and adhesives, for coffee
and rice polishing, and finally in the
new Fourth of July fireworks known
as "sparklers."
To make the corn sirup the starch
Is mixed with water and heated un-
der pressure to form liquid COM
posed of about equal parts of deX-
trine and corn sugar and glucose
The acid is neutralized to form table
salt. The remainder Is filtered to re-
move any fat or protein from the
starch and decolorized by passing
through boneblack, just as cane sugar
l.. t. oil