Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-11-11
BY Woods Hutchinson, A. NJ, NJ. ID.

In nearly every form of manufacturing
anywhere from two to five and even ten
or fifteen different grades and kinds of
raw materials have to be combined to
strengthen one another and neutralize
one another or blend with one another in
such way as to produce the required
fabric or substance or machine
To take a simple example. the different
brands OF flour are made by blending I'm
various proportions the different num-
pers and grades and qualities of wheat.
And as even a given grade of winter or
spring wheat from the same region win
vary greatly in different years, accol ding
10 the weather and the season, It requires
great deal of skill and Judgment and
experience TO combine these different
wheats in such way as to produce a
particular standard of whiteness and
good dough-making and gas-retention
flavor. to say nothing of nutritive value.
Formerly, this delicate and extremely
important worA was done simply by rule
OF thumb by some expert of long experi-
ence' and often very successfully. Now
the chemist comes on the scene. takes
samples OF the perfect finished flour
("moh' as may not be generally known
mas peen carefully tested by baking I'm
Jest IoaVes in various temperatures and
unoer various conditions, and put TO the
tnal proof of the pudding" the eating
before 1t will be branded and sold under
certain honorable name). and analvzes
II, finds out the percentage of gluten and
Sladln' percentage of starch, of the va
rious salts, of water, of the constituents
which have to do with its absorption Of
water and holding of gas in bread-mak
ing, and in a short time hands 70 tba
practical milling expert a precise work.
ing formula in chemical terms for his
famous product
They the different wheats are taken as
they are bought in the market or como
into the mill and a like careful analvsis
Is made of each one of these. One is
deficient in gluten, but strong in starch.
Another is deficient in certain salts. An
other, again, has undergone certain
changes in lite envelope which will be
hkeiy to give a bad color to the flour
when combined with other brands
The whole group is carefully analysed
and graded according to the amounts of
the constituents desired in the final mix
ture which each contains Then a pre-
scription is written. such and such a
per cent of No. red winter, so much No. l
spring. so much northern Manitoba, so
much Oregon red, and the result is al
most certain.
VI II II be, say, a paper mill, which
desires to produce a given grade of
wrapping paper, of a certain weight per
yard, and a certain toughness as meas
ured by the amount of pull Expressed
In pounds) which it will resist before
tearing. sample of paper which full
ILLS these requirements is dissolved and
anaiyzed. Then the different pulps, wood,
straw, rag hemp, are worked out, the
qualities Of each one placed upon a
chemical basis, and again a prescription
is written of the proportional mixture OF
each one of the two, three, five, whic.l
may be necessary, which will give the
proper blend to produce the desired re-
suits.
Or, in a great metal manufacturing
plant, an automobile factory, for instance
a particular part, say bearing, requires
a particular kind and quality of steel,
not too hard and brittle, not too soft
and grindable; or in a spring, where the
problem is the highest degree of elias
ITCHY combined with the maximum of
toughness.
Formerly some old and experienced
workman combined certain iron ores,
fused them in a certain way, heated
them upon the forge hearth until they
looked Just about right. hammered until
they gave out a certain ringing tone,
and sometimes got an excellent result,
sometimes a discouraging failure.
Today the chemist is called in, and by
skillful mixing of other metals, nickel,
vanadium. ETC.. the steel is given quail
ties which even the purest and finest
iron could never be made to yield; and
every step in the process. the precise
number Of degrees of heat to which it is