IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MAIZE TO SEPARATE GERMS THEREFROM."
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alister Gilian Fraser, of Inverness Terrace, in the
County of Middlesex, for an invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING
MAIZE TO SEPARATE GERMS THEREFROM."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alister Gilian Fraser at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th February 1882.
ALISTER GILIAN FRASER of Inverness Terrace in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MAIZE TO SEPARATE GERMS THEREFROM.”
This invention has for its object improvements in treating maize to separato
germs therefrom.
For this purpose I first crack the grains of maize by any known mill suitable for
being used for the purpose so as to expose the germs as is now frequently practised
-I then place the broken grain into a mortar such as heretofore used for cleaning
rice-these mortars have at their centre a vertical pestle or stamper moved upwards
and downwards but not allowed to strike against the bottom of the mortar. In this
way a circulation of the grain is set up within the mortar and the grains are
thereby caused to rub one against the other and against the sides and bottom of
the mortar by which means the germs and portions of the husk are removed from
the other portions of the grain-Afterwards the germs and husk together with a
small proportion of meal are separated by sifting blowing or other known means
from the other portions of the grain which can then be used for brewing distilling
starch making or for any purpose for which starch is required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alister Ġilian Fraser in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd August 1882.
ALISTER GILIAN FRASER of Inverness Terrace in the County of Middlesex
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING MAIZE TO SEPARATE GERMS THEREFROM."
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating maize to separate
germs therefrom.
For this purpose I first crack the grains of maize by any known mill suitable
for being used for the purpose so as to expose the germs as is now frequently
practiced.
I prefer to employ for the purpose mills of a well known construction having
two parallel toothed discs or rings of steel operating like mill stones and
set at a suitable distance apart; or mill stones may be employed to crack the
maize.
The mill should be so set as to crack the grain on the average into say ten or a
dozen pieces.
On leaving the mill the small quantity of meal which will be
produced in the operation is separated by passing the cracked grain over a screen
of wire gauze. I then place the broken grain into a mortar such as heretofore used
for cleaning rice-these mortars have at their centre a vertical pestle or stamper
moved upwards and downwards but not allowed to strike against the bottom of
the mortar.
The mortar may conveniently be of a size to receive a charge of three or four
hundred weight; it is lined with cement like the mortars used for decorticating
rice and the pestle is covered" with the saine material. The pestle may have a
vertical stroke of nine inches and approach within three inches of the bottom of
the mortar. Thirty strokes a minute will be found a suitable speed.
When the mortar has worked upon the charge for ten minutes a considerable
amount of dust will have been produced, mainly from the disintegration of the
gerins.
At this stage I draw the charge from the mortar sift out the dust and put back
the remainder. The mortar process is continued for another quarter of an hour
or twenty minutes and is then complete. By a final sifting and blowing the
separation of the germ and most of the husk from the starchy parts of the maizo
is completed.
By the movement of the pestle a circulation of the grain is set up within the
mortar and the grains are thereby caused to rub one against the other and against
the sides and bottom of the mortar by which means the germs and portions of the
husk are removed from the other portions of the grain.
The product is well adapted for use in brewing and distilling and is not open
to the objections which apply to maize in other forms where the gerin is not
separated.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
performing the same I would have it understood that I claim the process of treating
maize consisting in first cracking the grains, and then subjecting the cracked grains
to friction in a mortar thereby detaching the germ so that it may be removed by
sifting or like means substantially as described.
In witness whereof I the said Alister Gilian Fraser have hereunto set my
hand and seal this nineteenth day of August in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.