An Improved Process of Manufacturing Hominy Flakes or Corn Flakes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 9th July, 1890.
Complete Specification Left, 9th Apr., 1891-Accepted, 6th June, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Manufacturing Hominy Flakes or
Corn Flakes.
I, JOHN PITT BAYLY of 18 Fulham Place, Paddington, in the County of
London, Patent Agent, (a communication to me from abroad by James Currie, of
Springfield, Ohio, U.S.A., Inventor) do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows :-
This invention relates to an improved process of preparing corn for food, and it
consists in first reducing it to hominy, then cooking the grains until they have
been gelatinized or converted into dextrine. The grains are then crushed or rolled
into large, thick, translucent flakes, without destroying their individuality.
J. P. BAYLY,
Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Manufacturing Hominy Flakes or
Corn Flakes.
I, JOHN PITT BAYLY, of 18 Fulham Place, Paddington, in the County of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a
communication to me from abroad by James Currie, of Springfield, Ohio, U.S.A.
Inventor), and in what manner the same is to be performed, to te particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the art or process of making a new edible product from
Indian corn or maize to which I have given the name of "Hominy-flakes" from
the fact that certain steps in my process of manufacture are somewhat similar to
those used in the manufacture from Indian corn of a food product generally known
as "hominy."
The object of my invention is to produce from Indian corn or maize a food
product which can be cooked in much less time than hominy and yet preserve its
flavour, form, and consistency.
Another object of my invention is to produce a new and palatable article of food
from Indian corn or maize that will preserve its wholesome and palatable properties
in any climate, not being liable to fermentation or souring by changes of temperature,
to which most, if not all, the products which are now made from Indian corn in its
raw state are liable.
To carry out my invention, I take dry corn and first subject it to the process of
hulling and degerminating for removing all the exterior skin from the kernel and
extracting the germ. I then place the hulled and degerminated corn in a suitable
closed receptacle and subject it to the action of steam until it is cooked soft, but
not enough to destroy the individuality of the grain, the time employed varying
with the amount of corn in the receptacle and the temperature of the steam.
After the steaming process is complete I remove the corn from the steaming
receptacle and pass it while hot between a pair of equally-speeded cold rolls.
These latter roll it into broad thick flakes. The action of the steam upon the
corn is such as to cause the individual kernels or fractional kernels to preserve the
coherence of their particles, while being subjected to the action of the rolls so as
not to subdivide them into small fragments. The flakes can be rolled after the
steamed mass of corn has become cool or partially cool; but if allowed to become

page_text: cool before being passed through the rolls the product is not so good, as many of
the flakes are broken, and they are not as large and perfect as when they have
been rolled hot from the steaming-receptacle...
In the accompanying drawings is illustrated the mechanism, which. I have
adopted for performing the several steps of my process.
In said drawings, Figure 1 is a side view, partly in section, of the several
mechanisms employed in cooking the previously hulled and degerminated corn,
rolling the same into flakes and drying the cooked and rolled corn, and also shows
means for feeding and conveying the corn from one part to another; and Fig. 2
is an enlarged detached view of the heating-pipes in the cooking receptacle.
The letter A designates the receptacle in which the hulled and degerminated
corn is cooked, said receptacle having at its top a hopper B, through which it is
supplied with the corn. The bottom of the receptacle inclines downwardly toward
the centre, as shown, and at said centre is cut away to form the longitudinal
opening a, through which the corn when cooked is fed between the rollers E by the
means hereinafter described. This opening a is kept normally closed by a slide F,
which is secured to and worked backward and forward by a screw-threaded rod G,
which passes through an internally-screw-threaded perforated support G¹, depending
from the side of the receptacle A, and is provided at its outer end with a hand-
wheel G, for convenience in operating it.
a
CCC designate the pipes for the passage of steam. The pipe C is horizontal
and is connected at its outer end with a suitable steam-generator (not shown) and
at its inner end with the upper extremity of the vertical pipe C₁, the lower
extremity of which is connected by a five-way coupling C with the four horizontal
pipes C, which radiate therefrom. These pipes Care located at the bottom of
the receptacle, are each formed with a series of perforations c, for the exit into the
receptacle of steam, and are closed at their outer ends by caps. Beneath these
pipes and contiguous to the opening a in the receptacle A is a longitudinally-
corrugated roller H, the office of which is to feed the cooked corn between the
rollers E, which roll the same into flakes, said opening being previously uncovered
to permit the corn to pass through it. This feed-roll H is rotated at a less speed
than the rolls E by means of a large toothed wheel I, which is connected by an
endless chain I with a small open wheel I', mounted on the shaft of one of the
rolls E, and said rolls E are rotated from a main drive-shaft J, which is set at right
angles to said rolls and carries pulleys K, connected with said rolls by the twisted
belts L. The rolled corn falls onto a belt M, which is provided with a series of
transverse upwardly-extending projections m, by which said corn is conveyed to
another endless belt N, which conveys it through a steam-heated drying-chamber O,
and said corn falls from said belt N (after it has passed through said drying-
chamber ) through a hopper P1 onto another endless belt Q, which passes
through a bottomless open-ended chamber P, in which it is further dried by an air-
blast from a revolving fan located within a shoe R at the end of said
chamber P. The product is now in condition for the market and falls from the
belt N into a tube S, which has a funnel-shaped upper end S¹ and is conducted by.
said tube to a suitable place to be packed for sale.
As above shown, the hulled and degerminated corn remains in the receptacle A
until substantially cooked, which cooking is accomplished by the steam which
permeates the corn, said steam, after passing through the corn, escaping from said
receptacle through a pipe T at the top of the receptacle.
It has been found from practical experience that the resultant product of the
above-described process can be prepared for the table in from ten to fifteen minutes,
thus obviating the objection urged against hominy, which ordinarily requires six
hours' cooking before it is in condition to be eaten, and also that it possesses all the
pleasant taste and nutritive qualities of hominy and substantially the form and
consistency of the same.
In defining my invention with greater clearness I would state that I am aware
of the product known as Cerealine," which, as made under the United States
66

page_text: Patent to Gent, No. 223,847, consists of corn cracked and hulled to form grits,
which is then steamed till soft and tough and then passed between hot rolls to form
very thin light and white attenuated scales, which, however, do not have the
appearance or consistency of hominy.
In my invention the grains of hominy are cooked whole, and are gelatinized and
rendered wholesome and capable of easy digestion before rolling, the subsequent
mashing of the large grains by rolling serving only to flatten the grains to render
them quickly soluble for easy preparation for the table. The physical properties
which distinguish my finished product are the translucent appearance of the thick
large flakes due to the conversion of the starch into the gelatinous consistency of
dextrine in contradistinction to the mechanical rupture of starch-cells by a close
adjustment of hot rolls without previous conversion of the starch. As it is well
known that raw starch is almost indigestible and that starch when gelatinized to
form dextrine is a wholesome and easily digestible article of food, the distinctive
merits of my invention may be easily understood.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The process of preparing corn for food, which consists in first reducing it to
hominy, then cooking the grains till they have been gelatinized or converted into
dextrine, and then crushing the grains without destroying their individuality into
large thick flattened flakes, substantially as shown and described.
2. The hominy-flake product herein described, consisting of whole grains of
hominy gelatinized by steam and rolled into large thick translucent flakes,
substantially as described.
Dad ton of A 1001
J. P. BAYLY,
Applicant.