IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH-MEAL
Year: 1885

page_text: I, WILLIAM ROBert Lake of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and C³ Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH-MEAL to
be as follows :-
""
This invention relates to an improved method of producing a starch meal from
Indian corn or maize in a simple and economical manner, which starch meal is
substantially free from impurities and suitable for further treatment for the
production of refined starch, grape sugar or glucose, distilled spirits, malt liquors
and for various other uses in the industrial arts.
A kernel of Indian corn or maize consists of three principal parts viz: the inner
portion or body which consists principally of starch cells, the outer enclosing skin
or hull and its glutinous lining which consist of wood fibre, nitrogenous compounds,
albumen and oil, which are useful for cattle feed, and the germ which is located at
the small or cob end of the kernel, and is very rich in oil, the latter constituting
about seventy per cent of its component parts.
In extracting the crude starch from Indian corn, wet processes have heretofore
been generally employed. The oldest process of this kind is the so-called sour or
fermentation process in which the glutinous and oily matters are eliminated from
the ground maize by fermentation. This process is very slow, requires large
receptacles for the fermenting material, large quantities of water for washing the
starch, and is very offensive, while yielding a comparatively low per centage of
starch. This process produces what has been termed sour starch, that is starch
which contains germs of fermentation and which is liable to undergo destructive
changes in any subsequent treatment. Another more recent process, which has
been extensively used, is the so-called sweet process in which the starch is washed
by water out of the ground grain, and the gluten and oily matters, which accom-
pany the starch, are eliminated by caustic alkali. This process, like the first

page_text: .
mentioned one, requires large quantities of water and capacious receptacles for
settling the starch out of the water in which it is suspended. The starch produced
by this process is liable to contain traces of alkali or sulphates after neutralizing it,
while a large portion of the offal is charged with alkali and thereby rendered unfit
for use, the other portion of the offal being surcharged with moisture and thereby
rendered unsaleable except for immediate consumption, which in many localities is
far below the quantity of offal produced. In all these processes the gluten and oil
become mixed with the starch in reducing the maize and have to be eliminated
either by fermentation or alkali and repeated washings, rendering the process
expensive, slow and wasteful, as a considerable portion of the starch is necessarily
lost at each handling.
It has also been attempted to separate the hulls, gluten and oily germs from the
starch by dry treatment, but so far these attempts have been unsuccessful becauso
a large portion of these objectionable matters is unavoidably reduced to the same
fineness as some of the starch, so that they cannot be separated from the starch by
sifting, unless that portion of the starch, which is reduced to the same fineness, is
sifted out with the offal, which reduces the yield of starch so low that the process
is not profitable.
The object of this invention is to avoid these difficulties and produce in a simple
and expeditious manner a starch meal which is substantially free from hulls, gluten
and germs, and which can be advantageously used in making refined starch, grape
sugar or glucose, distilled spirits, malt liquors &°.
In practising this invention the maize is first steeped in a suitable tank at
a temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit for about fifteen hours, whereby
the kernels become expanded or swelled. This temperature is maintained by
renewing the water from time to time from a hot-water tank.. When the maize
has been steeped it will be found that by the combined action of the heat and
moisture the starchy body of each kernel has become enlarged and soft; that the
germ has become similarly enlarged and 'tends to separate itself by reason of its
oily character from the surrounding portions of the starchy body which has
absorbed water and that the 'hull has become tough and tends to separate with its
glutinous lining from the starchy body and the oily germ. In steeping the maize
care must be taken that the temperature does not rise to 155 degrees Fahrenheit
at which, temperature the sacks of the starch cells begin to burst, and, discharge
their contents, which will then adhere to the hulls and germs and render the
subsequent separation of the parts difficult, if not impossible. In order to
facilitate this separation, cold water is introduced into the steeping tank after
the operation of steeping is completed, whereby the maize is chilled, and the hulls..
are still further toughened and the oily germs further loosened from the surrounding
portions of the starchy bodies. The cold water also operates to cool the maize
'before it is fed to the reducing machine. The water is next permitted to drain off
thoroughly from the steeped maize, a period of five hours being usually allowed for
this purpose.
The steeped maize, after having been thoroughly drained, is next subjected to
the action of a reducing machine, consisting preferably of several concentric rows
of beaters or whippers revolving at a high speed in opposite directions within an
enclosing case. The maize enters the machine through a feed spout near the
centre, and after having been acted upon by the beaters, it escapes through the
discharge spout. In order to facilitate the discharge of the reduced material from
this machine the outer row of beaters is provided with one or more scrapers which
prevent the material from adhering to the inner side of the enclosing case of the
machine. In this machine the steeped maize is whipped or beaten, whereby the
bulls are opened and stripped in large flakes from the inner starchy bodies and
from the germs, the starchy bodies being at the same time reduced to fine granules,
while the gerius are detached from the starchy portions and hulls without being
pulverized. The steeped kernels are in this manner reduced into three distinct

page_text: products viz: the finely granulated starchy portions, the germs which are consider-
ably larger than these granules, and the still larger flakes of hulls and their
glutinous linings. This distinguishes this method of reduction from grinding or
crushing operations in which all the constituent parts of the kernels are to a certain
extent pulverized and commingled. It will be observed that the maize is reduced
in the moist condition in which it comes from the steep and that no water is added
in the reducing machine.
The rapidly rotating beaters of the reducing machine keep the material in
agitation while passing through the machine. and, at the same time drive an air
current through the machine with the material whereby the latter is partially dried
and relieved from a portion of the moisture which it has absorbed in the steep.
This facilitates the operation of detaching the starch particles from the germs and
hulls and also serves to cool the material, so that the meal, hulls and germs are
separated in a cool state. The drying effect due to the operation of the reducing
machine itself may be supplemented by an air current directed into the machine by
a suitable fan.
The reduced material is discharged from the machine into the foot of an elevator
and is discharged from the head of the elevator into a receiving hopper.
The reduced material is next sifted so as to separate the fine starchy portions
from the hulls and germs. This is effected by a suitable vibrating or rolling screen
which receives the material from the hopper and is preferably clothed for about
two-thirds of its length from its head with fine wire cloth which permits the starch
granules to pass through, while it retains the germs and bulls, and for the remainder
of its length with coarse wire cloth which permits the germs to pass through while
the hulls escape over the tail of the screen.
▲ receiver collects the meal which passes through the upper finely clothed
portion of the screen. A second receiver collects the germs passing through the
lower coarsely clothed portion of the screen, and a third receiver collects the hulls
which escape over the tail of the screen. The second and third receivers are
separated by a movable partition which can be placed vertically, when it is desired
to collect the germs separately, and which can be inclined when it is desired to mix
the germs with the hulls.
If it is desired to reduce the meal to a higher degree of fineness, this may be done
by a second reducing mill which receives the meal from the first receiver. The mill
preferably employed for this purpose is known as the "Bogardus" mill and consists
essentially of two serrated or grooved discs having a slight eccentric movement with
reference to each other, whereby the gumming or clogging up of the discs by the
meal is avoided. A fourth receiver receives the ground meal from the second
reducing mill, and a conveyor conducts the ground meal to a fifth receiver or
to any apparatus in which the meal is further treated.
A third reducing machine, constructed like the first reducing machine, is some-
times employed in which the steeped grain is reduced, and which receives the hulls
or germs or both, from the second and third receivers for the purpose of detaching
from these products of the separation any starch particles which may adhere to the
same, if such further treatment is necessary or desirable. The reduced material
coming from the third reducing machine is conducted by an elevator into a hopper
from which it is thrown upon a separating screen, which is arranged on one side of
the first mentioned screen and which effects a separation of the detached meal from
the germs and hulls, the meal passing into the first receiver and the germs and
hulls into fifth and sixth receivers. The latter receivers are also separated by
a movable partition whereby the germs and hulls can be directed into the receivers
so that both products can be commingled or collected separately, as may be
preferred.
The starch granules which have been so freed from the germs and hulls and their
glutinous linings constitute the meal which may be further treated in accordance
with the ultimate product which is desired to be manufactured. The reduced

page_text: material, as it comes from the reducing machine, still contains some of the moisture
which it has absorbed in the steep, and the meal and other products of the
separation are moist to some extent, but the quantity of moisture contained in
the meal, germs and hulls, after these parts have been separated, is insignificant
and can be easily removed, by drying, in any suitable drying apparatus if desired.
This meal may be used for the manufacture of distilled spirits, malt liquors,
laundry and culinary starch, grape sugar or glucose, and all other purposes for
which crude starch may be employed. This meal may also be used in making
bread and for other culinary purposes:

page_text: CORT PETE
Improvements in the Manufacture of Starch-meal.
"
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STARCH-MEAL
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to the manufacture of starch meal from Indian corn or
maize in a simple and economical manner, which starch meal is substantially free
from impurities and suitable for further treatment for the production of refined
starch, grape sugar or glucose, distilled spirits, malt liquors and for various other
uses in the industrial arts.
A kernel of Indian corn or maize consists of three principal parts:- the inner
portion or body which consists principally of starch cells; the outer enclosing skin
or hull and its glutinous lining, which consists of wood fibre, nitrogenous com-
pounds, albumen and oil, which are useful for cattle feed; and the germ which is
focated at the small or cob end of the kernel, and is very rich in oil, the latter
constituting about seventy per cent of its component parts.
In extracting the crude starch from Indian corn, wet processes have heretofore
been generally employed. The oldest process of this kind is the so-called sour or
fermentation process in which the glutinous and oily matters are eliminated from
the ground maize by fermentation. This process is very slow, requires large
receptacles for the fermenting material, large quantities of water for washing the
starch, and is very offensive, while yielding a comparatively low per centage of
starch. This process produces what has been termed sour starch, that is starch
which contains germs of fermentation and which is liable to undergo destructive
changes in any subsequent treatinent. Another more recent process, which has
been extensively used, is the so-called sweet process in which the starch is washed
by water out of the ground grain, and the gluten and oily matters, which accompany
the starch, are eliminated by caustic alkali. This process, like the first mentioned
one, requires large quantities of water and capacious receptacles for settling the
starch out of the water in which it is suspended. The starch produced by this
process is liable to contain traces of alkali or sulphates after neutralizing it, while a
large portion of the offal is charged with alkali and thereby rendered unfit for use,
the other portion of the offal being surcharged with moisture and thereby rendered
unsaleable except for immediate consumption, which in many localities is far below
the quantity of offal produced. In all these processes the gluten and oil become
mixed with the starch in reducing the maize and have to be eliminated either by
fermentation or alkali and repeated washings, rendering the process expensive, slow
and wasteful, as a considerable portion of the starch is necessarily lost at each
handling.
0
It has also been attempted to separate the hulls, gluten and oily germs from the
starch by dry treatment, but so far these attempts have been unsuccessful because
a large portion of these objectionable matters is unavoidably reduced to the same
fineness as some of the starch, so that they cannot be separated from the starch by

page_text: sifting, unless that portion of the starch, which is reduced to the same fineness, is
sifted out with the offal, which reduces the yield of starch so low that the process
is not profitable.
The object of this invention is to avoid these difficulties and produce in a simple
and expeditious manner a starch meal which is substantially free from hulls, gluten
and germs, and which can be advantageously used in making refined starch, grape
sugar or glucose, distilled spirits, malt liquors, &c.
In the accompanying drawing:-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of machinery by means of which
the improved starch meal can be prepared.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the reducing machine.
Figure 3 is a vertical cross section of the same.
Figure 4 is a plan or top view of the separating sieves.
Figure 5 is a vertical section on line x, x figure 40
Figure 6 is a sectional view of a kernel of maize drawn to an enlarged scale.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.
In practising this invention, the maize is first' steeped in a suitable tank A at a
temperature of about 140 degrees Fahrenheit for about fifteen hour's, whereby the
kernels expand or swell. This temperature is maintained by renewing the water
from time to time from a hot water tank. B., When the maize has been steeped it
will be found that by the combined action of the heat and moisture the starchy
body S of each kernel has become enlarged and soft; that the germ. T has become
similarly enlarged and tends to separate itself by reason of its oily character from
the surrounding portions of the starchy body which has absorbed water; and that
the hull U has become tough and tends to separate with its glutinous lining
from the starchy body and the oily germ. In steeping the maize care must be
taken that the temperature does not rise to 155 degrees Fahrenheit at which
temperature the sacks of the starch cells begin to burst and discharge their contents,
which will then adhere to the hulls and germs and render the subsequent separa-
tion of the parts difficult, if not impossible. In order to facilitate the separation,
cold water is introduced into the steeping tank A after the operation of steeping is
completed, whereby the maize is chilled and the hulls are still further toughened
and the oily germs further loosened from the surrounding portions of the starchy
bodies. The cold water also operates to cool the maize before it is fed to the
reducing machine. The water is next permitted to drain off thoroughly from the
steeped maize, a period of five hours being usually allowed for this purpose.
The steeped maize, after having been throughly drained; is next subjected to the
action of a reducing machine C, consisting preferably of several concentric rows of
beaters or whippers c revolving at a high speed, in opposite directions, within an
enclosing case c¹. The maize enters the machine through a feed spout ca near the
centre, and after having been acted upon by the beaters, it escapes through the
discharge spout c³. In order to facilitate the discharge of the reduced material
from this machine, the outer row of beaters is provided with one or more scrapers c¹.
which prevents or prevent the material from adhering to the inner side of the
enclosing case of the machine. In this machine the steeped maize is whipped or
beaten, whereby the hulls are opened and stripped in large flakes from the inner
starchy bodies and from the germs, the starchy bodies being at the same time
reduced to fine granules, while the germs are detached from the starchy portions
and hulls without being pulverized. The steeped kernels are in this manner
reduced into three distinct products, viz:-the finely granulated starchy portions,
the germs which are considerably larger than these granules, and the still larger.
flakes of bulls and their glutinous linings. This distinguishes this method of
reduction from grinding or crushing operations in which all the constituent parts
of the kernels are to a certain extent pulverized and commingled. It will be
observed that the maize is reduced in the moist condition in which it comes from
the steep and that no water is added in the reducing machine,

page_text: The rapidly rotating beaters of the reducing machine keep the material in
agitation while passing through the machine and at the same time drive an air
current through the machine with the material, whereby the latter is partially
dried and relieved from a portion of the moisture which it has absorbed in the
steep. This facilitates the operation of detaching the starch particles from the
germs and hulls 'and also serves to cool the 'material, so that the meal, hulls and
germs are separated in a cool state. The drying effect due to the operation of the
reducing machine itself may be supplemented by an air current directed into the
machine by a suitable fan.
The reduced material is discharged from the machine C into the foot of an
elevator D from the head of which elevator the said material is discharged into a
receiving hopper E. i
The reduced material is next sifted so as to separate the fine starchy portions
from the hulls and germs. This is effected by a suitable vibrating or rolling
screen F which receives the material from the hopper E and is preferably clothed
for about two-thirds of its 'length from its head, with fine wire cloth, (which
permits the starch granules to pass through, while it retains the germs and hulls)
and for the remainder of its length with coarse wire cloth, which permits the
germs to pass through while the hulls escape over the tail of the screen.
:
G represents a receiver which collects the meal passing through the upper finely
clothed portion of the screen F, and H represents a receiver which collects the
gerins passing through the lower coarsely clothed portion of the screen. I is a receiver
which collects the hulls escaping over the tail of the screen. The receivers H and I
are separated by a-movable partition which can be placed vertically, as shown
in full lines in figure 1, when it is desired to collect the germs separately, and
which can be inclined, as shown in dotted lines, when it is desired to mix the
germs with the hulls.
If it is desired to reduce the meal to a higher degree of fineness, this may be
done by a suitable mill K which receives the meal from the receiver G. The mill
preferably employed for this purpose is known as the "Bogardus" mill, and
consists essentially of two serrated or grooved discs having a slight eccentric
movement with reference to each other, whereby the gumming or clogging up of
the discs by the meal is avoided.
L is a receiver which receives the ground meal from the mill K, and M is a
conveyor whereby the ground meal is conducted to a final receiver or to any
apparatus in which the meal is further treated.
N is a supplementary reducing machine, constructed like the machine C in which
the steeped grain is reduced, and receiving the hulls or germs, or both, from the
hoppers Hand I for the purpose of detaching from these products of the separation
any starch particles which may adhere to the same, if such further treatment is
necessary or desirable. The reduced material coming from the machine N is
conducted by an elevator O into a hopper E¹ from which it is directed upon a
separating screen F¹, which is arranged on one side of the screen F and which
effects a separation of the detached meal from the germs and hulls, the meal passing
into the receiver G and the germs and hulls into receivers H₁ and I. The
receivers Hand I¹ are also separated by a movable partition whereby the
germs and hulls can be directed into the receivers H¹ or I' so that both products
can be commingled, or collected separately, as may be preferred.
The starch granules which have been freed as described from the germs and
hulls and their glutinous linings constitute the meal, which may be further treated
in accordance with the ultimate product which is desired to be manufactured.
The reduced material, as it comes from the reducing machine, still contains some
of the moisture which it has absorbed in the steep, and the meal and other products
of the separation are moist to some extent; but the quantity of moisture contained
in the meal, germs and hulls, after these parts have been separated, is insignificant
and can be easily removed, by drying, in any suitable drying apparatus, if desired,
تم

page_text: This meal may be used for the manufacture of distilled spirits, malt liquors,
laundry and culinary starch, grape sugar or glucose, and all other purposes for
which crude starch may be employed. This meal may also be used in making
bread and for other culinary purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is
First. The herein described method of manufacturing starch meal from Indian
corn or maize, consisting in 'first steeping the maize, whereby the starchy portions
and the germs are caused to swell and the hulls are toughened; then detaching the
hulls and germs from the starchy portions by whipping or beating without
additional water; and then separating the hulls and germs from the starch meal
by sifting, substantially as set forth.
Second. The herein described method of preparing Indian corn or maize for the
separation of the hulls and germs from the starchy portions, which consists in
steeping the Indian corn in warm water until the starchy portions and germs are
,expanded or swelled, and then chilling the Indian corn by, cold water, whereby tho
separation of the bulls and germs from the starchy portions is facilitated,
substantially as set forth.