Improvements in the Treatment of Grain and Forage Substances.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov.,
1897
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Aug., 1898-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Treatment of Grain and Forage Substances.
I, WILLIAM GOODWIN, of Calle Reconquista, 268, Buenos Ayres, in the
Argentine Republic, temporarily residing at 31, Queen Victoria Street, London,
in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows
My invention has reference to improvements in the treatment of grain and
forage substances whereby same are rendered more digestible and palatable.
According to my invention grain and forage substances to be used as food, are
prepared by a process of partly cooking them by steam or hot water to render
them. more digestible by the developement of a soluble starch and more palatable
by reason of a slight "malting" of the embryo of the grain, said substances
being afterwards submitted to a gradual process of drying by efficient ventilation
of every particle with currents of hot air sufficiently charged with sulphur
di-oxide to destroy ferments, moulds and injurious insects and to leave the
substances so treated in condition to resist the attacks of ferments, moulds and
insects for a considerable time.
To facilitate the drying process and to deliver the substances in convenient
form for use as food or for other purposes they can be cut into small pieces,
bruised or macerated and compressed into bales or packages when in a softened
condition.
To neutralize any tendency to acidity that may be caused by action of sulphur
di-oxide a small quantity of lime may be added to the water used.
Improvements in the Treatment of Grain and Forage Substances.
I, WILLIAM GOODWIN, of Calle Reconquista, 268, Buenos Ayres, in the
Argentine Republic, temporarily residing at 31, Queen Victoria Street, London,
in the County of Middlesex, Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-

page_text: object to render same more palatable and digestable as an animal food than in
their raw and untreated state and at the same time capable of being kept for a
long time in good and sound condition owing to the destruction of moulds, fungi,
and the other forms of parasitic life peculiar thereto.
In describing the treatment of grain, as my invention relates more particularly 5
to the treatment of maizo I will describe the process in connection with this
grain.
are 1
The raw maize without hulling or degerminating, so as to in no way lose those
portions rich in nitrogenous and fatty constituents, is first submitted to any form
of washing process whereby all dirt, dust, or other extraneous matters
removed. The maize is then transferred to any suitable form of vessel where it
is allowed to steep or soak in cold or warm water for such time as is necessary to
soften the grain, or allow the starch granules to absorb some of the water and
become swollen. The time allowed for the maize to soak in water depends upon
the extent of gelatinization which is subsequently required, but generally twelve
hours is found to be sufficient.
The water is now drained off from the softened maize which is then submitted
to the action of steam for half an hour, more or less, whereby the granulose or
starch of the grain is gelatinized and the maize acquires a palatable flavour.
After all the condensed water has drained off, the damp grain is put through any
suitable form of machinery whereby the grain is broken without formation of any
great quantity of small particles, after which it is passed between suitable rollers
where it is pressed into flake cakes. The product is now dried by means of hot
air containing sulphur dioxide derived by placing sulphur or iron pyrites in the
air heating furnace thereby completing the sterilization. The finished product is
now withdrawn by gravitation into suitable receptacles for storage.
Maize treated as above described has granulose wholly or in part gelatinized and
contains dextrine and maltose and other more valuable food constituents chiefly
concentrated in the germ or embryo of the grain.
In the treatment of other substances, such as Alfalfa (Lucerne), the Lucerne or
such like forage is fed in between a pair of steel rollers the lower of which is
rotated by suitable machinery, the uppermost roller bearing its weight upon
the forage and revolves by virtue of the passage of the same.
The partially
compressed forage then enters a chamber into which steam is introduced and
passes between another pair of steel rollers which are set at a convenient distance
apart from one another where it is further compressed and thereby greatly reduced
in bulk. The layer of compressed forage now passes along a table where it is cut
into convenient lengths by means of a guillotine knife; it is then passed into the
bottom of a drying tower in which is placed an elevator to which are fixed suitable
shelves each of which is capable of holding one length of the steamed and
compressed forage. By this means the lengths or plates are dried (by hot air
combined with sulphur dioxide, as described with reference to maize and the
like), and sterilized by being passed up and down the drying tower, and are
discharged into an inclined plane at the bottom. Several of these lengths of
cooked forage are placed on one another and further compressed and bound
together in bales for use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The successive treatment of grain with cold or hot water, steam, and hot air
combined with sulphur dioxide, substantially as and for the purposes herein
set forth.
2. The improved forage or animal food produced by the herein described
method of treating grain.
3. The sterilization of grain by means of hot air together with sulphur dioxide,
with or without previous treatment with cold or warm water and steam.

page_text: 4. The process of treating Alfalfa (Lucerne) dried grasses and like forage
substances, by steaming and then drying by hot air combined with sulphur
dioxide substantially as herein described and for the purposes set forth.
5. The improved forage or animal food produced by the treatment of Alfalfa
(Lucerne) dried grasses and the like substantially as herein described.
Dated this 22nd day of August 1900
JOHN P. O'DONNELL, Fel. Chart. Inst. P.A.,
Agent for Applicant.