Process of Manufacturing Flour or Meal from Wheat or other Grains.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Feb., 1897-Accepted, 26th June, 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process of Manufacturing Flour or Meal from Wheat or other
Grains.
I, REGINALD HADDAN, of the Firm of Herbert Haddan & Co. of 18, Buck-
ingham Street, Strand, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention a communication from George Thomas Smith, a citizen of the
United States of America, and residing at Jackson, in the County of Jackson, and
State of Michigan, U.S.A. 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 a new process of manufacturing flour or meal from
wheat or other grains, and has for its object the preservation in the finished
product of the constituent elements of the grain which, when the flour or meal is
cooked, impart to it its highest flavor.
It is well known that in the ordinary process of milling by the use of either
rollers or mill stones, the grain as it is going through the several reductions is
heated quite hot and between each reduction is cooled as the meal, chop, middlings
or other product in passing through the various graders, purifiers and reels or
other separators which are used for such purposes, whether they effect the division
of the material is to different grades by sifting or by subjecting it to air currents.
In fact, in some mills, means are employed to produce air currents through the
casings and spoutings to insure the rapid cooling of the material as it is passing
through the various reductions and separations. It has been found, as the result
of carefully conducted experience, that during these repeated alterations of heating
and cooling, there takes place a large evaporation of moisture which is contained
in the grain in its normal condition; and that with such loss of water from the
berry or kernel there is also a serious waste of the above referred to constituent
elements which impart the desirable flavor to the cooked product when the
manufacture of flour or meal has been carried on or conducted in accordance with
this invention, one part of which consists essentially in keeping the entire mass of
material which is subjected to the various reductions warm throughout the period
of time during which it is subjected to the various manipulations required for the
purpose.
The object of this part of the invention is to insure that the bran shall be
toughened by the action of heat which is either applied to it before it is delivered
to the break rolls or is generated by the action of the rolls themselves upon the
grain while reducing it, and at the same time prevent the curling of the bran
which occurs when the chop or meal is permitted to cool between the successive
reductions; and also to prevent the escape from the grain of its normal moisture
through evaporation which is incident to the ordinary methods of milling;
whereby one enabled to retain in the finished product important elements which
would otherwise be lost.
This result is accomplished by keeping the chop, meal or middlings in relatively
large masses or quantities thereby exposing but a relatively small surface of the
mass to contact with the atmosphere, whereby its loss of temperature and its loss.
by evaporation are reduced to a minimum; and to facilitate making the various
eductions with the least possible reduction in temperature and loss by evaporation,
he invention consists in a new construction of mill, whereby the time has been

page_text: greatly reduced that is required for the travel of material from one reducing
machine or apparatus to the next reducer, to the action of which the material is to
be subjected; and also the material is collected and retained in a deep or thick
mass or bulk while being conveyed or moved through and about the various
machines employed in making the reductions and separations.
Having thus set forth the object and nature of the invention, I will now proceed
to describe the apparatus and one mode which has been adopted for carrying it
into effect.
Referring to the drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a mill adapted for working the invention.
a frout elevation of the same.
Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the linear of Fig. 1.
Fig. 2 is
Fig. 4 is an end view illustrating a mill for working the invention under a slightly
different arrangement of parts.
Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section of a bolting apparatus, of well known
construction, which it is proposed to employ in this mill.
Fig. 6 is a partial transverse section of the lower part of one of the flour bolts.
Fig. 7 is a view of the wheat break, shown also in Fig. 4 and
Fig. 8 is a longitudinal vertical section of a scalper for the wheat breaks.
In the drawings, A represents a grain scourer or cleaner of any approved
construction, in which the grain is subjected to friction or rubbing by which, as is
usual in such machines, the temperature of the grain, or at least the outer portion
of each berry is raised somewhat.
B indicates a roller mill located immediately below the scourer and to which
the grain is delivered without material loss of heat, and in which the first break is
performed. A part of the energy of this roller mill is expended in reducing the
grain while part of it is transformed into heat so that the meal or chop leaves the
rollers quite warm.
C is a scalper or grader, preferably in the form of a vibrating screen having its
bolting surface arranged in a step like series of planes c c (see Fig. 8) the heated
chop being delivered to the upper end of the scalper preferably by a chute or
inclined board b. From this scalper C, the material carried by an endless belt
conveyor D is delivered preferably to the upper end of a pair of reels E, F, in
which the flour is taken out, collected upon a belt conveyor e and is sent thence to
the packer; the middlings which go over the tail of this reel is quite coarse and
is sent to a coarse middlings purifier arranged in as close proximity to this reel as
is practicable.
The material which passes through the reel E, and is too coarse for flour, is
collected by another belt convey or e¹ the travel of which is so timed as to be well
loaded and delivered to the second reel F, the flour from which joins the flour
from the upper reel E and goes to the packer; while the middlings passing
through the second reel F is sent to a fine middlings purifier so located as to avoid
unnecessary delay, and, therefore, as far as possible, loss of heat and evaporation.
In order to prevent reduction of temperature and evaporation of moisture, or
escape of other constituent elements of the grain, the speed of travel of all the
endless belts of the several conveyors is so regulated, that the material accumulates
and lies upon their upper surface in quite a thick layer, preferably a number of
inches in depth. It is obvious that such accumulation and depth of material insure
a relatively small amount of surface exposed to the air in proportion to the actual
amount of material which is being carried forward.
In order to reduce either of the losses above indicated to a minimum, I arrange
the next reduction, machine or break which receives the material which has passed
through the cloth of the graders E in close proximity thereto and connect them
preferably by a short spout through which such material travels by gravity.
As a modification in the arrangement and operation of the two reels thus
described, it is proposed to clothe the upper reel of the pair so that the Hour and
fine middlings will both pass through the cloth and will both be delivered to the

page_text: second reel, the coarse middlings which go over the tail of the first reel being sent
to the coarse middlings purifier. In the second reel the flour is taken out and sent
to the packer, the fine middlings going over the tail of the reel and thence to the
fine middlings purifier G'.
The material which goes over the tail of the scalper C, c c falls directly to the
second break rolls G without having been niaterially cooled and without loss by
evaporation. The chop from the second break rolls is delivered, preferably by a
chute board or short spout H to a scalper substantially of the same construction as
scalper C and the material which passes through the cloth of this scalper falls
through conveyor D which delivers it to the upper of another pair of reels I J,
where the operation of the first pair of reels E, F, is repeated. The coarse
middlings from these two reels I J go to a coarse middlings purifier which may be
the same machine to which the coarse middlings from the upper pair of rolls was
sent, or to another purifier, according to the capacity of the machinery for dealing
with the various products. The same is true of the fine middlings which come
from the two grading reels 1 J.
The above described operations are repeated throughout the remaining five
breaks, when that number of breaks is used, the bolting cloths upon the scalpers
and the grading reels being of course regulated, as regards fineness of mesh,
according to the requirements of each particular mill. So, also the number of
middlings break rolls and the dress of the rolls should be determined according to
the conditions in each mill wherein this process is to be carried out.
In case the amount of material to be handled during the separations makes it
desirable, reels are arranged which are to be used successively side by side and at
short distances apart, transferring the material from one reel to the adjacent one
by means of a belt conveyor travelling on a line at right angles to the axis of the
reels and either horizontal or inclined, as the position of the reels may make
necessary; so that the material being carried in bulk is practically protected
from exposure to the atmosphere of the mill, and the consequent loss hereinbefore
referred to.
By careful experiments it has been ascertained that in carrying out the
invention in the manner above described, the wheat can be carried through the
entire series of five wheat breaks and the intervening scalpers in one minute;
whereas in ordinary mills, the time required for the corresponding operations as
usually carried out is about fifteen minutes; in fact, in large inills the time required
is about twenty minutes under the system heretofore used.
So also, as regards carrying the middlings through their reduction rollers, the
time required is reduced to a minimum and the material is carried in bulk during
the entire time when it is not actually passing through the bolting surfaces, the
depth of several inches being sufficient to prevent, practically, any loss of
temperature or evaporation.
For working this invention in a small mill of, say, twenty five barrels per diem
capacity, the following construction has been adopted.
Referring to Fig. 4 the chop from the first wheat break rolls L after being
divided upon a scalper C, is delivered, the tailings to the second break rolls M the
finer portion by a carrier D to a spout M¹. The chop of the second break is
divided upon the second scalper C and the finer part is delivered to the same
spout. The chop from the third wheat break is divided upon the third
scalper C, the tailings, being the bran, is sent to the proper room or bin, while
that which passes through the cloth of the scalper, together with the scalped out
portion of the first and second breaks is delivered to the grading reel P, where the
Hour is taken out and the entire body of middlings is delivered by a short spout to
the purifier Q located immediately below the grading reel. The purified middlings
go thence into the first middlings break roll P', which is preferably placed close
to the head end of the purifier to avoid all spouting at that point.
The middlings chop goes directly on to a scalper C¹ the tailings of which pass
to the second middlings break R; that which goes through the cloth of the scalper

page_text: passing into a middlings reel Q¹ either through a short spout, or carried thence by
one of the belt carriers.
In this middlings reel that part of the product suitable for flour is sent to the
-packer, the remaining portion going back to the second middlings break K where
it joins that which went over the tail of the scalper C¹. The chop from the
second middlings rolls R goes to a second set of reels SS' of well known con-
struction, see Fig. 5, where the final separation is made into flour and that portion
which is sometimes called finished middlings.
T is the only elevator in the mill which is used solely for carrying up wheat
from its storage bin to, preferably a scourer U, the rate of feed of the wheat being
regulated at the point where the grain delivered to the elevator.
In a mill of this construction there need not exceed fifteen or twenty feet of
spouting through which any one of the ground product passes as against two or
three hundred feet in a mill of like capacity in which this invention is not
carried out.
In a three break mill which I have last above described, a part of the product
which has passed through the three wheat breaks and the two middlings
reductions, thus including the entire system, can be delivered to the packer in
from three to four minutes from the time it leaves the first wheat break rolls L,
and can be delivered to the packer in a warmer condition than it was when it left
said first break roll, and without having suffered any material reduction in
temperature or loss from evaporation during any of the manipulations to which it
has been subjected. In fact under favorable conditions and with proper manage-
ment the entire mass of flour in the packer may have a temperature higher than
that of the chop given to it by the first break rolls L.
By preference the three wheat breaks L. M. O, and the scalpers and their
conveyors or carriers are enclosed in a practically tight casing V, thus preventing
the inflow of air to the compartment in which these devices are located; so that
if the humidity of the air of the mill be relatively low in percentage, the air
within that compartment will very soon become saturated and thus put a stop to
any further loss by evaporation of water of constituent elements of the wheat.
The length and diameter of the reels should be so proportioned to the work
required of them that the actual surface employed will be reasonably well covered
and as the flour passes through the receiving end of the bolt, it is, until it passes
through the cloth, constantly in contact with the warmed chop which has just left
the rolls. After passing through the cloth it falls but a short distance, on an
average of, say two feet, through the air which is warm and saturated with
moisture, or of which, at least, the humidity has a high average, and after the
flour reaches the conveyor or carrier it is constantly in bulk to a depth of a
number of inches until it reaches a comparatively short spout through which it is
conducted to the packer; such conditions preventing any material loss of heat or
by evaporation the result being that it is practicable to pack the flour in suitable
receptacles while its temperature is nearly up to the highest point it has reached
at any stage of its manufacture.
It is obvious to those who are familiar with the art of milling as heretofore
conducted, that the entire flour producing portion of the grain has been alternately
subjected to quite extreme and frequent variations in temperature, a very large
portion of such material being also subjected to the drying cooling influence of
currents of air of the various relative percentages of humidity and temperature
which exist in the common air of the mill where no precaution is taken to insure
any uniformity as regards any of those objectionable conditions.
One invariable result of the common system of milling is that during such
manufacture of the flour there is abstracted from it those constituent elements
which in this process are retained in the flour and which imparts to bread made
from this flour, the rich "
"
nutty or wheaty flavor of which the bread made
from flour produced by the ordinary system of milling is almost entirely
destitute.

page_text: While I bave described the best or preferable mode now known for working the
invention, I do not wish to be limited thereby, because many modifications thereof
will suggest themselves to anyone skilled in the art without going outside the
scope or spirit of the improvement; in fact, some of the devices now in common
use in mills might possibly be substituted for those employed in carrying the
material from one mechanism to another and yet retain some of the advantages
which are incident to this new process.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven--
tion & in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. As an improvement in the art of milling, the process herein described,.
consisting in reducing the grain by a series of reductions and separations; con-
veying the material in unusual bulk from one reducer and separator to another to
prevent undue evaporation and loss of flour and reducing the grain to the condition.
of a food product while in a heated condition, substantially as set forth and
described.
2. As an improvement in the art of milling, the process herein described of
reducing the grain to the condition of a food product by a series of reductions.
and separations upon different machines, the material being moved from one
machine to another in such bulk as to practically prevent cooling during its passage:
from one machine to another, substantially as described.
Deted this 92nd dow of Fohmuar 1807
R. HADDAN..