IMPROVE MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF FARINACEOUS MATTERS FOR THE OBTAINMENT OF STARCH AND FOOD
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Mac Kean, of Paisley, in the County of
Renfrew, Scotland, Starch Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF FARINACEOUS MATTERS FOR
THE OBTAINMENT OF STARCH AND FOOD."
Scaled the 8th November 1859, and dated the 9th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Mac Kean at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th
July 1859.
I, WILLIAM MAC KEAN, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, Scotland,
Starch Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF FARINACEOUS MATTERS FOR
THE OBTAINMENT OF STARCH AND FOOD," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to improved modes of separating the finer from the
coarser parts of farinaceous matters, such as Indian corn or other grain, and
sago, for the obtainment of food of a delicate quality, or for the obtainment
of starch.
In practising the Invention in the case of Indian corn or other grain,
according to one modification the grain is first washed in purolukewarm water;
it is secondly treated with a weak solution of bicarbonate of soda; thirdly, again
washed with lukewarm water; fourthly, treated with a weak solution of acetic
or tartaric acid; and, fifthly, a third time washed with lukewarm water. The
[Price 8d.1

page_text: grain being thus purified, is next subjected to one or other of various processes
in use for separating the amylaceous from the glutinous and fibrous parts.
It is preferred to adopt for the next process that described in the Specifi-
cation of Letters Patent granted to James Colman in 1841, & numbered 9166,
and which is found applicable to various kinds of grain. In the process the
grain is reduced to a pulp by means of levigators, water being added to the
pulp to reduce it to a thin milky state; this pulp is run through a sieve and
allowed to settle in a vessel. The supernatant water being run off by a plug
hole, the amylaceous flour will be found at the bottom with the gluten lying
over it. The gluten is carefully scooped off and dried, and ground for cattle
food, whilst the amylaceous flour is further purified by repeated elutriations
with pure spring water. If this flour is to be used for food, its purification is
completed by washing it with weak solutions of bicarbonate of soda, tartaric
acid, or acetic acid, as in treating the grain at first, when it will be in a
fit state to be dried and bolted. If the amylaceous deposit (remaining after
the removal of the gluten) is intended for starch, it is put through the well-
known alkali process, and boxed and granulated in the usual way. It is
preferred to use common millstones in the levigating process, a stream of
water being admitted along with the grain.
Instead of employing the depositing process just described, the gluten may
be separated from the amylaceous flour by means of the process described in
the Specification of Letters Patent granted to Jean Baptiste Polaillon and
François Maillard in 1853, and numbered 1946 (which Patent has become
void). In this process the milky fluid is run over planes set with a slight
inclination, and the flour is deposited on these planes whilst the gluten is
carried over the ends with the water. The purification and utilization of the
flour and gluten thus separated are performed as already described.
In treating sago according to this Invention, it is mixed with a large quantity
of water, and the mixture is run over inclined planes. The part deposited on
the planes is converted into starch or food by the ordinary processes, whilst
the off-scourings are received in a convenient vessel to be dried, and form
an excellent material for the manufacture of dextrine or gum; or instead of
running the sago and water over the inclined planes, it is allowed to deposit
its heavier and stronger particles in a tuu, and just before the lighter particles
commence descending, they ate drawn off by a plug hole, and collected in
a separate vessel to be dried and utilised as already described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Mac Kean in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MAC KEAN, of Paisley, in the County of Renfrew, Scotland, Starch Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patcut, bearing date the Ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Mac Kean, Her special licence that I, the said William
Mac Kean, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Mac Kean, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should
at any time agree with, and. no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF FARINACEOUS MATTERS FOR
THE OBTAINMENT OF STARCH AND FOOD," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Mac Kean, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Mac Kean, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement in writing, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved modes of purifying farinaceous
matters, such as Indian corn or other grain, and sago, or of separating the
finer from the coarser parts thereof in the preparation or obtainment there-
from of starch or of food of delicate quality.
In practising my said Invention, in the case of Indian corn or other grain,
the unground grain is first washed in pure lukewarm water; it is secondly
treated with a weak solution of bicarbonate of soda; thirdly, again washed
with lukewarm water; fourthly, treated with a weak solution of acetic or
tartaric acid; and, fifthly, a third time washed with lukewarm water. The

page_text: grain being thus purified, is next subjected to one or other of various processes
in use for separating the amylaceous from the glutinous and fibrous parts,
improvements being, however, introduced in some of the details of such
processes.
In carrying out the portion of my Invention relating to the obtainment of
starch, I prefer for the next process one which in its main features is identical
with that described as applicable to Indian corn in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to James Colman, bearing date the 9th December 1841
(No. 9166). In this process the grain is softened by steeping in water, and
is then reduced to a pulpy or creamy state by means of levigators. For the
levigating operation, I prefer to use common millstones, such as are men-
tioned at page 120, volume 2, of a book entitled "Applied Chemistry," edited
by Edward Andrew Parnell, and published by Taylor and Walton in 1844.
The pulped grain is mixed with a large quantity of water, and may be passed
through a sieve preparatory to its treatment by caustic alkali. A greater
quantity of starch is obtainable, however, if this sieving process is omitted at
this stage. I recommend a mode of applying the alkali somewhat different
from that described in Colman's Specification herein-before referred to. I
make a caustic lye with forty-eight per cent. sada ash, of a specific gravity to
mark about 10° upon Twaddell's hydrometer. To every ton of grain I apply
thirty to forty gallons of the lye, together with a large quantity of water,
mixing them well together. The lye is added at two or three different times,
twelve hours of repose being allowed between each addition, whilst the super-
natant liquor (termed "yellow water") is each time drawn off into a separate
vessel, and a fresh supply of water added. When the starch is found settled
at the bottom, the additions of lye should be stopped. The slimes are then
scooped off the surface of the starch, and the latter repeatedly washed in pure
water. The starch is finally acidulated, sieved, and dried in the usual manner.
The supernatant liquor which has been drawn off contains in solution the
oily and glutinous constituents of the grain,and these, together with the fibrous
parts, are to be treated as directed in the book on "Applied Chemistry herein-
before referred to, that is to say, the liquor is to be carefully neutralised with
sulphuric or other suitable acid, which will cause the precipitation of the oily
and glutinous matters, and these are to be mixed with the fibrous parts
separated in the sieving processes, and the whole dried and ground for food,
being still available as such, notwithstanding their chemical treatment.
In carrying out the portion of my Invention relating to the obtainment of
food from Indian corn and other grain, the entire products of the grain are
resolved into alimentarysubstances, several different qualitiesbeingobtainable.

page_text: In this part of my Invention the steeped grain is reduced to a pulp by
millstones,being accompanied by a small stream of water in its passagethrough
the stones. The pulped grain as it comes from the stones is sieved, and the
milky liquid run into a tun. For this sieving operation I consider the shaking
sieve, which has been long in use in potatoe mills, to be the most suitable.
The milky liquid contains the gluten, and the amylaceous flour held in com-
bination by or along with the natural oil of the grain, and I proceed so as to
dissolve or saponify the oil, and thus set free the other constituents. To this
end I, in the first place, add to the milky liquid an extremely weak solution
of alkali, containing not more than one hundred grains of absolute soda per
gallon, continuing the addition until the mixture slightly reddens turmeric
paper. The mixture having been allowed to settle, the supernatant water,
containing in solution the oil of the grain and part of the gluten, is run off
into a separate vessel, to be neutralised with acid, and fresh water is repeatedly
added to the deposit, and drawn off from it until it ceases to extract colour.
At this stage the deposit is passed through a sieve, which separates a large
amount of the freed gluten. To the matters passed through the sieve a
small quantity of tho weak alkaline solution is again added, until the mixture
slightly reddens turmeric paper, and the mixture is allowed to settle. The
remaining gluten first subsides, and just as the amylaceous matters begin
to descend, the latter are drawn off by a plug-hole, or are decanted into
another tun, and are repeatedly washed in pure water, the surface of the
deposit being brushed or scraped to remove impurities immediately before
washing. The deposit is next treated with a weak solution of bicarbonate
of soda, and is finally washed with pure water. The amylaceous flour will
bo found deposited in a hard mass, and is to be cut out with trowels,
pressed by hand through a half-inch riddle, and dried. When dried, the
product is pulverised by means of a common bolting machine, and packed for
market. The gluten, bran, and fibrous parts of the grain are dried and
ground for use as food, cither made into bread, or prepared for feeding
cattle,
When the finer qualities of grain are not under operation, the amylaceous
flour may be obtained by adopting for the separating process the one, or a
modification of the one described for starch in the Specification of Letters
Patent granted to Jean Baptiste Polaillon and François Maillard, bearing date
the 20th August 1853 (No. 1946, (which Patent has become void by reason
of the non-payment of the tax due at the expiry of the third year of its
duration). In this process the grain, after being ground and freed from the
bran, is mixed with water and run over inclined planes, on which the

page_text: amylaceous flour in a more or less pure state is deposited. The glutinous
matters are carried off with the water and received in separate vessels to be
treated with a view to their utilization as food, claim being made by the
Patentees for the non-deterioration of these by products by chemical agents,
they having been separated by pure mechanical means. The amylaceous flour
deposited on the planes may be mixed with water and run over the planes a
second and even a third time. The deposit is subsequently treated in the
manneralready herein-before described, and the resulting flour, when dried and
bolted, forms an excellent food for invalids and children, and may be prepared
in various forms for the table.
I would here remark that inclined planes have long been used by starch
makers in various of their processes, and more particularly for separating the
portions of starch which do not go to the bottom in the settling frames, but
are detained amongst the gluten. The improved planes patented by Polaillon
and Maillard are, however, so superior to those in use before the date of their
Patent herein-before referred to, that I advise the adoption of them where
available.
I would also remark, that the plan described in Colman's Specification
herein before referred to of steeping the grain before grinding facilitates the
removal of the bran, any ready mode of washing the flour from which may be
adopted. When the saving of time in the obtainment of the amylaceous
flour is more an object than the obtainment of the better qualities of the
glutinous and other by-products, the separation may be effected by the alkali
process herein-before described as to be used in obtaining starch, theamylaccous
flour being subsequently treated with bi-carbonate of soda.
In carrying out the portion of my Invention relating to sago, the sago as
purchased in the market under the denomination "sago flour" is mixed with
a large quantity of water and run over inclined planes. The part deposited is
converted into starch or food by the ordinary processes, whilst the off-scourings
are received into a convenient vessel to be dried, and form an excellent
material for the manufacture of dextrine or gum. Or, instead of cunning the
sago and water over the inclined planes, the mixture is allowed to deposit its
he wier and strongerparticles in a tun, and just before the lighter and weaker
particles commen edescending, they are drawn off by a plughole,and deposited
in a separate vessel to be dried and utilized as already described. The starch
and food made from the heavier and selected part of the sago is of superior
quality.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be used or carried into effect, I have to state, tha' I

page_text: do not restrict myself to the precise details herein-before described, and that I
do not claim to have invented every separate detail herein-before described;
but that what I consider to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
The several improved processes or improvements in processes to be used
in the manufacture or treatment of farinaceous matters for the obtainment of
starch and food, as herein-before described, and more particularly the pre-
liminary purifying of the grain by means of bi-carbonate of soda and acetic
or tartaric acid.
The using of a comparatively weak alkaline solution in combination
with other separating processes in the obtainment of food.
The treating of the food when separated from the other constituents of
the grain with bi-carbonate of soda.
And the treating of sago for the obtainment of starch or food substantially
in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William MacKean, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WILLIAM MAC KEAN. (L.S.)
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.