IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR PREPARATION OF MAIZE OR INDIAN CORN PREVIOUS TO GRINDING THE SAME INTO FLOUR
Year: 1858

page_text: Sealed the 2nd August 1858, and dated the 1st March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st March 1858.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR PREPARATION OF
MAIZE OR INDIAN CORN PREVIOUS TO GRINDING THE SAME INTO FLOUR," to be as
follows:-
The Inventor of the process which forms the subject of the present application
has discovered that Indian corn or maize contains various matters, some of
which are useful and valuable, while others tend to deteriorate the quality of
the flour made from this grain.
The parts which the Inventor conceives are injurious to the quality of the
flour are a black pellicle or skin immediately beneath the outer skin or bran,
and the germ, which is a soft substance immediately below the black pellicle.
In the ordinary treatment of Indian corn or maize, the grain is dried either

page_text: naturally by exposure to the sun and air, or artificially by being placed in an
oven. By whatever process the dessication is produced, the effect is to harden
the soft matter so as to admit of its being ground up or pulverized by the
stones in the act of grinding, and the flour thus produced is deteriorated by
the presence of these matters, and is not so wholesome as it would have been
if they had been excluded.
The mode of treatment pursued by the Inventor of the present process is as
follows:-
Before delivering the maize to the mill it must be steeped for some hours
in cold water, then after having drained, brushed, and cleaned it, it is sub-
mitted to the action of horizontal rubbing or grinding surfaces grooved in a
peculiar manner; that is, with simple grooves or lines extending from the centre
to the circumference, but with no secondary lines radiating from the others.
By this means the grain is skinned or branned and reduced to a certain extent,
and the meal. is passed into a rotary bolter, which separates the semolina or
small grains, of various sizes, the flour that is produced, the soft or pulpy
matters, the germ and black pellicle, as well as the bran.
The flour thus obtained passes to a stove or drying closet, where the
humidity contained in it will be expelled, but torrefaction must be avoided,
after this stoving the flour may be sold.
The purification of the semolina or granules is effected by means of fans or
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William Edward
Nonewt, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN THE TREATMENT OR PREPARATION OF MAIZE OR INDIAN CORN PREVIOUS TO
GRINDING THE SAME INTO FLOUR," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by
an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement (that is to say):-
The Inventor of the process which forms the subject of the present application
has discovered that Indian corn or maize contains various matters, some of
which are useful and valuable, while others tend to deteriorate the quality of
the flour made from this grain. The parts which the Inventor conceives are
injurious to the quality of the flour are a black pellicle or skin immediately
beneath the outer skin or bran, and also the germ, which is a soft substance
immediately below the black pellicle.
In the ordinary treatment of Indian corn or maize, the grain is dried either
naturally by exposure to the sun and air, or artificially by being placed in an
oven. By whatever process the dessication is produced, the effect is to harden
the soft matter so as to admit of its being ground up or pulverized by the
stones in the act of grinding, and the flour thus produced is deteriorated by
the presence of these matters, and is not so wholesome as it would have been
if they had been excluded.
The bread made from the flour thus obtained is greasy, compact, and in-
digestible as well as sour and rancid, so that it can hardly be used for the
nourishment of the lowest classes when it should serve at the table of the rich.
The Inventor of the present improvements struck with the insufficiency of
the process for the grinding of the Indian corn; has made a complete study of
the grain, and has examined the different parts of which it is composed, and
studied their respective qualities.
-Analysis has proved. to him that the grain consists of the following parts,

page_text: First, the envelope, termed coarse bran.
Second, a black husk which covers the germ seed.
Third, the seed or germ, which is a soft part placed immediately under the
black husk.
Fourth, a farinaceous part, which is the whitest and the lightest of all the
different parts which constitute the Indian corn.
Fifth, a crystallized part, which is the most nutritious portion of the grain.
The second and third parts are the principles which injure the quality of
the flour by their intimate mixture produced by the action of the mill.
This analysis convinced the Inventor that the drying process with the oven
is a bad plan, as it torrefies the injurious part which ought to remain soft, and
mixes it with the flour and the crystallized part, thereby making a whole
extremely compact or heavy, and producing coarse bread or an indigestible
dough. When the grain is dried by the influence of an oven, the sun, or the
air, a few months after the harvest, it will be reduced to powder in the mill,
which acts on all parts whether injurious or good of the grain, and mixes
them without distinction to the great detriment of the nutritious qualities of
the grain.
After many attempts and years of study and observation, the Inventor has
succeeded in avoiding all these inconveniences by a 'very simple process, which
is easy and economical in execution. This improved manner of proceeding is
based on principles diametrically opposed to those which have prevailed till now.
Before submitting the Indian corn to the mill it is first steeped in cold
water for some hours, then after having been drained, brushed, and cleaned, it
is submitted to the action of horizontal stones dressed according to the system
of the Inventor, by simple cuts or lines proceeding from the centre to the
circumference, and having no rays or secondary lines. The decortication
having been completed, the ground product is passed into a rotary sifting
or bolting machine, which separates the grain of different sizes, the flour
obtained, the greasy part, the seed or germ, and the black husk, as well as the
bran. The flour produced is left in the drying room to extract all the
dampness, its torrefication being carefully avoided, and after this drying
process the flour can be sent into the market.
The cleansing of the grain is effected by sifting ventilators, and it is again
passed through the mill. These operations of passing through millstones, fans,
and mechanical bolters must be done in the proper order, and as many times
as is considered necessary for the beauty and fineness of the product.
short, the Invention comprises the following points;-
In

page_text: First, the analytical separation and the simultaneous isolation of the com-
ponent parts of the Indian corn, so as to obtain separately the flour, the
semolina, and the coarse product.
Second, the system combined by the Inventor, and which consists in the
imbibition of the maize by means of cold water, in the brushing or wiping of
the grain, in the grinding, the sifting, and finally in the drying. This process
includes the natural dessication, and dispenses with dessication in the oven; it
is rendered necessary by grinding the maize when in a damp state, that is to
say, after its immersion in water, and having undergone a slight brushing.
Third, a manner of dressing the mill stones by cuts proceeding from the
centre to the circumference.
Fourth, a new product which is the result of the analytical principle and of
the process explained above, and which shows itself by producing flour and
semolina of superior quality, deprived of all greasy, rancid, sour, and coarse
matter, and permits henceforth of a wholesome, relishing, economical food,
being produced from a grain which offered formerly by the old process
repulsive, unwholesome, and expensive qualities.
Fifth, obtaining a more considerable quantity of nutritious product than by
the old process; the bran and the rejected parts are very good for the nourish-
ment of poultry and cattle. The bread obtained by this system (that is to say)
when the flour is deprived of the black husk, the greasy part, and the bran,
presents a soft and agreeable aspect, and possesses nutritive and other qualities
which make it resemble wheaten bread, without any of the great incon-
veniences presented by bread made from flour produced from maize in the
ordinary manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the First day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
30 Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)