Improvements in or relating to the Preparation or Treatment of Flour.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Sept., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 16th June, 1899-Accepted, 5th Dec., 1899
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to the Preparation or Treatment of
Flour.
A communication from abroad from WILLIAM ERNEST WHETHAM, of Chaussée des
Etats Unis, Havre, France, Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
It is well known to millers and bakers that mature flour, that is to say, flour
that has been stored for a considerable time, yields a better bread product than
freshly prepared or milled flour. My correspondent has discovered that the
value of mature flour is due to the presence therein of a certain amount of
lactic acid and that the inferiority of freshly prepared flour is due to a deficiency
of such acid which is only developed naturally by storing the flour under proper
conditions and for a lengthened period, say for example for about six months.
To mature flour naturally on a large scale is however costly and inconvenient,
and an object of this invention is to obviate this disadvantage by treating freshly
prepared flour, in a simple, quick and economical manner so as in effect to arti-
ficially mature such flour and render it equal in value to naturally matured
flour for bread making and like purposes.
To this end, a suitable maturing agent, such as pure lactic acid, is intimately
mixed with freshly milled flour in such quantity, as, with the lactic acid naturally
present in such flour, to make the total quantity of such acid present in the
flour, equal, or approximately so, to that present in naturally matured flour.
The quantity of the maturing agent to be added will vary with different kinds
of flour and must be determined by experiment in each case. Naturally matured
flour of good quality for the purpose mentioned, has been found to contain about
118 to 155% of lactic acid and to render freshly milled flour equal to it in
quality, a sufficient quantity of the maturing agent should be added to raise the
total quantity to about the percentage mentioned. Usually the amount to be
added will be small.
It has been found in practice that to obtain a successful result, it is important
to use lactic acid of pure quality. Lactic acid suitable for the purpose can be
prepared by heating at a temperature of from about 40° to 45° C. for a suitable
time, say for example five to seven days, a mixture of about 25 parts by weight
of germ of wheat, 60 parts by weight of malted wheat or of malted barley, and
a sufficient quantity of water to make a wort to which is added invert sugar and
some nitrogenous salts, in manner well understood by manufacturers of lactic
acid, the lactic ferment penicillium glaucum or bacillus acidium lactici, and a
sufficiency of a neutralizing agent to prevent the presence in the mixture of free
lactic acid. A suitable neutralizing agent for the purpose is sterilized calcium
carbonate. At the end of the heating or digesting operation, the mixture is

page_text: filtered and the filtrate, consisting of a solution of calcium lactate, is decomposed
with a suitable acid, for example, sulphuric acid, whereby soluble lactic acid and
insoluble calcium sulphate are formed which are separated from one another, as
by filtering. Any other known or suitable method of procuring such lactic acid
that may be found to be economical may be used, provided the resulting lactic
acid is of the necessary purity.
The lactic acid, however obtained, is intimately mixed with the flour to be
treated. For this purpose the liquid lactic acid is first mixed with a suitable
diluent, such for example as with about ten times its weight of powdered wheaten
starch, or flour containing an usually high percentage of starch, or in which the
starch exists in such a proportion as to ensure that the liquid lactic acid, with any
water it may contain, will not hydrate the gluten in the flour to such an extent as
to prevent the mixture passing through a fine sieve, say one having 80 meshes to
the square inch. The resulting mixture is then intimately mixed in the required
proportion with the flour to be treated. This may be done in various ways. Thus
the mixture may be added to the flour during the manufacture or production
thereof, or it may be mixed with the flour after manufacture by suitable mixing
machinery.
In preparing lactic acid in the manner herein before described, mannitol, is
simultaneously produced and is added with the lactic acid, to the flour.
It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the use of a maturing
agent prepared as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 5th day of September 1898.
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.
Improvements in or relating to the Preparation or Treatment of
Flour.
A communication from abroad from WILLIAM ERNEST WHETHAM, of Chaussée des
Etats Unis, Havre, France, Gentleman.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of London,
Consulting Engineer and Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
It is well known to millers and bakers that mature flour, that is to say, flour
that has been stored for a considerable time, yields a better bread product than
freshly prepared or milled flour. My correspondent has discovered that the
value of mature flour is due to the presence therein of a certain amount of
lactic acid and that the inferiority of freshly prepared flour is due to a deficiency
of such acid which is only developed naturally by storing the flour under proper
conditions and for a lengthened period, say for example for about six months.
To mature flour naturally on a large scale is however costly and inconvenient,
and an object of this invention is to obviate this disadvantage by treating freshly
prepared flour, in a simple, quick and economical manner so as in effect to arti-
ficially mature such flour and render it equal in value to naturally matured
flour for bread making and like purposes.
To this end, a suitable maturing agent, such as pure lactic acid, is intimately
mixed with freshly milled flour in such quantity, as, with the lactic acid naturally
present in such flour, to make the total quantity of such acid present in the

page_text: flour, equal, or approximately so, to that present in naturally matured flour of
good quality. The quantity of the maturing agent to be added will vary with
different kinds of flour and should be determined by experiment in each case.
Naturally matured flour of good quality has been found to contain about
040 per cent. (decimal four per cent.) of lactic acid, and to render freshly milled
flour equal to it in quality, a sufficient quantity of the maturing agent should be
added to raise the total quantity to about the percentage mentioned. Usually
the amount of lactic acid to be added will be small. Sometimes, the flour, when
stored under special conditions, has been found to contain from 1 to 15 per cent.
of lactic acid, but this is very exceptional, and such flour is unsuitable for bread
making as the resulting bread is rendered sour by the excess of acid.
To obtain the best result it is necessary to analyse the freshly milled flour of
the particular kind desired to be dealt with and having found out the percentage
of lactic acid present therein, to add the necessary amount of the maturing
agent to render it of the desired condition of maturity. For example, a freshly
milled sample of Hungarian flour was found to contain say about 021 per cent.
of lactic acid and it was found by experiment that in order to render it of the
desired maturity, it was necessary to raise the percentage to about 04 by the
addition of the requisite quantity of the maturing agent, the added quantity of
maturing agent being diffused throughout the flour as hereinafter described.
It has been found in practice that to obtain a successful result, it is important
to use lactic acid of pure quality. Lactic acid suitable for the purpose can be
prepared by heating at a temperature of from about 40° to 45° C. for a suitable
time, say for example five to seven days, a mixture of about 25 parts by weight
of germ of wheat, 60 parts by weight of malted wheat or of malted barley, and
a sufficient quantity of water to make a wort to which is added invert sugar and
some nitrogenous material in manner well understood by manufacturers of lactic
acid, and also a small quantity of the lactic ferment, bacillus acidium lactici, and a
sufficiency of a neutralizing agent to prevent the presence in the mixture of free
lactic acid. A suitable neutralizing agent for the purpose is sterilized calcium
carbonate. At the end of the fermentative operation, the mixture is suitably
heated to a temperature of about 35° C. and filtered, and the filtrate, consisting
of a solution of calcium lactate, is decomposed with a suitable acid, for example,
pure sulphuric acid, whereby soluble lactic acid and insolubule calcium sulphate
are formed which are separated from one another, as by filtering. Any other
known or suitable method of producing such lactic acid that may be found to be
economical, can be used, provided the resulting lactic acid is of the necessary
purity. Care must be taken that no excess of sulphuric acid is used.
The lactic acid, however obtained, is intimately mixed with the flour to be
treated. For this purpose the liquid lactic acid is first mixed with a suitable
diluent, such for example as with about ten times its weight of powdered wheaten
starch, or flour containing an unusually high percentage of starch, or in which the
starch exists in such a proportion as to ensure that the liquid lactic acid, with any
water it may contain, will not hydrate the gluten in the flour to such an extent as
to prevent the mixture passing through a fine sieve, say one having 80 meshes to the
square inch. The resulting mixture in a finely divided condition is then intimately
mixed in the required proportion with the flour to be treated. This may be done
in various ways. Thus the mixture may be added to the flour during the manu-
facture or production thereof, or it may be mixed with the flour after manufacture
by suitable mixing machinery.
My correspondent has also discovered that the mannitol formed during the
lactic fermentation which takes place when producing lactic acid in the manner
herein before described (a small quantity of the mannitic ferment being found to
be always present), may with advantage be used in conjunction with the lactic
acid for admixture with the flour to be treated. The soluble salts of the wort
may also with advantage be allowed to remain with the lactic acid. A determina-
tion of the actual percentages of lactic acid, mannitol and salts present in the
maturing agent obtained will be necessary to guide a manufacturer as to the

page_text: quantity of such agent to be added to any particular flour to bring the same to
the desired quality. The mannitol above referred to serves to aid the maturing
agent in performing its functions.
Flour freated as hereinabove described by an addition of lactic acid with or
without addition of mannitol and salts of the wort obtained in manufacturing
lactic acid as herein described, is much superior to ordinary untreated flour for
breadmaking and like purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. Artificially maturing freshly-milled flour by intimately mixing therewith a
suitable quantity of a maturing agent such as pure lactic acid, substantially as
described.
2. In artificially maturing flour as specified in the preceding claim, mixing
lactic acid in a liquid condition with starch or starchy matter and intimately
mixing the product with the flour to be treated, substantially as described.
3. The herein described new or improved flour containing artificially prepared
lactic acid and mannitol, whether salts of the wort produced in making lactic acid
as herein described be also present or not.
Dated this 16th day of June 1899
W. LLOYD WISE,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.