IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOUR AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake of the firm of Haseltine, Lake,
& Co Patent Agents Southampton Buildings, London for an invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLOUR AND IN APPARATUS
THEREFOR" A communication to him from abroad by Wallace Warren, of
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 24th May 1882.
OF
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings London "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
FLOUR AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR [A communication to him from abroad by
Wallace Warren, of Chicago, Illinois, United States of America]
"
It is the object of this invention to produce an improved whole-wheat flour that
shall contain all the nutritive elements of the natural grain in a form favorable for
good bread-making and for digestion and nutrition. The qualities in the flour
necessary to these ends are, first, substantial evenness or equal comminution of the
several parts of which it is composed, and, secondly, a granular form of the flour
in which the starch and gluten cells are generally entire or unbroken. According
to this invention I obtain such a product, in the method substantially as herein-
after described and by mechanism or machinery also hereinafter described for
reducing the bran to granular flour.
To obtain the product according to my invention I first detach the starchy and
glutinous parts of the grain as perfectly as possible from the more refractory
integument, and then reduce the detached inner substance and the bran separately
to practically equal fineness by methods which give a granular quality in the
ultimate product. Thereafter the separately reduced parts of the grain are
commingled in substantially their original proportions, producing a homogeneous
flour capable of making a light and wholesome bread.
In order to secure in the product all the nutritive elements of the wheat and to
exclude the merely woody portions thereof, which latter constitute the outer, folds
of the integument, I prefer to first remove such outer coats by any approved

page_text: method of decortication. This step, however, is not material to my invention.
The grain, suitably cleaned or decorticated, is crushed, broken, or in any approved
manner reduced until so far as practicable, the inner portions are separated or
separable from the bran. The separation may be accomplished by a number of
successive operations of reduction and bolting to better preserve the inner grain
from injury and to avoid the destruction of its cells. A series of corrugated rolls,
graduated as to the fineness of their corrugations, serve well to accomplish the
reduction of the grain, the finer rolls being used for the later operations. In this
case the reduction should be carried further on the rolls than is customary in the
manufacture of white flour and may be carried so far as to detach nearly all the
glutinous parts of the berry. Stiff bran brushes may also be used with advantage
after the earlier operations of the rolls. But severe grinding, which in ordinary
flour making is practiced upon the bran, is objectionable for the reason that it
breaks down the cellular structure of the gluten and adhering starch portions and
gives a pasty character to the flour and bread, I do not however limit myself to
any particular means for reducing the grain and detaching the inner substance
from the bran as various means may be employed.
After the inner grain-substance is separated from the bran it is by itself reduced
to flour, preferably by the best means known for reducing middlings to flour, in
order that the granular quality may be preserved in the product. The bran with
such glutinous particles as may still adhere thereto is also by itself reduced to flour
of substantially the same degree of fineness as that of the interior grain and of a
corresponding granular form, after which the two flours are commingled in sub-
stantially their original proportions. For the purpose of reducing the bran to the
form and fineness required I have devised the machine now to be described.
Said machine consists, generally, of a circular shell having its inner periphery
covered by a sharply rough surface, preferably a series of file-cut serrations, and a
winged disc mounted to rotate rapidly within said shell whereby the bran, fed near
the centre of the shell, is rapidly swept about and against the sharp serrations
mentioned which cut the bran into particles. A marginal opening upon each side
of the shell allows the bran flour to escape by being blown out when sufficiently
reduced, by the action of the wings of the disc.
The circular peripheral wall of the shell, consists of two semi-circular cast iron
bodies about eight inches wide, each provided with a foot-piece by which the parts
are supported on any suitable bed plate to form, when brought together, a circular
band of about five feet in diameter. These parts are held united by the bolts
which confine the same to the bed-plate by flanges and bolts at the top, and by
circular side plates which are secured to the edges of the band by bolts. Said side
plates are made in two parts and have flanges joined in the same plane as the
bands. I provide a number of narrow steel plates which form the inner peripheral
surface of the shell and which are held in place against the peripheral band by
means of annular recesses in the side plates in which said plates rest. A smooth
steel disc is mounted accurately upon the contral shaft which is supported in
external bearing blocks.
A disc is secured to the shaft by means of right and left threaded nuts one on
each side of the disc, between which nuts and the disc are inserted small discs or
plates the larger of which are preferably riveted firmly to the disc. Said disc is set
and thus secured with the utmost accuracy at right angles to the shaft, so as to run
perfectly true and noiselessly within the shell. The disc is in diameter about
1/2 inches less than that of the shell interior after the plates are in place so that
the edge of said disc runs at all points at about 3/4 of an inch from said plates.
The outer margin of said disc is provided with a series of wings; a slot is
provided in the wing-plate by which said plate embraces the edge of the disc.
Said wing-plate is bent to nearly a right angle at the inner end of the slot giving
a flange, which, when the wing is applied to the disc, rests against the edge of the
latter. To fasten the wing-plates firmly to the disc angle-irons are rivetted on
opposite sides of said disc. To these angle irons the wing-plates are also rivetted.

page_text: The disc is about 1/4 of an inch in thickness, and the wings are about 1/8 of an
inch in thickness. The wing-flanges therefore run about 5% of an inch from the
surfaces of the plates. At the sides they run as closely to the shell walls as
practicable.
These dimensions may be varied.
The inner faces of the steel plates are sharply serrated like a single-cut file,
the serrations in alternate plates running preferably in oppositely oblique directions.
A feed-pipe enters the shell through the side plate near the centre of the machine.
Discharge openings are also provided through the side plates opposite each other
and at the inner periphery of the shell, each of which openings is provided with
a gate. Said openings are formed by deep notches in the edges of the side plates
and have their upper and lower margins bevelled downward and outward for the
purpose of facilitating the discharge of the flour. The sliding gates are fitted to
the form of the bevelled margins and are retained by plates fastened to the
upper edges of the slides and similar plates fastened to the side plates at their
lower sides.
The aforesaid discharge-openings are located preferably on a horizontal line with
the shaft and a portion of the shell containing said openings is housed within a
chamber. The bottom walls of said chamber are inclined, giving a hopper in the
bottom of which is located a conveyor. The chamber is divided by a dust-cloth,
and above, or outside, said dust-cloth the said chamber has an outlet for the escape
of air.
The dust-cloth or diaphragm may represent a series of arresters by which the
entire bran product will be recovered from the air-current. Such devices for
arresting the bran-flour may be located in various positions, and they may be
provided with any suitable means for detaching and collecting the bran-flour
therefrom.
I may, as a substitute for the steel file-cut plates, use blocks of burr stone, with
fair results, but the cut steel plates are preferable.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th November 1882.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FLOUR AND IN APPARATUS THEREFOR A communication to me from abroad by
Wallace Warren, of Chicago, Illinois, United States of America,
"
The object of this invention is to produce an improved whole-wheat flour that
shall contain all the nutritive elements of the natural grain in a form favorable for
good bread-making and for digestion The qualities in the flour necessary to these
ends are substantial evenness or equal comminution of the several parts of which
it is composed, and a granular form of the flour in which the starch and gluten
cells are generally entire or unbroken
By means of the said invention I obtain such a product, by the method sub-
stantially as hereinafter described, and by mechanism or apparatus also hereinafter
described for reducing the bran to granular flour.
Flour made by grinding the whole grain (bran and inner substance together)
until the starchy portion is reduced to an impalpable powder, whether the bran be
mingled therewith in flakes or be further and separately reduced to a similar
powder and then mixed with the whiter portion, is not such a product as that
obtained by this invention
While the recognized purpose of whole wheat flour is to obtain a more healthful
food, such a flour as that referred to can make neither a light nor a wholesome
bread
According to the said invention I first detach the starchy and glutinous parts
of the grain as perfectly as possible from the more refractory integument and then
reduce the detached inner substance and the bran, separately, to practically_equal
fineness by methods which give a granular quality in the ultimate product. There-
after the separately reduced parts of the grain are commingled in substantially their
original proportions, producing a homogeneous flour capable of making a light and
wholesome bread.
In order to secure in the product all the nutritive elements of the wheat and to
exclude the merely woody portions thereof (which latter constitute the outer folds
of the integument) I prefer to first remove such outer coats by any approved
method of decortication, This step, however is not material to this invention
The grain suitably cleaned or decorticated, is crushed, broken, or, in any approved
manner, reduced, until, so far as practicable the inner portions are separated or
separable from the bran The separation may be accomplished by a number of
successive operations of reduction and bolting, to better preserve the inner grain
from injury, and to avoid the destruction of its cells. A series of corrugated rolls,
graduated as to the fineness of their corrugations serve well to accomplish the
reduction of the grain, the finer rolls being used for the later operations, In this
case the reduction should be carried further on the rolls than is customary in the
manufacture of white flour, and may be carried so far as to detach nearly all the
glutinous parts of the grain, Stiff bran brushes may also be used with advantage
after the earlier operations of the rolls, But severe grinding, which in ordinary
flour-making is practised upon the bran, is objectionable, for the reason that it
breaks down the cellular structure of the gluten and adhering starchy portions and
gives a pasty character to the flour and bread. I do not however limit myself to

page_text: any particular means for reducing the grain and detaching the inner substance
from the bran as various means may be employed,
After the inner grain substance is separated from the bran, it is by itself
reduced to flour (preferably by the best means known for reducing middlings to
flour) in order that the granular quality may be preserved in the product, The
bran with such glutinous particles as may still adhere thereto is also by itself
reduced to flour, of substantially the same degree of fineness as that of the interior
grain, and of a corresponding granular form, after which the two flours are
comminglid in substantially their original proportions.
A suitable machine for the purpose of reducing the bran to the form and fineness
required consists essentially of a circular shell having its inner periphery covered
by a sharply roughed surface preferably a series of file-cut serrations, and a
winged disc mounted to rotate rapidly within the said shell, whereby the bran fed
near the centre of the shell, is rapidly swept about and against the sharp serrations
mentioned which cut the bran into particles. A marginal opening upon each side
of the shell allows the bran flour to escape by being blown out when sufficiently
reduced, by the action of the wings of the disc.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the machine taken at right angles to the
disc axis.
Figure 2, is a central vertical transverse section
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the machine and showing in vertical section the
chamber into which the machine discharges
Figures 4, 5 and 6 are detail views hereinafter described,
A is the circular peripheral wall of the shell consisting of two semi-circular cast
iron bodies about eight inches wide, each of which is provided with a foot-piece A'
for the purpose of supporting it on the bed-plate B to form, when brought
together, a circular band of about five feet in diameter, These parts are united
by the bolts which hold the same to the bed-plate B by flanges and bolts at the
top, and by the circular side-plates A2 which are secured to the edges of the
band A by bolts a. The said side plates are made in two parts and have flanges a¹
joined in the same plane as the bands A, C C represent a number of narrow
steel plates which form the inner peripheral surface of the shell and which are
held in place against the band A by means of the annular recesses a² in the side
plates A2 in which the said plates C, C rest. D is a smooth steel disc mounted
accurately upon the central shaft E which is supported in external bearing
blocks H H. The disc D is secured to the shaft E by means of the right and left
threaded nuts F F, one on each side of the said disc between which nuts and the
disc are inserted small dises or plates D¹, the larger of which are preferably rivetted
firmly to the disc D, This disc is thus set and secured with the utmost accuracy
at right angles to the shaft E so as to run perfectly true and noiselessly within the
shell. The disc D is in diameter about 1/2 inches less than the internal diameter
of the shell after the plates C, C are in place so that the edge of the said disc runs
at all points at about 3/4 of an inch from the plates C.
The outer margin of the disc D is provided with a series of wings I, I one of
which is shown detached in Figure 5, wherein it will be seen a slot i, is provided
in the wing plate, by which the said plate embraces the edge of the disc D, The
said wing plate is bent to nearly a right angle at the inner end of the slot i forming
the flange I, which, when the wing is applied to the disc, rests against the edge of
the latter, To fasten the wing-plates firmly to the disc D, angle-irons I are
rivetted on opposite sides of the said disc as indicated in Figures 1 and 2, To
these angle-irons the wing plates are also rivetted The disc D is about 1/4 of an
inch in thickness, and the wings I are about 1/8 of an inch in thickness, The wing
flanges I therefore run about 5% of an inch from the surfaces of the plates C, C,
At the sides they run as closely to the shell walls A2 as practicable, These
dimensions may be varied,
.
The inner faces of the steel plates C, C are sharply serrated like a single cut file,

page_text: the serrations in alternate plates running preferably in oppositely oblique directions
as shown in Figure 2; A feed pipe R enters the shell through the side plate near
the centre of the machine. Discharge-openings J are also provided through the
side plates A2 opposite each other and at the inner periphery of the shell, each of
which openings is provided with the slide L. The said openings are formed by
deep notches in the edges of the side plates, and have their upper and lower
margins bevelled downwards and outwards as indicated in Figure 6 for the
purpose of facilitating the discharge of the flour The slides L are fitted to the
form of the bevelled margins, and are retained by the plates / fastened to the
upper edges of the slides and similar plates fastened to their lower sides,
The said discharge-openings J are located preferably on a horizontal line with
the shaft E as shown and a portion of the shell containing the said opening is
enclosed within the chamber. M, The bottom walls n of the said chainber are
inclined and form the hopper N, in the bottom of which is located the conveyor N³,
The chamber M is divided by a dust-cloth O., and above, or outside, the said dust
cloth the said chamber has an outlet for the escape of air,
In the operation of this machine the disc D is revolved at a high velocity. The
bran is fed to the interior of the shell through the pipe R and is at once carried
outward to the periphery of the shell and. forcibly driven against the sharply
serrated faces of the steel plates C¹. In this movement the bran is rapidly and
finely comminuted, and, when reduced to the condition of fine flour, escapes by the
openings J into the chamber M where it is collected and whence it is removed by
the conveyor N. By moving the slide L inwards and thereby increasing the
distance of the openings J from the inner periphery of the shell, the bran may be
longer retained therein and more finely reduced.
The dust-cloth or diaphragm O may represent a series of arresters by which the
entire bran product will be recovered from the air current, Such devices for
arresting the bran flour may be located in other positions than that shown and they
may be provided with any suitable means for detaching and collecting the bran-
flour therefrom.
In the rapid rotation of the disc D a strong current of air will be induced
downwards through the pipes R and outward through the openings J. It is found
that the action of the air operates to abstract moisture from the bran developed in
its reduction, and thereby contributes to the keeping qualities of the product in
which it is ultimately combined,
In a flour-mill provided with the improved machine the reduction of all parts
of the grain should preferably be carried forward simultaneously, and the capacities
of the several reducing machines should be adjusted and their connections should
be arranged to bring together in the products the same elements, and consequently
in the same proportion as they existed in the original grain.
As a substitute for the steel file cut plates C. C I may use blocks of burr stone
but the cut steel plates are preferable
Having thus fully described the said invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it understood
that I claim:-
First, The whole-wheat granular flour manufactured in such manner as to
combine the inner grain substance and the nutritive part of the bran in a state of
practically equal comminution, substantially as described,
Second, The method of making whole-wheat flour which consists in, first,
separating the inner grain substance from the bran, then reducing the said inner
grain-substance, and the bran separately to granular flour, and thereafter mixing
the two flour-products, substantially as described.
Third, In a bran flouring machine, the combination of the cylindrical shell and
winged disc, the said shell having its inner periphery minutely and sharply
roughened as described, and having a suitable inlet and a laterally adjustable
outlet located near, but slightly inward from, the periphery of the said shell
.

page_text: whereby the bran may be forcibly driven against the rough face of the shell until
suitably reduced, and then discharged, substantially as described,
Fourth, In the bran reducing machine described the disc D provided with the
wings I having the flanges I turned backward, and supported by the disc at the
outer margin of the wings, substantially as described.
Fifth, In the bran reducing machine described, the disc D provided with opposite
wings I, each pair consisting of a single plate having a slot and bent at the
extremity of the slot as shown and described, and for the purposes set forth,
Sixth, In the bran-reducing machine described, the side plate provided with a
discharge-opening adjustable as to distance from the inner serrated periphery of the
shell substantially as described, and for the purposes set forth,
In witness whereof I the said William Robert Lake have hereunto set my
hand and seal this Twenty fourth day of November in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty two,