Local Industry

Feilding Star, Volume XIV, Issue 74, 10 December 1892, Page 2

Local Industry

We have had the pleasnre of inspecting Messrs Chamberlain Bros. Roller Flour Mills, which have during the past five months been fitted up with the latest improvements requisite for turning out the finest classes of flour in the market, and no doubt a description of the various processes may be of interest to our readers. On entering the mill doors, one is greeted with the roar and rumble of the machinery, each wheel and roller bounding forth to perform its hasty but methodical function, a network of spouting and elevators leading to and from the various machines. All the parts are connected and work so harmoniously together, that one might almost imagine it to be a living monster, and one could scarcely credit that such a complication of beautiful machinery was necessary to produce the desired article. The superiority of the Roller over the old Stones is shown in the excellent class of flour produced. The Cornelius Roller Mill which is the latest patent, is the first and only one in New Zealand, and this fact should be a scource of congratulation to the Feilding public. All the Rollers are situated on the first floor, the second being occupied by the silk dressing and purifying machinery, and on the third flour all the material is discharged from the elevators. The underground room contains the main line of roller shafting, the works being driven direct from the engine room The butts of seven sets of elevators aie footed in this underground cemented room, which is 20 by 12 feet and over seven 7 feet deep. We now describe the process and working of the machinery. The wheat can be shot on to any of the three floors as required, and is then carried by elevators to the top floor, whence it is discharged into a bin, and then runs into a scouring machine where it is rubbed, beaten, and every particle of dust blown out. Thence the wheat is conveyed to a brushing machine, fitted with three sets of revolving brushes, through which the wheat passes, each grain getting a thorough brushing up, the dust being drawn or blown away, and all the chick wheat, other small seeds, chaff &c, are separated from the milling wheat which latter is now carried to the top floor, and discharged into the bin from which it passes to the " Gornelins Rollers. " The wheat is here reduced to a meal, and passed to an elevator which discharges into the scalper on the second floor. This scalper separates the flour, middlings, and bran. The middlings from which the real roller flour is made, is carried to the " Koh-i-noor Purifier. " This machine purifies the middlings, which then fall into a set of smooth rollers, is reduced, and carried together with the flour from the scalper into one of Schumachers patent flour dressing machines. This dresser separates the flour, middlings, and pollard. The flour then falls into a conveyor, which receives the flour from three dressers, discharging it into an elevator which carries the flour to a pastry bin, the latter holds about two tons, from which the flour rs drawn off and bagged up. The middlings from this second dreaser fall into No. 2 smooth rollers, and are then reduced and carried to No. 2 dresser. The pollard from Nos. 1, 2, and 3 dressers falls into a set of elevators which carry it to the " bran I duster. " The middlings from No. 2 dresser fall into No. 4 rollers, are reduced, and carried to No. 3 dresser, which separates a flour and middlings. The flour then falls into a conveyor, the mid- ; dlings spouting off No. 4 rollers again. The bran from the scalper is shot off to the " bran rollers, " whence it is discharged into the pollard elevators, which carry bran and pollard to the " bran duster, " and this machine separates flour, bran, and pollard, the flour being shot off to the elevators, the bran and pollard falling down the " shorts " where they are bagged up. The Mill contains two machines for cleaning the wheat, five sets of rollers for grinding purposas, and six machines for dressing and purifying the. flour, ten sets of elevators for lifting wheat, flour, and meal to the various floors, and over a quarter of a mile of belting is required for driving the machinery. Altogether fifteen machines are used to produce the flour. As civilization advances, and people became more refined and fastidious in their tastes, a demand for a finer class of food is the result, and in this grand display of machinery which produces the finest flour in the market, Messrs Chamberlain | Bros, have shown that they intend to keep pace with the times, and we commend them for their business enterprise, which must meet with the success it deserves. The Mill is now in full working order, and the firm intend to throw open their premises on Wednesday after- ! noon's for the inspection of visitors during the ensuing two months. No doubt the public will largely avail themselves of the privilege of seeing the various processes through which the wheat has to pass before the final result is produced.