BOVILL’S PATENT FOR GRINDING CORN.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 651, 29 October 1851, Page 4

BOVILL’S PATENT FOR GRINDING CORN.

[From the Times, June 2, 1851.] For some time past the cry of agricultural distress has been chiefly directed against the immense importations if flour from France. Those importations were so large, and the quality of the article sent so superior, that farmers and millers were equally in despair upon the subject. At first it was believed that there was some hidden excellence in the French stones used which our system of corngrinding did not possess, and in consequence these were introduced, but with no favourable result. All the attention given to the subject appeared to end abortively, and the most complete observance of the French method was not found to answer. The millers folded their hands in despair, and declared that competition was hopeless. The Protectionists exulted in the argument to support their cause, which they fancied they saw

in the prospective ruin of a closely allied industry. How, it will be asked, did this state of matters arise ? The following is the explanation of it. The wheat crops of the continent, harvested in a much drier climate than ours, are brought to the mill in a far better state, according to the existing plan, for undergoing the process of manufacture into flour. The dry seed pulverises at once under the pressure of the grinding stones, and can be dressed more thoroughly and brought into the market in a more perfect state than our moist and variable climate will permit. Again, in France between the farmer and the miller no middleman, in the shape of a corn factor, intervenes to sweep away a portion of the profits. Thus, they are able to send us cheap flour of excellent quality, and, finding it for their interest to do so, they prefer importing, it in the manufactured state, which brings the highest prices, rather than as grain which would not top the market. Mr. Bovill’s patent furnishes a most ingenious and successful means of overcoming this natural disadvantage and placing British grown wheaton a footing of equality with that from drier and finer climates. That the reader may understand its operation, it is necessary to explain the method of grinding corn hitherto practised and the practical difficulties which attend it. The conversion of wheat into flour involves two very simple processes—first, the breaking of the seed between two circular stones with rough surfaces, and the formation of meal thereby ; secondly, the separation of the husk from the kernel, by “dressing” the flour through a sieve and freeing it from “ bran” and “ pollard,” the technical terms applied to the husk according to the degree of fineness into which it is broken. It wi 1 be obvious that the quality of the flour depends upon the extent to which it is cleared of bran and pollard, for this determines its whiteness. It will also be readily understood that if the refuse carries away with it more of the valuable substance of the wheat than is unavoidable a great waste ensues. Now wheat contains a large quantity of gluten, which under the most favourable circumstance renders it sticky and adhesive ; when, therefore, in addition to this, it is ground in a damp state, the great weight of the stones converting it into meal, the rapid rate at which the one revolves on the other, cause the meal produced to come away in a damp heated state, and fermentation ensues, which it is necessary to subdue before the dressing process can be completed, and the commodity rendered fit for market. To overcome the fermentation the meal is kept in a cool place for a fortnight, but this in hot weather is not always an effectual precaution, and the miller during the summer months has as anxious a time of it as the butcher, whose meat is liable to become fly blown, or the brewer whose ale turns sour. The mischief does not rest here. The process of fermentation once set on foot is liable to return again, just like inflammatory action in any part of the animal frame. The strength and heart of the commodity are seriously injured by it. Itbecomes unfit for storage and unless speedily used is a very perishable article. Thus we see that flour, as at present manufactured, is liable to great waste from its adhesive properties, involves a considerable outlay of time in its preparation, and is subject to rapid deterioration. The occupation of the miller is an exceeding trying one for the lungs, from the quantity of fine dust which he inhales. The machinery, too, which he uses, though a vast improvement on that of former timpc ic rnrL :— r . • , uupeneui in many respects. In the first place, there are many apertures through which the impalpable powder of the grinding process finds its way and is wasted. Then, when the grain passes between the stones, the first movement may crush it sufficiently, but it has, nevertheless, to travel from the centre to the circumference its stamina destroyed by repeated and unnecessary trituration, and the rapid revolutions of the machinery heating and softening it as it goes. When ready for the dressing operation the meal has to undergo a fresh course of ill-treatment. It is passed through a cylindrical iron sieve, between the fine interstices of which it is driven, whether it will or no, by a set of rotatory brushes whirled round at a high velocity by steam power. Of course the finer portions of the refuse are driven through along with it, and the flour so prepared wants whiteness and purity, and is consequently depreciated in value. The cost at which all this la effaced is considerable and forms an important element in the whole question. It adds from 2s. to 2s. 6d. to the price which consumers have to pay on each quarter of wheat.

Mr. Bovill s patent introduces a few very simple but very effective improvements by which the evils of the present system of corn grinding are completely surmounted. He directs a strong current of cold air between the closely set surfaces of the stones as they revolve, and in this way not only is the substance of each seed at once released from further pressure as soon as it is converted into

meal, but it is effectually time, and comes away perfectly from any tendency t Q ferment w? mea ,s carried off by the usuJil cha ? 8 ‘be blast of air is carried upw ards |“ ne M ? pretty contrivance and discharged woollen screen, in which all th e cles of dust swept along with and preserved for use. The hot,? the current, as it makes its grindstones, sufficiently attests Ra' 0 ? purposes which it serves in relieving nufactured article from moisture j? the incentives to fermentation. T„ twice the quantity of g ra - ln ‘ r tui ’W|y. through the mill as in the ordinar Pa?Sed and thus besides other important ■ ? secured, each pair of stones i 8 . nt8 8«« a double amount of work. Agr ° to do of coals and other expenses incitU. 6 ? 1 ” 1001 ! millers’trade is of course the coiJ not to mention that there is no Uene *i dyst flying about, the machinery closed in ; no injury to the ni<i^' S!a B $ flour from unnecessary trituratioTV^ 0 dency to ferment, the period for rest’ cooling the meal being thereby disp en e W So entirely is this last the case that I. cesses of grinding and “ dressing” eo ” pr °’ tinuously and without a moment’s; inter?? tion, But in separating the flouri/b bran and pollard, Mr. Bovill’s paten an entirely different course from th 3 pursued. Instead of a metallic sieve brushes violently squeezing the powdered stance of the wheat through it, a fi ne Z screening apparatus is used and the flour dusted through it either by its specific gravity or by a current of air if necessary. J . In this way, gently and wiiho’ut .cotnnnl sion, the manufactuie is completed, andL there may be no mistake as to the efficiency of the new method we give a few of the more striking results which it has already yielded In the first place, then, red wheat can be converted by this process into flour equal tothai of white wheat—a fact in itself of importance to farmers, and which makes a difference in favour of the hardier and more prolific varieties of grain amounting to 4s. per quarter. Again, there is a considerable saving in the quantity of flour got from tba same description of wheat, and the quality is so superior that out of a sack eight quartern loaves are obtained beyond the usual number. The flour produced is found to stand keeping even in summer weather, and in proof of this the patentee adduces a variety of conclusive facts. The main point, however, for the agricultural interest to ponder over is the deliverance which this invention provides from the excessive importations of French flour, It is also suggestive of a more hopeful spirit generally for the future. The millers of this country have been nearly overwhelmed because they adhered tenaciously to machinery which was no longer effective. The inventive taient of an engineer has found out for them a means of rescue. His invention doesnot admit of being questioned, for even the Government, after a lengthened investigation, have adopted it at Deptford. The great saving in manual labour which it effects caused a violent opposition to its introduction on the part of the hands employed under .the old system, but merit at last prevailed and Mr. Bovill’s plan was sanctioned, and'is now in most satisfactory operation. But the patronage of this improvement in grinding corn does not rPSt ontirolw wi.h tho rjAvornment. . _ s. vuv -wv • w.-—---Messrs. White, Ponsford & Co., very extensive millers at Reading, and Mr. Dives, of Battersea, have taken up the matter as a private speculation of the most promising description. The former firm are building for the purpose an immense establishment oeloff Blackfriars-bridge, where they intend to manufacture from 7,000 to 8,000 sacks of fl® per week and to drive no less than 60 P a ’ rJ of stones. The latter has for some time bete well known throughout London as flour much superior in quality to any that can be obtained from France. With such undoubted evidences of lue of Mr. Bovill’s patent, the public judge what real ground there exists fot‘ ® cry of protection to native millers, and what justice the agricultural interest can complain of a competition in which the meebamcal talent of this country enables them,e aal ? to distance every rival. Mr. Bovill’s i®‘ provements can be readily introduced into J* 18 old mills without much expense and with 0° interruption of their ordinary work.