WAKANUI MILL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2574, 26 January 1892, Page 2

WAKANUI MILL.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS*. ! INTRODUCTION OP THE BOLLER SYSTEM. (BY OUR OWJf REPORTER.) For many years the Wakanui Flour Mill has been a sorb of landmark to the travellers m the district. Standing as it does m a central position, it .serves as a mark on the left fir the Beach road travellers, and on fche right for Seatield wayfarers. Ib was built by Mr Henry Moffit iv 1879, and at the time its necessity vas accepted en all lunds, as well as its erection a Iduced as a proof of the. progress the district was making. Few districts have been more rapidly settled by small fanners than Wakanui was, once the land was thrown open, and it was owing to the rapid settlement of the land on both sides of the river that the town of Ashhurton burst into importance and bulked m the public eye as a place of mark. In a few months so many farmers had settled m the district, and so many jj men had come to the town to aid m the building of their houses and the supplying of their other wants that buildings ran up m Ashburton almost like Jonah's gourd, m a night, and many of them were actually Ist to tenants before the piles were laid. It was m those limes that Mr I MofFat saw an opening for a flour mill at Wakanui and built the one now standing. For years Saunders' Mill (now the Canterbury) had been m actual work, and had ♦ made a name for itself throughout the colony ; Westerfield Mill had also been working ; and we are not certain that the Waterton Mill was not at work also. Bub all these were a lons* way from the doors of the Wakanui farmers, to whom the advent of Mr MofFat was very welcome. The mill held its own for a considerable time and did good work, but the depression of the earlier " eighties " was felt by it with keen force, and it had, like many another industry, to shut down. This was much to be regretted, as ib represented a considerable amount of capital , that had been expended m its erection and the bringing m of a race from the rivet to turn its jjouderous wheel. For a lengthened period that whe^l was still and the" rail! silent, but eventually Mr Alex. Protheroe again set ib going, and held it for a time until Mr Edwin Thomas, its present proprietor, bucceeded him. The old mill began work with four pairs of stones, but increase of business soon rendered another two pairs necessary, and these were added.

But during the last ten years a' great change has come o'er the spirit of the millers' dream, and the old millstone is now as completely superseded by the steel roller as m the arb or printing the ©Id hand press has been superseded by rhe cylinder machines. A hot controversy raged for years all over England, America, the Continent of Europe, and the Colonies m regard to the merits of roller made and stone made flour, and the stone millers hald tenaciously to their old system. Whcever may bo m the right m that controversy the public have settled it m a very practical way, for £1 per ton more is obtained for roller flour m every market than for the stone made article. In all industries it is the financial result that settles the question of which system of working must be adopted, and so all over the world the old millstones are being lifted from the beds on which they rested, m some cases fur more than j» century, to make room for the new child of the inventor's genius. Some four or five years ago this change took place at the Canterbury Mills, and since then most of the larger milling establishments m the colony have followed suit. In the beginning of last year Mr Thomas, the proprietor of Wakanui Mill, recognising the superiority of roller milling overstone milling, determined to keep abreast of the times and placed an order for a complete seb of roller milling plant with Henry Simon, milling engineer, Manchester. Henry Simon is one (if the largest and most successful milling engineers m Great Britain, and plants from his foundry have been erected m "every part of the milling world where millers have sense enough to recognise the superiority of the rollers, and can. scrape together capital enough to purchase the new plant. The roller plant for the Wakanui Mill was ordered m May last, and October saw it landed m Ashburton and conveyed to the mill. Mr Alfred A. Foofcs, to Mr Thomas's order, drew detailed plans of the building, carefully noting the exact position of every post m the mill, and every item of the old stone machinery. These were sent to Mr Simon, who from them sent out to Mr Thomas other plans, on which the position of every item of the new machinery was shown. So rigidly accurate were these, plans m every particular, thafc Mr James Cockburn, Mr Thomas's "jolly miller " was able, with only the assistance of Mr Keeley, carpenter, feo erect and place m position every wheel of the whole concern. There was a; scarcity of carpenters when the plant arrived, so that the whole woifk of making the, immense length of wooden elevator spouts devolved upen Mr Keeley. The work, however was got through with fair speed, and it says much for Mr Cockburn's constructive powers that, when the mill was started nob a hifcch occurred, and not a single elevator required its angle altered. Asa description of thp mill has not;appeared m these colums since Mr Moffat built it " a many years ago," it may not be uninteresting to our readers to give some account of it m its reconstructed condition. The building is of wood, sixty feet x sixty feet x forty feet, and five storeys high. The power is supplied by an overshot water wheel, working m the ra«e= already mentioned. The whe*l is eighteen feet m diameter, and from twenty-five tothirty h.p. Power from ib is transmitted to a large spur wheel on the main shaft of the mill, whence power for the rolls is conveyed by a nine-inch double leather belt, copper sewn, to a shaft the full extent of the Jawer floor of the mill, by which the rolls, as the millers call them,, and all the other machinery m the mill i s driven. On the second floor of the mill are placed three double sets of Trolls and one ■ single set —seven pairs m all. Three of , these rolls put the wheat through three I processes called " breaks " and the re- . mainder of them reduce the middlings and the semolina, the latter boing what remains of the wheat after the bran and a certain proportion of fine flour have been., separated from it. Be it understood thafci at every reduction of the wheat a greyeror less quantity of fine flour is obttiuedv and admirable provision is made all alongthe line for the conveyance ©£ this fine, flour to its ultimate destination. On this; floor hsve been lefb two, pafcrs of- stones one for the production of 1 wheat meal, an<l one for the manufacture of pig feed. The flour, bran, and sharps are all bagged on ' this floor. 1 On the third floor is placed a, double rotary "scalper," which supplies an intermediary process, between the first three " breaks " nx\d reductions. There are also four (jentrif,ugal dressing machines, used fv# separating fl.our from ' middlings s\Vkd offal after it has left th^ fy^a^th, rolls. Hero, again the processes are very finely graduated, and right through the whole maohinery, from the first; breaking of the wheat upon the fluted yol.ls to its reduction to fine flour, on th,e. smooth rolls, and its dressix*?thraqgb the very finest of silk, the wo-. <jesses. arc very fiuely and grsKKilly carried on. There is also here j^dtouble* i effective purifier," for pnrjgyfojr. semo}m before going b&c.k, fc^fco. rol}s tQ b*

urther reduced and to add another contribution to the accumulating stock of fine flour. On the fourth floor, there are three dressing machines, one a large grading reel of twenty-four feet long, a relic of Mr Moffac's time and still m use, another eleven feet long, used as a third break "scalper," and a third for dusting fine middlings. The lasb named was made by Mr J. H. Carter, of London. There it, also by the same maker a large purifier for fine middlings, besides three large bins for storing wheat after it has passed the smutter, which is on this floor also. On the fifth floor there are only the tops of the elevators, of which there are ten sets for elevating the different grades of stuff from the various machines, and run from top to bottom of the mill. Of the&e elevators there are about 800 feet, and running m them are endless belts on which are fastened at proper intervals the cups that pick up the stuff, and carry it cnwards to the next process, only again to be picked op by another set of cups and carried forward still farther. For this purpose there are also used what are called worms, a sort of Archimedian screws, that sweep the flour onwards on its journey towards the requisite degree of fineness. The wheat is elevated from a bin on the bottom floor to the fourth, and delivered into a large bin above the smutters. It then passes through an *'aspirator' and separator, and thence into a decorticator, thence again into an upright smutter, called the "Economic," which is expected to take away all the smut balls without breaking them, so that no trace of smut is left m the wheat, From all these processes the wheat passes to the bins to begin the process of flour making. In the aiill there is also a large crusher for general purposes of feed. The capacity of the mill is three sacks an hour, of 2001bs each, and it is pleasing to be able to say that the mill is fully employed ; and the flour, for the short time it has been m the market, is already very popular with the bakers.