Products of Linseed

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 986, 31 May 1930, Page 6

Products of Linseed

This is the seventeenth of a series of informative articles that are being published in THE SUE weekly throughout 1930 , describing many of Hew Zealand's most important industries.

OIL FOR PAINTERS AND FEED FOR CATTLE ONE of tbe best examples of the interdependence of the agricultural and manufacturing interests in this country is furnished in the case of linseed. “From the farmer back to the farmer” can well be said of linseed, from which is made both linseed oil for painters in the towns, and an oilcake which is the best cattle food and milk producer at present known.

“ Moose” linseed oil, for example, is an entirely local product, from the growing of the seed to the final stages of the oil manufacture. To the farmer, the growing of linseed serves a useful purpose in the rotation of crops. ADVANTAGE TO FARMER Further, the planting and harvesting of the crop are both later than other farm crops, this being one of the reasons the farmer has for growing linseed, as it distributes his busy season over a longer period. The harvesting is done in the usual way by reaper and binder, and the seed threshed from the stack. After harvesting the seed is shipped to the oil-pressing mills in Auckland.

where it is cleaned and ground and pressed until the oil flows freely, j while the meal is retained in .slabs of suitable size for handling for cattle : feed, etc. There are, therefore, two indirect j but substantial benefits from the crop toward the progress of New Zealand — "Moose” linseed oil, for painters, and “Moose” nuts and meal for cattle. THROUGH THE FACTORY In this short article it is desired to convey to the reader an idea of the treatment of the seed in -the manufacture of the meal, and incidentally the oil, processes which employ .a considerable amount of New Zealand labour. The building in which the linseed is treated is well lighted and equipped with the most modern machinery. The seed, which is all grown within Dominion, chiefly in Canterbury, comes to the door of the mill in rail-

way trucks, is tipped Into a receiver, thence raised by means of an elevator to three large silos situated at the top of the building, each of which has a capacity for about 300 tons. At the base of each there is a sliding door, and through this the seed is conveyed, w r hen wanted, to a second elevator, and thence to the cleaning machine, where any impurities, such as weed seeds or foreign matter are removed. The impurities are conveyed into bags attached to the machine, and the pure seed passes into a large wooden hopper. From this it i 3 taken along a spiral conveyer at the rate ol over a ton an hour to the crushing rollers, which are in an adjoining room. There are five crushing rollers, oi metal, and arranged one above the

other. As the ;seed passes over them f | it is crushed to the consistency of fine j bran. In this state the oil is more , | easily extracted. j The crushed seed is then taken by j j I another elevator to the cookers, wjiich j , | are jacketed cylindrical vats. They • ! j are heated by steam, w-hich is not al- ' j lowed to come into contact with the ] meal. Its temperature is raised to the ; r:ght point for oil extraction, while in ! the cooker the contents are kept i ! agitated by means of a special ap- | paratus. Two or three hundred- j i weight of meal are placed in the : ; cooker for treatment at one time. HUGE PRESSES From the cookers the meal is fed l automatically to the presses and is ; ; spread cut in layers of some 22 inches j 1 1 long by 14 inches wide. As the visitor ) watches the attendant filling the i press, he is able to observe that the . meal is placed on a strong woollen . - i cloth, which is laid on a stout steel i

plate, and that a second woollen plate r.nd steel plate are placed over the meal. As the filling of the presses continues the layers sink automatically until filling is completed. Each press when fully charged contains 30 layers of the ground meal. A pressure of about 900 tons, or three tons an inch, is then brought to hear on the contents, and the oil is seen to trickle freely from the presses, whence it is led to a large tank. The oil is then allowed to settle, is filtered through special presses, conducted to a reservoir and afterwards pumped to the maturing tanks which are arranged in an adjoining storage chamber, where we noticed a large number of galvanised tanks of from 1,000 to 3,000 gallons capacity. In these the manufactured oil is allowed to ripen before it is placed on the market. LINSEED OIL Every qualification required for the best paint is possessed by ‘‘Moose™ Brand Linseed Oil. It is thoroughly matured, beautifully clear in appearance, and in fact stands alone as a medium for imparting covering capacity, elasticity, and durability to paints required for high-class work. Most of the leading architects in New Zealand are now stipulating for “Moose” brand oil to be used. Among many testimonials received is one from Mr. Thomas Bailey, painter and decorator, of Auckland, who states: “We have beeh using ‘Moose* oil lo the exclusion of all imported brands for some time, and we are convinced that it is the best oil we can possibly employ in the New Zealand painting trade.” Let us now return for a minute tt the pressing room of the Cattlecs*®

CATTLECAKE FOOD After the removal of the oil tW presses are emptied. IV hat previously loose layers of me ßl . * now solid cakes —linseed cakes , are sold to the stockmaster and as food, or they may be passed vj to a machine and broken into pieces—in other words, ' nnl These linseed oil cakes have proved to be ideal food for ealv well as great milk producers. _ In the process of pressing, the of the oil is not removed fro™ seed: about 9 to 10 per cent w j*. the cake. This gives high £^ ich properties and ensures a cake a is not over We have then followed the , from the farm back to the iar Ay perfect example of the Products. ” ployment aud wealth that a New Zealand manufacturing try.