270 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



first developed in the stone mills of Austria (1820-30). With 

 an extension of principles, it became the Hungarian or gradual 

 reduction process. 1 Experiments with roller mills date from 

 1820 in Switzerland, and rolls were used in Hungary in 1874, 

 although minor experiments date vaguely back to 1861. These 

 Hungarian rolls were 7 inches long, 4^ inches in diameter, and 

 made from 180 to 200 revolutions per minute. The first com- 

 plete roller mill was erected at Budapest, and for years the 

 mills of this city produced the leading flour in the world's 

 markets. 



In the United States, the principles of the gradual reduction 

 process were taken from Hungarian millwrights, and rolls were 

 first used in 1878. A complete outfit of roller mill machinery 

 was brought to Minneapolis from Hungary, and Americanized. 

 By 1880 rolls were rapiipy coming into use, but it necessitated 

 a change of machinery, and the change was stubbornly fought 

 by the conservative old burr millers of this country. The 

 spring wheat interests were large, however, and it seemed a use- 

 less fight. The thousands of small country millers held out 

 longest, for the expense of the change bore most heavily upon 

 them. The larger millers very successfully adopted the new 

 process with all its intricate mechanical details. " Patent " 

 flour had been fully recognized and established in commercial 

 circles some time before 1876. Spring wheat brought 6 cents 

 a bushel more in the market by 1882 than any other sort. Win- 

 ter wheat formerly sold at from 5 to 30 cents a bushel more 

 than spring wheat. 



The Process of Milling wheat by the gradual reduction 

 methods in the early eighties was quite complex. The grain was 

 first passed through separators until it was perfectly free from 

 foreign matter. It was then conveyed to ending stones, made 

 of sandstone slightly harder than that, used for buildings, and 

 having the shape and size of ordinary millstones. These re- 

 moved the " whisker " and fuzz from the wheat, after which it 

 went to the brush machine always by machinery. Here the 

 clinging dust was removed, and then it passed through a series 

 of five break rollers, each successive pair being set a little 

 nearer together than the last. The flour and middlings were 

 1 Smith,. Hist, of Milling, Northwestern Miller, March 20, 1907. 



