THE’ PRODUCTION OF CORN OIL. 5 
time should be required for the corn to travel from the top of the vat 
to the outlet below. 
The object of using the sulphurous acid appears to be a matter of 
some dispute. The following reasons have been advanced for its use: 
(1) It softens the corn more than plain water, and hence aids in 
degerminating; (2) it acts as a bleaching agent silt insures a whiter 
starch; and (8) it acts as a preservative and prevents the starch and 
gluten waters from becoming sour. The acid is largely dissipated 
during the processes that follow, but the finished product should not 
contain more than a mere trace of sulphur dioxid. 
Figure 3 shows in a general way the variety of products made in a 
plant equipped for the manufacture of glucose. In plants where 
Fie. 4.—Machine for wet degerminating. In this machine the two plates revolve in opposite directions. 
only starch is made the general scheme as pean: the degerminating 
is the same. 
The soaked corn is drained and then passed through a type of 
attrition mill, which shreds it and separates the germ from the re- 
mainder of the kernel and also loosens the hulls from the endosperm. 
The type of machine generally in use consists of two vertical plates 
mounted on a horizontal axis and geared directly to a motor. In 
the early type of machine the two plates were geared to different 
motors and revolved in opposite directions. (Fig. 4.) In some 
instances they were run at different rates of speed, apparently with 
good results. The latest approved type, however, has one stationary 
plate. This eliminates one motor and greatly reduces the cost of the 
machine as well as the operating expense. (Fig. 5.) 
The shredded corn is mixed with a large quantity of water and 
transferred to floating vats, which are long, narrow, metal vessels 
somewhat wider at the top than at the bottom. The watery mix- 
ture is slowly agitated and kept moving at the surface toward one 
