244 
The Evolution of Agrimlfural Implements. 
Anglo-American and Swiss Science Milling, published at Leipzig 
in 1847, fully describes these early mills, while Mortimer, 
writing in 1710, gives an engraving of a roller mill which he 
highly commends. 
In “ gradual reduction ” by rollers, the wheat, having been 
first cleaned, is led between a pair of fluted and differentially 
speeded rollers, which are set so as scarcely to allow the grain 
to pass between them. The corn is thus cracked, after which 
it is sifted for the removal of any dust that may have been dis- 
engaged. It next passes between another pair of rollers, more 
closely set than the first, which break the grain again ; the 
resultant meal is sifted, and some semolina, accompanied by a 
little break-flour, is obtained. These operations are repeated 
again and again, but always between closer rollers and with 
finer sieves, until most of the inner part of the berry has been 
freed from the bran. 
A meal is thus produced which consists of middlings of 
various sizes, particles of bran of corresponding sizes, and 
break -flour. The last is sifted out, and then the semolina is 
winnowed in order to free it from bran. But, as the same 
amount of wind which would suit the larger fragments would 
blow away the smaller ones, the meal is first sized, by wire 
Stephan Szechenyi, the great Hungarian patriot, who in his study of methods 
for raising the fortunes of his then down-trodden country, was attracted by 
the possibilities of the roller-milling system, the invention of an engineer 
named Sulzberger. Thinking it a pity that Hungarians should not reap the 
profits of the wheat grown in Hungary, Count Szechenyi induced Baron von 
Reibegg, the head of a substantial house at Botzen (Tyrol), to provide half the 
sum (300,000 florins) required to erect a steam mill at Pesth, on condition 
that the other half was raised in the country itself. This was done, and the 
“ Pesti-Hengermalom Tarsasag,” or Pesth Cylinder Flour Mill Company, was 
establi-shed on December 26, 1838. The company had at the outset to conquer 
innumer.ible difficulties. It could only acquire a site at an extravagant figure ; 
rival mill-owners alleged that the new system produced unwholesome flour ; 
competent workmen were difficult to obtain, and as there were no good iron 
works at Pesth, the company had to establish a small machine factory of its 
own. Notwithstanding all its troubles, however, the company gradually made 
its way, and it paid for its first working year, 1844-5, 6 per cent., and for the 
two following years, 12 percent. In the troublous times of 1848-9 it sustained 
heavy losses, and its factory was converted into an armoury for the Hungarian 
Government, subsequently falling into the hands of the Austrians. The 
company was only beginning to recover when, in 1 850, the whole structure was 
burnt to the ground. Rising from its ashes, it went on prospering until the 
great constitutional changes of 1867, which put an end to its practical mono- 
poly. The company, however, appears to have kept well abreast of its now 
numerous roller-milling rivals at Pesth, and successive enlargements have been 
made to meet the requirements of the times. Something like sixty different 
processes are required before the grains of wheat are converted by a system 
of gradual reduction by steel rollers into the finest Hungarian flour. The 
motive power at this mill is supplied by steam engines of 1,200 horse-power, 
and the astounding quantity of 80,000 tons of flour is turned out every year. 
