FLO 
F L O 
proprietors of the goods may be known, they 
have a year and a day to claim flotsam. 
FLOUR, the meal of wheat-corn, finely 
ground and sifted. 
Flour-mills are put in motion by the 
application of various forces : sometimes the 
first mover is wind, at others water, at others 
i the force of steam, at others the muscular 
energy of animals. The mechanism of the 
grinding part of most of these is nearly the 
j same, and pretty well understood : we shall 
here give an account of the construction of 
the several figures in the plate. 
Fig. 1. (see Plate Flour-mills) represents 
a common pair of flour-stones ; A, is a trun- 
dle fixed to a spindle B, so as to turn with it ; 
the lower end of this spindle turns in a brass 
socket fixed in the beam, CD, called the 
bridge-tree ; and the upper end of this spin- 
dle turns in a wooden bush, fixed into the 
middle of the nether, mill-stone, which lies on 
the floor, EF. The top part of the spindle, 
above the bush, is square, and goes into a 
| strong iron cross, abed, fig. 2, called the 
crow : the four ends of this crow are let into 
l the under-surface of the running-millstone, 
! shewn upside downwards in fig. 2 ; so that 
I when the spindle is turned by the trundle A, 
j the stone will turn with it. The eiid,c, of the 
■ bridge tree, fig. 1, is jointed into the post, G: 
; the other goes through a long mortise in the 
j post, H, and has an iron rod, I, fixed to it ; 
i on the top of this are a screw and hand-nut, 
! K,by turningof which the two mill-stones can 
; be brought nearer together, and vice versa, 
i so as to grind finer or coarser. The two 
' stones are inclosed in an octagonal box, LM, 
which is about two inches more across than 
the diameter of the running-stone. Upon the 
i top of this box is a frame to support the 
( hopper, N, to which is hung the shoe or 
spout, O, by a strap fastened to the back of 
it; to the other end of the shoe a line, e, is 
fastened, the drawing of which regulates the 
| aperture between the shoe and the hopper, 
I and the quantity of corn that comes from the 
I hopper : this is otherwise done by a small 
shuttle,/, in the front of the hopper: to the 
; end of the shoe, O, a small line, g, is fasten- 
j ed, the other end of which is tied to a wooden 
I spring. It. The top of the spindle, B, has a 
j small square hole in it, into which is put the 
feeder, P ; this feeder, as the spindle turns 
! round, pushes the shoe from it, and it is 
I brought back by the spring, It, three times in 
j each revolution of the stone and spindle, and 
I so causes the corn constantly to run down 
| from the hopper, through the upper mill- 
stone, and by the motion thereof it gets be- 
I tween the stones, and is ground. The great 
velocity of the upper or running stone creates 
a centrifugal force in the corn, and throws it 
farther from the centre, till it is thrown quite 
out at the circumference of the stone in the 
form of flour, and passes through a spout, Q, 
to a meal-chest below. The grinding sur- 
face-: of both stones, in order to bruise and 
cut the corn, are hollowed into straight 
grooves, as shewn in fig. 2. 
Fig. 3, is a wire bolting-machine ; A is the 
riger and band by which it is turned, from a 
drum in some part of the mill ; on its spindle 
rows of brushes are fixed, as shewn in fig. 4. 
These brushes turn round within a cylindri- 
cal frame, CD, fig. 3 ; withinside of this 
frame is nailed wire-cloth, which is very fine 
at the end D, and gets coarser as it goes to- 
VOL. I. 
wards C ; this frame is fixed from turning 
round, by its ends going into the framing of 
the box in which the whole is contained, and 
is farther steadied by four chains, EEE, fast- 
ened to the top or the box : at one end of 
the box is a square hole for the feeding- 
trough, G, to passthrough; this trough is 
loosely connected to the trough H, (which 
brings the flour from the floor above) by lea- 
ther nailed round their ends : the trough G 
is supported on the end of a crooked piece of 
wood, a, moving round a pin as a centre, at 
d ; when the brushes are turned round with 
a great velocity, the stubs, e, in the end of 
the spindle, shewn in fig. 4, move the trough, 
G, to one side, and its line, f, the spring, c, 
immediately pulls it back again. This 
shakes the Hour down through it into the cy- 
linder, CD, and the brushes rubbing it round 
against the wire, that sort which is fine 
enough passes through into the hopper, k : 
the rest passes on in the cylinder, and goes 
through into the hoppers, L and M, accord- 
ing to the different degrees of fineness, till 
at last the bran falls out at a hole in the end, 
into the hopper, N : these hoppers have 
troughs, connecting with their bottoms, go- 
ing through the floor, and the mouths of the 
flour-sacks are iiooked to them in the room 
below, to receive the different sorts of flour 
and the bran. 
Fig. 5 is the common bolting-cloth ; A, is 
the riger turned by a strap ; on its axis, 
within the box, is a reel, fig. 6, over which is 
put a bag, open at the ends, called the bolt- 
ing-cloth, C I), in iig. 5, and tied to the 
reel by its ends ; it is woven very fine at the 
end, D, and gradually gets coarser towards 
the end, c ; the feeding-troughs, G and H, 
are the same as already described in fig. 4 ; 
by tlie side of the reel are three wooden 
bars, ah, and another behind, fixed in the 
box by their ends. When the reel is turned 
with a great velocity, the four arms, edef, 
fig. 6, shake the trough, G, and cause the 
flour to run regularly down into the bolting- 
cloth, and the centrifugal force causes the 
cloth to swing against the three sticks, ah, 
beats the fine flour through the cloth into the 
hopper, K, and the other sorts into the hop- 
pers LYIN'; the bran falls out at the end of the 
doth into the hopper, O, and goes through 
the end of the box and the floor, in a wooden 
trough, to the end of which a sack is hooked 
to receive it in the floor beneath. There are 
troughs from the bottom of the hopper, 
KLMN, to convey the flour to the sacks, as 
described in fig. 4. 
We shall hereafter, under the article Mills, 
give a more detailed account of the theory of 
mills, and of the means by which they may be 
worked with the greatest advantage, and with 
the least expence of power. 
FLOWER, flos, among botanists and gar- 
deners, the most beautiful part of trees and 
plants, containing the organs or parts of fruc- 
tification. See Botany. 
FLO WEBS, preserving of. The method 
of preserving flowers in their natural beauty 
through the whole year has been much sought 
after by many people. Some have attempted 
it by gathering them when dry, and not too 
much opened, and burying them in dry sand ; 
but this, though it preserves their figure 
well, takes off from the liveliness of their co- 
lour. Milntingius prefers the following me- 
thod to all others. Gather roses, or other 
5 B 
FLO ?45 
flowers, when they are not yet thoroughly, 
open, in the middle of a dry clay : put them 
into a good earthen vessel glazed within ; fill 
the vessel up to the top with them ; and 
when full, sprinkle them over with some 
good French wine, with a little salt in it ; 
then set them by in a cellar, tying down (he 
mouth of the pot. After this they may be 
taken out at pleasure ; and on setting them 
in the sun, or within reach of the fire, they 
will open as if growing naturally ; and not 
only tiie colour, but the odour also, will be 
preserved. 
The flowers of plants are by much the 
most difficult parts to preserve in any toler- 
able degree of perfection ; of which we have 
instances iimll the collections of dried plants, 
or horti sicci. In these the leaves, stalks, 
roots, and seeds of the plants, appear very 
well preserved ; the strong texture of t liese 
parts making them always retain their na- 
tural form, and the colours in many species 
naturally remaining. But where these fade, 
the plant is little the worse for use as to 
knowing the species. But it is very much 
otherwise in regard to the petals : these are 
naturally by much the most beautiful parts of 
the plant to which they belong ; but they 
are so much injured in the common way of 
drying, that they not only lose, but change 
their colours one into another, by which 
means they give occasion to many errors ; 
and they usually also wither up, so as to lose 
their very form and natural shape. The 
primrose and cowslip kinds are very eminent 
instances of the change of colours in the 
flowers of dried specimens: for those of this 
class of plants easily dry in their natural 
shape ; but they lose their yellow, and, in- 
stead of it, acquire a fine green colour, much 
superior to that of the leaves in their most 
perfect state. The flowers of all the violet- 
kind lose their beautiful blue, and become of a 
dead-white : so that in dried specimens there 
is no difference between the blue-flowerecl 
violet and the white- flowered kinds. 
Sir Robert Southwell lias communicated to 
the world a method of drying plants, by 
which this detect is proposed to be in a great 
measure remedied, and all flowers preserved 
in their natural shape, and many in their na- 
tural colours. For this purpose, two plate’s 
of iron are to be prepared of the size of a 
large halt-sheet ot paper, or larger for parti- 
cular occasions : these plates must be made 
so thick as not to be apt to bend ; and there 
must be a hole made near every comer for 
the receiving a screw to fasten them close to- 
gether. W hen these plates are prepared, lay 
in readiness several sheets of paper, and then 
gather the plants with their flowers when 
they are quite perfect. Let this be always 
done in the middle of a dry day ; and then 
Jay tlie plant and its flower on one of the 
sheets of paper doubled in half, spreading 
out all the leaves and petals as nicely as pos- 
sible. It the stalk is thick, it must be pared- 
or cut in half, so that it may lie flat ; and if 
it is woody, it may be peeled, and only the 
bark left. \Y lien the plant is thus expanded, 
lay round about it some loose leaves and pe- 
tals of the flower, which may serve to com- 
plete any part that is deficient. When all is 
thus prepared, lay several sheets of paper 
over the plant, and as many under it ; then 
put the whole between the iron plates, laying 
the papers smoothly on one, and laying the 
