Breaking down and processing cereals requires an array of grain mill equipment to accomplish. When cereals are harvested, inedible and undesirable items often get swept along with them. These items must first be separated out before processing can begin. Several machines take care of this process. Once this is done, the material is tempered, grinded and separated again until the bran, germ, and flour are all individually packaged and sent to bakeries or stores.
The first step is getting the harvested material to the factory. This is done with elevators that dump the product into trucks. These trucks arrive at the factory and workers feed the cereals into the production line. During processing, the first pieces of grain mill equipment are used to separate foreign items out from the product. Several mechanisms are employed to ensure this process is extremely thorough. Separators with reciprocating screens are typically first, as they remove large foreign items like sticks and stones from the mix. The small size of the cereals allows them to pass through the screens unhindered while larger objects are blocked by the mesh. Aspirators are next, and they use air currents to blow away lighter items like straw and fibers from the material stream.
Disc separators remove smaller undesirable pieces, like barley, oats and cackle. The discs are grooved so that only pieces that are correctly sized can pass through. Everything else is channeled elsewhere. Next, a scourer grinds off roughage and impurities using abrasive surfaces and rotational forces. Once this is done, the stream is then fed into a magnetic separator that pulls ferrous materials, like tramp iron, out of the mix. This is an extremely important piece of grain mill equipment and ensures food safety.
When everything is finally separated out, the product is ready for processing. Before grinding, the wheat is tempered to soften the outer bran coating. This makes it easier to remove the bran and get at the germ and endosperm inside. Different wheat strains may be blended at this point to create different kinds of flour. From here on out, all of the grain mill equipment that is used is designed to break down the material, separate the products or purify for food safety.
Various forms of grinders are employed to break down the bran, germ and endosperm, though most use rotary forces to do so. Corrugated rollers perform the initial breaking and reduce the seed to its constituent parts. The product is then sifted to pull out bran, shorts and clear flour, which are purified and packaged for use. The smaller pieces are transported to a series of reducing rolls. This piece of grain mill equipment is designed to grind larger pieces (called middlings) into flour or germ. The germ is sifted out, purified and packaged separately while the flour is expedited to the final parts of the process.
Here, the flour is run through several more reducing rolls to produce an even grain and is purified again. The flour is then matured and color neutralized during a bleaching process. Finally, machines enrich the flour with nutrients like thiamine, niacin and riboflavin. Once this is done, the flour is sacked and transported to shops and bakeries around the area.
The Milling Industry
The milling industry is just one of the many businesses that utilize shellers. For instance, this unique device takes an entire ear of corn and removes all kernels of the cob. The history of the beginnings of the machines is quite interesting.
Back in 1839, Lester Denison of Middlesex County, Connecticut was issued a patent to operate the first machine of its time. A hand operated, freestanding device would pull the cob of corn through metal-toothed cylinders that stripped off the kernels. The actual process is quite intricate. As mentioned, this machine can be hand cranked, but it can also be used by a tractor, electric motor or stationary engine. When the cob is fed in, each metal wheel operates in the opposite direction. The teeth then work to pull off all of the kernels until there is none left. The kernels then fall into a bucket and are collected. At the end process, the cob is emitted out from the machine.
It is important to understand what happens to the corn once it is removed from the cob. The corn can then be used by farmers to send out to suppliers. It can be also used to feed livestock. Other areas that use shellers include the feed, farming and grain industries. Other foods that are used in this device include rice, peas, pecans and peanuts just to name a few. Each goes through a similar process to the corn removal.
The invention of this unique device has revolutionized the feed, farming, mill and grain industries. Shellers have made the whole process from start to finish much more efficient.
Feed equipment is used throughout a broad spectrum of industries that process various food, chemical, and industrial products. These products are often contaminated with ferrous materials known within the milling industry as “tramp metal.” The use of magnetic separators and metal detectors is essential in order to prevent tramp metal from damaging processing equipment.
Magnets
Plate magnets
Plate magnets are used in high volume feed equipment that stream abrasive products such as minerals or grains. As the product passes through a gravity-fed chute, tramp metals and metal fines attach to the surface of the plate while the product passes out of the end of the spout.
Drawer magnets
Drawer magnets remove small metal contaminants from dry, granular materials processed in extruding, mixing, or milling machinery. The magnets are actually magnetic tubes measuring 1” in diameter. They are arranged in double, staggered rows so that the product stream can easily filter through the housing as contaminants attach to the underside of the tubes.
Drum magnets
Drum magnets are used in feed equipment that processes large, abrasive materials. Coal, sugarcane, various types of aggregates, and ores are common examples. As these materials pass through the drum, a permanent magnetic field, created by the revolving shell, draws ferrous contaminants to the drum’s interior surface. The product passes easily through the cylinder, while the iron particles remain firmly attached to the magnet. These are then carried away from the product in a separate stream that deposits them in a tramp metals collector.
Free-flow magnets
The stainless steel housing contains a hexagonal, powerful, permanent magnet located at the center of its assembly. As the gravity fed product stream flows through the device, the ferrous contaminants attach to the magnet as they impact its surface. The magnet then rotates the contaminants out of the product stream, where a stripper then moves them into a disposal area separated from the main chute.
Free-flow magnets are used for processing mined materials and grain with rough surfaces. Mini free-flow magnets are idea for smaller areas where space is limited.
Grate and tube magnets
These magnetic tubes, arranged to form grates, measure 1” in diameter each. The product stream passes through them, where metal contaminants affix to the underside of the tubes. This is a highly efficient and cost effective way of protecting feed equipment. Tubes can also be used individually or arranged in rows. They are mainly used to remove tramp metal from food processors and chemical processors.
Magnetic chutes
Magnetic chutes remove contaminants from high-volume product streams in the milling, packaging, and processing industries. They are especially valuable in feed equipment which would be otherwise choked by the presence of grate or tube magnets. Each chute contains two permanent magnets attached to either side of its interior. As ferrous contaminants enter the magnetic field, they are drawn away from the product stream. A drawer assembly then opens up to move the contaminants into a disposal area.
Separation rolls
Separator rolls are essentially magnetic head pulleys used in conveyor belt systems. Contaminants attach temporarily to the rotating surface, moving to its underside before being released from the magnetic field into either a disposal bin or disposal chute. Meanwhile, the product, now free of ferrous contamination, discharges from the top of the conveyor.
Suspended Permanent Magnets
These powerful magnets are used in feed equipment systems driven by high-speed conveyor belts. Capable of drawing contaminants away from products from a distance of up to 12” away, they are used to remove tramp metal contaminants from product streams moving as fast as 700 feet per minute. As ferrous contaminants affix to the magnetic surfaces, they actually increase the magnets’ ability to draw contaminants out of the stream. This increases efficiency by minimizing downtime for magnet cleaning.