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September 04, 2018

Rice Milling in France; La Rizerie Du Nord, Dunkirk

by Mildred Cookson, The Mills Archive, UK
 
Mildred Cookson

Taken from The MILLER May 1891 In May 1891, at the time an article in “The Miller” was written, the French Government had relaxed the import duties on rice entering the country in its rough state, but still maintained the duty on cleaned rice and rice flour.

This amounted to eight francs per 100 kilos, imported directly from countries out of Europe, and a levy of 11 francs 60 centimes per 100 kilos on those European countries not having treaties with France. This gave an impetus to the French rice milling industry and provided an immediate opportunity for milling engineers who quickly undertook measures to satisfy the market. 



The mill of La Rizerie Du Nord had just been completed by the well-known milling engineers, Jules Sloan & Co, 3 Rue du Louvre, Paris. The stipulated capacity of the mill was for an output of 25,000 kilos per 10 hours, but the mill soon reached 40,000 kilos. The article in The Miller included three diagrams of the mill: A cross-section looking towards the warehouse; a longitudinal section and a cross-section looking towards the engine room. The key provides an indication of the equipment and its arrangement.

The system of ventilation at this mill was unique. Two 4ft diameter fans, blew directly into the Comerford’s patent dust collectors, which were fitted with special cylinders for catching the husks, whilst the flour was collected in the usual manner. The motive power for the mill was supplied by a Pollett and Wigzell 225 hp engine with steam supplied from Sloan’s multi-tubular type boiler.

The rice in its rough state first passed through a magnetic separator before a separator for removing any loose busks. It was then moved to two pair of stones for breaking the shells. After leaving the millstones it passed on to two separators of special design, with very strong aspiration and air valves, designed to effectively remove all the loose parts. The fairly clean rice was passed on to millstones for polishing before it went for further treatment by vertical brushes. This operation was repeated a second and third time which cleaned the rice to a “nearly perfect state”. It now only remained to give the rice a finishing polish, which was affected by a machine of similar type to the brush, but which was lined with sheepskin.


Read the full article on in the Milling and Grain magazine online, HERE.
 

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