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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Brown, D. H. And Son

Brown, D. H. And Son (John Atkins Brown), Millers and Grain Merchants, Brookfield Roller Mills, South Belt, Christchurch. Telephone 701; P.O. Box 242. Bankers, Bank of New South Wales. Private residence, “Glancairn,” Fendalton. Cable address,” Peerless, Christchurch.” Telegraphic address. “Brown, Brookfield, Christchurch.” Codes, A.B.C. and private code. This firm's well-equipped mill was erected in 1892, and occupies a freehold section of two acres of land fronting the railway line, with which it is connected by a siding extending for about 500 feet alongside the mill and grain stores. The main building, which is five stories in height, is built of brick, and contains about 12,000 square feet of floor space. The main driving shaft is on the ground floor, which is chiefly occupied by the bottoms of the numerous elevators which communicate with the upper floors. On the first floor are the rollers and flour and bran-packers in full operation. The purifiers and special machinery for making wheatmeal occupy the second floor. The third and top stories are utilised for all the silk-dressing machinery, which includes two five feet Universal Bolters by the E. P. Allis Company of Milwaukee, U.S.A.; these machines, most ingenious in their construction, are said to be the first of the kind introduced into the Southern Hemisphere. The whole of the operations conducted in this very compact mill are absolutely automatic. From the time the wheat is shot into the bins on the basement, it is never touched by hand till, as flour, it is made up in sacks and bags ready for the consumer. During the process of milling, the grain passes from the basement to the various machines on the upper stories backwards and forwards a considerable number of times. The motive power page 343 consists of a compound condensing engine of sixty horse-power by Hornsby, Grantham, and a vertical compound engine and condenser by Davey, Paxman and Co., of Colchester, England. The latter drives the wheat-cleaning machinery and a Crompton dynamo, capable of lighting ninety sixteen candle-power lamps, and can be driven from either engine. Adjoining the engine-house is a fine boiler by Scott Bros., of Christchurch, which works at a pressure of 150 pounds to the square inch. Up till 1897, the mill had a capacity equal to six sacks per hour. The machinery, however, has been increased, bringing up the capacity to ten sacks per hour, a vertical steam-engine being added to provide more power. The wheat-cleaning machinery occupies a three-storey brick building adjoining the mill, and this is entirely shut off by fire-proof doors and shutters, which act automatically in the various elevators and shoots connecting the two departments. The grain store, which is built of wood and iron, and measures 200 feet by nearly 60 feet, has a capacity equal to about 40,000 sacks. The arrangements for loading and unloading are simply perfect, provision having been made whereby the sacks can be shot on to the railway trucks in the open in fine weather, and under a covered verandah in wet. A very fine twenty-ton self-registering Avery weighing-machine for dealing with truck loads of wheat and a six-ton machine for carts are among the conveniences used by the firm to insure accuracy in receiving and delivering. The firm's brand, “Peerless,” is well known throughout Canterbury, West Coast, and North Island. Expert visitors who have examined the Brookfield Roller Mill pronounce it one of the best equipped in the Colony.

Messrs D. H. Brown and Sons' Flour Mills.

Messrs D. H. Brown and Sons' Flour Mills.