2020 Issue

47 Yesterday’s Flour Mill, Tomorrow’s Orbital Factory Floor, and the New USA Space Forces Charles T. Vono — SAME How an Oliver Evans’ Mill Produces Flour From Grain O liver Evans was an inventor and genius who de- signed mills and steam engines. The first Evans’ mill was built in the late 1700s and is often used as a convenient starting point for the First Industrial Revolu- tion. In his mill designs, his big idea was setting up inno- vative machines as a continuous collection of processes to create improvements in the final product and economies of scale — producing better flour at a lower cost. An essential characteristic of his mills is also seen in modern factories: • Machines are arranged to systematically support a process. • There is easy access to a central power source. • The factories accomplish specific missions. • Economies of scale create better products and reduce costs. • Easy transportation is needed because efficient out - put forces the mill owner beyond local markets. • Division of labor in the factory and among factories creates specialized tasks, such as mills making flour bags for flour mills. The section provides detailed descriptions of the product flow from grain to flour in an Evans’ mill and, using that description, summarizes the key characteristics of a modern factory. 1 1. A farmer or miller places grain in the mill. The farmer might add the grain to be held in the hopper below until the miller releases the grain down to the bucket elevator. Grain was then carried upward for process- ing. Sometimes iron combined with grain during harvest or transportation, so magnets were used to separate iron from grain. 2. The miller uses machines, hoppers, gates, and gravity to move grain to the appropriate machines. 3. At the top of the bucket elevator, the grain drops and is then cleaned by screens, tumblers, agitators and blowers. 4. The cleaned grain can be shuttled to one of three millstones, each one tuned to a specific type of grain or grinding. 5. Once the product is ground into flour, it takes a ride on another bucket elevator. A machine rakes the flour in a spiral specially sized and timed so that it is cool and dry by the time the flour tumbles through the hole in the middle. 6. As the flour falls, it runs through a sifter for more cleaning before being packaged and shipped. The Essence of a Modern Factory Many characteristics of Evans’ mills are the same as mod- ern factories. Machines are arranged to create an efficient and effective system that no longer requires employing many workers with specialized skills. Instead, a single power source, the water wheel, runs the entire enterprise. The whole factory has one purpose; for mills, the purpose is creating a final product like flour from an initial harvest like grain. The efficiencies of the machines, speed, and cleanliness lead to large quantities of a superior product and must be transported to ensure that the product can reach its market. The mill also opens up space in the mar- ket for factories that supply items used in the mill. Commercial Space So how does all the above affect 21st century factory floors, some of which will be in Earth orbit? (See figure 1.) Figure 1: Tomorrow’s Factory Floor