3-008-580 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: Samuelson's machinery for crushing and grinding linseed, extracting the oil, and making oilcake, 1862. 'Every one knows how important a part oilcake plays in the production of Christmas beef and mutton...but everybody does not know how it is produced...First, there is a mill in which the linseed is ground to a moderately fine meal; it is then placed under two immense circular stones set up vertically, called edge-runners; these, by the aid of a powerful steam-engine, are made to revolve round an upright shaft, while at the same time they turn upon their own centres. The linseed is placed in an iron pan, and being subjected to the action of these massive stones, is thoroughly crushed, and the oil driven out, but not separated from that portion of the seed which previously inclosed it. It is therefore laid between layers of horsehair, and these again between pieces of leather. The crushed linseed when so secured is placed in a press, and hydraulic pressure applied: the oil is by that means squeezed out, and the refuse is a flat slab of what is then called oilcake'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.