Astrié or the famous stone mill
The breakthrough came with the design and development of an oscillating system for the rotating grinding wheel.
An ingenious combination of two springs made it possible to control the upward force exerted by the grind and to precisely regulate the distance between the two wheels.
André Astrié talks about this in his book ‘Faire notre Pain. Pourquoi ? How? :
‘The progress I’ve made allows perfect control of the distance between the millstones. In addition, the working surfaces are rectified instead of the traditional pitting that breaks the sound. This makes it possible to obtain calibrated, type 80 flour in a single pass, with no visible bran. A result impossible to achieve with cylinders as well as with the old mills’.
Continuous improvement of Moulin Astrié
The Astrié brothers’ constant quest to improve their mill is an integral part of its uniqueness. They had to find the right stone to design and cut robust, efficient millstones. They had to develop a solid, precise feed system that never broke down. The sieving of the grindings was also the subject of extensive research. There’s a good reason for this: the stresses of milling can lead to condensation within the sieve mill, and poor sieving will never produce good flour. Here again, the design details are numerous and all have their importance.
The Astrié brothers’ stone mill is certainly the best in terms of efficiency and flour quality. Today, it’s not uncommon to talk to people who know the Astrié mills by reputation, without knowing that it’s the family name of its inventors…
