Process for the treatment and preservation of grain quality during storage

Claim 1

A PROCESS OF STORING IN A BIN A MASS OF GRAIN, SAID MASS COMPRISING GRAIN AND INTERSEED SPACES BETWEEN SAID GRAIN, AND SAID GRAIN HAVING AN INITIAL TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN 85*F. AND 107*F. AND A WATER CONTENT BETWEEN 14% AND 20% BY WEIGHT AND HAVING A SEED COAT AND AN ENDOSPERM THEREIN, SAID SEED COAT HAVING A MICROPYLE AND BEING RELATIVELY IMPERIVOUS TO MOISTURE, SAID SEED COAT HAVING A SUBSTANTIAL OIL CONTENT AND SAID ENDOSPERM HAVING A SMALL OIL CONTENT, SAID PROCESS COMPRISING A FIRST STEP OF GELLING THE CONSTITUENTS OF THE MICROPYLE ZONE TO A SUBSTANTIALLY WATER-IMPERVIOUS MASS BY RAPIDLY COOLING AND REMOVING WATER FROM SAID GRAIN IN FROM ONE TO THREE DAYS BY PASSING INTO SAID MASS AIR HAVING A TEMPERATURE OF BETWEEN 30*F. AND 70*F. AND, RESPECTIVELY, RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OF BETWEEN 100 AND 60 PERCENT AND SO REMOVING WATER FROM SAID GRAIN AT AN INITIAL RATE OF FROM THREE TO FIVE GALLONS PER HOUR PER 1,000 BUSHELS OF SAID GRAIN DURING THE FIRST TEN HOURS OF SAID PROCESS, SAID AIR BEING PASSED THEREINTO AT THE RATE OF FROM 0.5 TO 0.05 CUBIC FEET PER MINUTE PER BUSHEL, WHILE REDUCING THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF ALL THE GRAIN TO BELOW 55*F. IN 72 HOURS, THEREAFTER MAINTAINING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE GRAIN BELOW 50*F. FOR AT LEAST 100 DAYS WHILE REMOVING LESS 0.78% MOISTURE THEREFROM PER 90 DAYS OF STORAGE.