128 THE WAREHOUSINO OF GRAIN". 



extensive scale than at any other place. One of the belts- 

 travels 11 feet a second, and carries abont 330 tons per 

 hour. It is a combination of band and bag. At the sides 

 there are india-rubber belts 7 inches wide, with a piece of 

 canvas between them, the total width being 3 feet. The 

 canvas bags down 4 J inches in the centre, the amount being 

 regulated by curved iron cross-bars, Ij inches by J inch, 

 rivetted every 4 feet between the rubber edges. Another 

 belt has a still greater capacity, and travels at the rate of 

 13 feet per second. 



At London, the chief centres for the importation of grain 

 are the Millwall Docks and the Surrey Commercial Docks. 

 At the former as much as 35,000 quarters have been un- 

 loaded in one day. There are several features of interest in 

 connection with the unloading and storage of grain at the 

 Millwall Docks, some of the systems adopted being found 

 nowhere else. Special railway trucks have been made for 

 the storage and delivery of grain, each truck holding about 

 100 quarters, equal to somewhat over 20 tons of wheat. 

 They are made without springs, and cost about £50 each : 

 about 1,000 have been provided. The grain is raised from 

 the ship's hold by tubs, which are filled by men with light 

 iron buckets called " bushels." The tub holds five quarters- 

 fully, and the author noted the time that five men took to 

 fill one, and found that it was about one minute on an 

 average. The tubs are raised by cranes and landed on the 

 tops of "bins." The outer rim rests upon supports, and 

 the bottom of the tub, which is supported by the crane 

 chain, falls a short distance by gravitation and allows the 

 grain to escape into a large hopper on the top of the " bin." 

 In the bottom of the hopper there are a number of shoots 

 with slide valves, and under these are a number of small 

 weighing machines which are attended by a weigher. These 



