132 THE WAREHOUSING OF GRAIN. 



Gillet's patent, has been at work successfully for some years 

 at -Dunkirk in France. The capacity is 50 tons per hour, 

 and the machiner}^ is fixed in a tower erected on a barge. 

 It consists of two bucket elevators or ladders suspended on 

 a universal joint, from the outer end of a steel girder of in- 

 verted \J section, the inner end of the girder being hinged 

 on a shaft, which traverses a curved roller path from back 

 to front of the tower. The girder carries a band, which is 

 driven by a pulley at the centre of the curve. The outside 

 elevators are driven by this band, and have a vertical range 

 to suit the varying draught of the ship. The girder and 

 elevator may be moved horizontally and vertically, while the 

 machine is at work, being under the control of one man 

 upon the deck ; and when out of use, it may be run back and 

 housed inside the Tower. The grain is brought into the 

 Tower by the band, and is then passed through an automatic 

 weighing machine, and delivered into the bottom of an 

 ordinary elevator, which raises it to the roof, so that it 

 may be delivered direct to barges or into warehouse. 



The grain warehouses which I have described are all " floor 

 granaries," the grain being stored on the floors usually to a 

 depth of about 5 feet. In this country preference is given 

 to that system. In America, on the other hand, the " silo " 

 system is universally adopted. In Spain and some other 

 countries grain was, and still is, stored in pits dug in the 

 ground called " silos " ; and the term has been transferred 

 to hollow-covered shafts built above the ground for the 

 reception of grain. Large granaries constructed on that 

 system have been erected at Bootle, Liverpool, and at Fleet- 

 wood, and on the Continent the system is largely adopted. 

 Perhaps the finest examples are to be found in the large 

 granaries lately erected by the Houmanian Government, 

 which are provided with the finest collection of weighing 



