THE WAREHOUSING OF GEAIN. 137 



elevator " boot." A " cup and band " elevator raises it 

 to the top of the building. After passing over the pully at 

 the top, which is 3 feet in diameter, the grain is discharged 

 on to a cross-band, from which it is thrown off on to a 

 longitudinal band, and then it passes down a vertical shoot 

 by which it is conveyed to one of the floors. Under the 

 joists of each floor the shoot has a cast-iron swivelling 

 part in which a radial spout can be fixed, by means of which 

 the grain can be distributed over a wider area. There are 

 thirty-two of these vertical shoots, and each floor is thus 

 divided into convenient areas for loading or discharging. 

 Movable bulk boards are used for confining the different 

 parcels of grain. Immediately above the level of each 

 floor there is a slide-valve, which is used when it is wished 

 to get grain out of the building. The slide-valve is raised, 

 and grain is admitted into the shoot, by which it is conveyed 

 to weighing-machines, which travel on rails fixed under 

 the fire-proof floor. The weighing-machines are made by 

 Reuther & Reisert, of Glermany, and are automatic in their 

 action, and weigh one sack at a time. They are capable 

 of weighing three sacks per minute, which in the case of 

 wheat would amount to about 20 tons per hour. These 

 machines are extremely accurate when kept to one class 

 of grain, but some difficulty is experienced in getting the 

 same degree of accuracy when changing from one kind of 

 grain to another. ' After being weighed, the sacks are 

 taken on hand-trucks to the edge of the platform, and then 

 put into railway trucks or carts. 



In the case of grain arriving in sacks, such as cargoes of 

 Indian corn, the sacks can be raised by jiggers fixed over 

 each of the upper doorways, at front and back. There are 

 eight of these jiggers, and they can be used either for 

 raising or lowering sacks. 



