The Grain Car Door Industry 



THE grain car door business is one about which little is 

 known. It is rather confined to the jack pine country 

 and larger mills. Although it may be thought to be a 

 small industry, over 2r>,000,000 board feet of lumber is con- 

 sumed annually for moving the grain in Minnesota and the 

 Dakotas. When one thinks of the enormous amount of grain 

 moved each year and that 100 to 175 feet of lumber are used 

 in the doors of each car, the scope of the business may be 

 realized. 



These doors are only used as temporary structures and one 

 to four trips is all that they ever make. They are used 

 for the shipment of grain and are nailed inside of the car in 

 front of the doors. In a large car, there is a great deal of 

 pressure on them and good material with good strength is 

 necessary. From three to six doors are used in each car, 

 depending on the size of car and the kind of grain shipped. 

 A small car loaded with wheat would have one and one-half 

 doors on each side, while a large car, loaded with oats or 

 barley, would use three on each side. Some roads do not use 

 ready-made grain doors, but furnish the elevator with loose 

 lumber in six and seven foot lengths with which to board up 

 the inside. 



The doors are made six feet two inches long and thirty 

 inches high. Each one has three cleats six inches wide and 

 thirty-two inches long, the cleats thus extending on one side 

 two inches wider than the boards. The main body of the 

 door is of good sound lumber, with no wane edges, as these 

 must fit tight to prevent leakage of grain. All the cracks are 

 battened with strips three to five inches in width and these 

 may have considerable wane. None of them are tight 

 enough for flax, so cloth or paper is nailed over them as well 

 as the walls of the entire car. There is 24 to 30 feet of lum- 

 ber in one door, depending on the width of the boards in the 

 body and the width of the battens. The narrower the main 



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