CONSTRUCTION AND FIRE PROTECTION OF COTTON WAREHOUSES. 7 



form is equipped with a series of rollers so that the bale, when ele- 

 vated to the top of the pile, may be pulled off easily. Another g-ood 

 type of this machine is arranged to revolve upon the castored truck 

 base, which gives great convenience in moving and setting. The 

 machines are constructed for operation by hand and by electricity. 

 The hand machines arc necessarily rather slow in operation wdien 

 elevating a bale of cotton, but the electric machines make j^ossible 

 very rapid piling. When the}'- are equipped -with a properly en- 

 closed motor, the machine affords practically no fire haziird, pro- 

 vided the wiring and all connections are properly designed and 

 installed. The cable extending to the machine should be inclosed 

 in a flexible metal conduit and all socket connections should be 

 located on the ceiling. By using a cable with a length equal to the 

 combined height of the story and of the machine and by connecting 

 the cable to the top of the elevator it is possible to move the machine 

 "within a circle of considerable area without the cable coming in 

 contact W'ith the floor. In cases where the cable is allowed to lie on 

 the floor and is not inclosed there is introduced a serious fire hazard 

 because of the probable damage to the cable from trucks passing 

 over it. 



Scales in general use for weighing cotton are the ordinary beam 

 scale, the portable platform beam scale, and the dial scale, which 

 may be stationary or arranged on castors so that it can be moved 

 from one to another of a series of very shallow pits. This movable 

 dial scale is well adapted to weighing the bale of cotton while on 

 the truck for the platform is large and a " tare beam " is provided 

 for deducting automatically the weight of the truck. A view of 

 such a scale in use is shown in Plate XII. Since this method of 

 weighing requires that trucks be of a uniform weight, those made of 

 steel are particularly desirable. The illustration show^s portable 

 inclines on each side of the scale. This arrangement is excellent 

 wdiere the shallow pits can not be' provided readily. Such scales are 

 coming into more general use and are beginning to displace the beam 

 scale, which for a long time has been considered standard equipment 

 for the cotton warehouse. 



THE WAREHOUSE PLANT AND BUILDINGS. 



Local conditions influence the layout of the warehouse to such an 

 extent that the arrangement of buildings should be decided upon 

 after consideration of these factors and with the approval of the 

 insurance rating bureau having super"\nsion of the particular terri- 

 tory involved.^ 



^ Nixon, Robert L. Cotton Warehouse Construction. V. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. Bulletin 277, 1915. 



