584 MATZK 



CHAP, into the "boot," elevated to the top of the building, weighed 

 XI1, in large hoppers, and then allowed to flow by gravity directly 

 into the trucks. 



539. Storage at Ports of Export. — In Argentina, at the 

 port of Bahia Blanca, a large timber shed is provided for 

 bagged grain, 200 metres long by 33 metres wide. At the 

 back run two tracks for goods wagons, from which bagged 

 grain is unloaded and carried to this warehouse or direct to 

 the ship lying alongside the mole. For bulk grain, large 

 terminal elevators are provided. 



Some of the flat sheds on the Pacific Coast will store up 

 to 560,000 bags, and most of them belong to, or are controlled 

 by, the railway companies. 



In the United States terminal elevators are used, but 

 grain storage at the ports is said to be very limited and de- 

 creasing, while it is increasing at the inland terminals, such 

 as Chicago and Minneapolis (Bowman and Crossley, 1). 



540. Electric Belt-conveyors for Bagged Grain. — The 

 present method in vogue in South Africa is to off-load the 

 sacks to the wharf, whence they are swung into the hold of the 

 vessel by means of stout cranes (Fig. 199). At some of the 

 Australian and Argentine ports the grain is either shipped 

 from the sheds or from the trucks direct, by means of a 

 mechanical device known as the electric belt-conveyor. The 

 sacks are placed on this belt, rapidly transferred to the ship, 

 and automatically discharged into the hold of the vessel. 

 Conveyors of this type were put into operation at Williams- 

 town and Geelong, Victoria, in 1905, to supersede the primitive 

 and expensive method of manual labour and slings, and to 

 more economically and expeditiously cope with the increasing 

 export of grain ; they are said to have given every satisfaction. 

 At Bahia Blanca, Argentina, there are sixteen fixed conveyors 

 witlvrubber belting covered with steel sheetings; their capacity 

 is 100 tons per hour loading grain in sacks. There are in 

 addition fifteen electric movable conveying-belts, which may 

 either operate independently or serve as complementary to the 

 others ; their capacity is 100 tons per hour and their length 

 10 metres. A travelling belt-conveyor is in use at the Kaf- 

 fraria Steam Milling Company's warehouse at the Congella 

 Wharf, Durban, South Africa. 



