Page 53 - Demo

51less to say, this will empty a load of grain swiftly and dramatically.Because a receiving pit only has a limited capacity, it will soon fill up with grain. That%u2019s where the elevator itself comes into play. The elevator is a mechanism used to lift the grain from the bottom of a receiving pit to the top of a silo (or other storage container) and dump it in. The actual elevator consists of a long, narrow belt made of a strong, flexible material such as reinforced rubber. The ends of this belt are connected together, to form a single, continuous, vertical loop. Small metal buckets (scoops) are attached all along the outer surface of the loop (below).As the elevator%u2019s loop belt moves, the buckets on the rising side face up, while those on the descending side face down. When operating, the empty, downwardfacing scoops descend into the receiving pit, scoop up grain, then rise (facing upwards) to the very top, roll over the top, and dump their grain into the storage area. The empty scoops then travel upsidedown, back toward the bottom of the pit, and the cycle continues until the pit is emptied. Belts and scoops move inside protective wooden or metal housings (called legs), which are equipped with access doors for maintenance.It%u2019s very common for a single elevator to serve more than one storage area. In such a case, there will be a distribution head at the top of the elevator mechanism, which will have two or more conduits (called spouts), leading to different storage areas. In older operations, the upper part of the elevator mechanism (as well as other mechanical equipment) was sheltered from the weather inside a headhouse. However, in most newer operations, much of the elevator, and the distribution head, are exposed to the open air.Today, dumping grain into a receiving pit is the most widely used method of unloading a truck. In earlier times, workers had to shovel the load into the pit by hand. In his Foreword, Birch Bayh recalls a very harrowing procedure. In Libertyville, Indiana, he had to back a loaded truck up a curving incline all the way to the top of the elevator, then dump the grain into the uppermost part of the structure. This was a %u201cgrain elevator%u201d that didn%u2019t need an actual elevator mechanism for deliveries. A somewhat similar approach was used in the community of Ross, in Lake County. There, a bridge was built over the top of the elevator. Horse-drawn wagons, or trucks, would drive up onto the bridge and, as in Libertyville, dump their load of grain into the top of the facility.Fairbanks, Sullivan Co. (598.09)Salem, Washington Co. (622.02)